OpenClimateGIS

OpenClimateGIS is a Python-based web server that distributes climate model data in geospatial (vector) formats.

Dependencies

• PostgreSQL - a client-server relational database
• PostGIS - adds geospatial functionality to PostgreSQL databases
• psycopg2 - a Python interface for working with PostgreSQL databases
• numpy - a multi-dimensionsal data library for Python
• netcdf4-python - a Python interface for working with netCDF4 files
• pyKML - a library for manipulating KML documents

Installation

The following instructions for installing OpenClimateGIS on Ubuntu 10.04 running on Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), a component of Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Creating an AWS Instance

Although it is not required, installing OpenClimateGIS on an AWS has the benefits having an isolated instance with specific library versions. Deploying on AWS also allows for the ability to scale to multiple servers in the future.

An EC2 instance can be created from within Python, using boto, a Python interface to Amazon Web Services. The following is an example script that creates an EC2 instance and returns the Public DNS. Note that this assumes that you have set the AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID and AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY environment variables as described in the boto documentation.:

from time import sleep
from boto.ec2.connection import EC2Connection
conn = EC2Connection()

# start an instance of Ubuntu 10.04
ami_ubuntu10_04 = conn.get_all_images(image_ids=['ami-3202f25b'])
reservation = ami_ubuntu10_04[0].run( \
    key_name='ec2-keypair', \
    security_groups=['OCG_group'], \
    instance_type='m1.large', \
)
instance = reservation.instances[0]
sleep(1)
while instance.state!=u'running':
    print("Instance state = {0}".format(instance.state))
    instance.update()
    sleep(10)

print "Instance state = {0}".format(instance.state)

# add a tag to name the instance
instance.add_tag('Name','OpenClimateGIS')

print "DNS="
print instance.dns_name
exit()

Once you configured the Security Group for the instance to allow access on port 22 and created an public/private key pair (See: AWS Security Credentials) you can connect to the instance using ssh:

ssh -i ~/.ssh/aws_openclimategis/ec2-keypair.pem ubuntu@DNSNAME

Installing OpenClimateGIS

The dependencies for OpenClimateGIS are installed via a series of bash scripts. The main install script (INSTALL.sh) calls numerous other scripts found in the install_scripts directory. To download (clone) the respository, including the install script:

# download the installation script
sudo apt-get install curl
curl -O https://raw.github.com/tylere/OpenClimateGIS/master/INSTALL.sh

# run the installation script
chmod u+x INSTALL.sh
. INSTALL.sh >& ~/log_install.log

The OpenClimateGIS Django project requires a settings file (which includes database passwords) in order to operate. This file should be placed at /etc/openclimategis/settings.ini

sudo mkdir /etc/openclimategis

You can copy over the settings file that you use for development to your AWS server using the secure copy command (executed on your development machine):

sudo scp -i ~/.ssh/aws_openclimategis/ec2-keypair.pem /etc/openclimategis/settings.ini ubuntu@PUBLICDNS:

The scp copy places the file in the ubuntu user's home directory. Move the file to its destination using:

sudo mv ~/settings.ini /etc/openclimategis/settings.ini

Javascript Libraries

The API Query Builder uses the ExtJS framework, the Google Maps API, and Wicket to provide a user-friendly interface for constructing OpenClimateGIS queries. It requires that ExtJS 4.x media files are installed and accessible. Currently, the API Query Builder uses ExtJS 4.0.7 and version 3.7 of the Google Maps API. The Google Maps API is loaded automatically with the Query Builder.

Download ExtJS: http://www.sencha.com/products/extjs/download

ExtJS 4.0.7 should be extracted into the following directory off of localhost (or whatever the host name is):

localhost/static/extjs/4.0.7/

Resources should be accessible at the following locations, again using localhost as an example:

localhost/static/extjs/4.0.7/resources/css/ext-all-gray.css localhost/static/extjs/4.0.7/ext-debug.js

Fabric can also be used to install the ExtJS resources on AWS:

fab apache2.make_local_copy_of_extjs

Download Wicket: https://github.com/arthur-e/Wicket

git clone [email protected]:arthur-e/Wicket.git

The Wicket library (for WKT transforms) should be made accessible from:

localhost/static/Wicket/

Source Code

The source code for OpenClimateGIS is available at:

https://github.com/tylere/OpenClimateGIS