2003 Seattle Annual Meeting (November 2–5, 2003)
Paper No. 140-8
Presentation Time: 10:15 AM-10:30 AM

XML AND SCIENTIFIC FILE FORMATS

MCGRATH, Robert E., National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 605 East Springfield Avenue, Champaign, IL 61820, mcgrath@ncsa.uiuc.edu.

For many years, scientific data has been stored and transferred using a variety of data formats. In recent years XML has become an important and popular for exchanging digital information, including scientific data. At the most abstract level, XML can be used for any purpose that a binary format might be used, and vice versa. XML has many good features, but XML is not likely to replace binary data formats for scientific data.

Our team at NCSA has been studying and providing tools to store, share, and manage scientific data for many years. One of our products is the Hierarchical Data Format (HDF), a format and library which is used by scientists from many communities around the world. In recent years, we have studied emerging Web and XML technologies. In particular, we are interested to learn how XML and binary files can best be used by scientists, and how XML and binary formats should work together in systems.

This paper summarizes some of the lessons we have learned.

2003 Seattle Annual Meeting (November 2–5, 2003)
Session No. 140
Design and Development of XML-based, Discipline-Specific, Geological Markup Languages, and Development of Applications (with Object-Oriented Languages) and Databases to Process, Store, and Interchange Geological Data over the Web
Washington State Convention and Trade Center: 210
8:00 AM-12:00 PM, Tuesday, November 4, 2003

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 35, No. 6, September 2003, p. 368
© Copyright 2003 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.