LaTiS

LaTiS is a software library that implements a mathematical technique for describing and manipulating scientific datasets. With the LaTiS Functional Data Model, any dataset can be described in a simple way that captures its structural semantics without requiring higher-level, domain-specific semantics. This approach facilitates the expression of seemingly disparate datasets in a common language, enabling broad data interoperability. The LaTiS data model includes metadata and can be extended to add domain specific semantics, while reusable data transformations can operate at the common lower level.

The modular LaTiS software provides extensible readers and writers for a variety of formats to expose native data sources in terms of the model and to output the modeled data in other formats. Operations on LaTiS datasets build on the mathematics of relational algebra and take advantage of the functional relationships inherent in scientific datasets.

LaTiS also provides a web service layer for requesting data using standards-based query syntax and data protocols that can be invoked from a web browser or an application. The software is packaged so that data providers can easily install a LaTiS server and configure it to provide access to datasets and capabilities they wish to share with their user community. LaTiS servers are currently being used operationally to support more than a dozen space missions and scientific data communities.

Examples of web applications that are backed by a LaTiS service include the LASP Interactive Solar Irradiance Datacenter (LISIRD) and the SWx TREC Space Weather Data Portal. Both applications include an About LaTiS page that describes the datasets and capabilities that are available for the service along with some basic usage information.