1) Met.no's policy is that all data and software produced by the institute should be freely available to the public. 2) Diana is an open source digital analysis application originally developed by Met.no in 1998 to visualize and edit meteorological data for forecasters. 3) Releasing Diana as open source software allowed other interested organizations to use, develop, and distribute the code at no cost, while Met.no maintained the project and incorporated feedback to improve the software over time.

1. How to develop, maintain and
share open source software in a
scientific environment
Lisbeth Bergholt
GoOpen april 20th 2010

2. Outline
• Met.no's software and data policy
• Case study: Diana – DIgital ANAlysis
– Why make Diana Open Source?
– How to make Diana Open Source?
– Experiences with running an Open Source project
Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

3. Software and data policy
All data and software produced at met.no
are payed for by the public and should be
freely available to the public
Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

4. • Web Map Services • Software
– Data available as – https://svn.met.no
layers in WMS
Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

5. Open Source Project – Case Study
Diana -DIgital ANAlysis
● application to visualise
and edit meteorological
data
● Used by forecasters and
scientists
Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

6. How did the Diana project start?
• 1998
– Weather charts were drawn by
hand
– The avalible digital
visualiasation tools were not
tailored for operational use
– There was a need for an
application to visualise and
edit meteorological data
Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

7. Buy or develop an application?
• Comercial application
– Expensive
– Difficult to maintain
– Legal limitations
• Develop an application
– Takes time
– Easier to maintain
– Can we manage?
• Use an Open Source application
– There was none available
Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

8. Diana
• Developed at met.no
• Small development group
• Developed in close dialog
with the users
– Forecasters
– Scientist
• Tailored for met.no's use
• Ongoing development
• 2001 - operational
Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

9. How to share Diana?
Others were interested in Diana.
How should we marked it?
• Comercial application?
– Costumers would expect support
– Diana would need customization
• Open Source?
– No formal obligations
– Customization done by users
– Contributions
Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

10. Diana released under the GPL license
• Others can use, develop and distribute
the code
• Others can sell the software and support
• They can not include the code in other
programs under an incompatible license
For details on the GPL licence see:
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html
Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

11. How to make an Open Source project?
• Choose a license
• Code review
– Third party components – incompatible
licenses?
– Documentation
– Generalize the code & interfaces
• Web site
– diana.met.no
• Email address
– diana@met.no
Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

12. • 2005 – first version of GPL Diana
– Too difficult to compile and install
– Too difficult to use
– To many inhouse data formats
• 2010 – Diana version 3.19.1
– Possible to install and use
– Bug reports and feedback
– Contributions
– Still not a professional project
Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

13. Status – who uses Diana?
• Formal cooperation with the Swedish
Meteorological Institute
• Storm Weather Center
• Other Norwegian and foreign institutions
and businesses
Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

14. Snowball effect at met.no
• More Open Source projects
• Met.no uses Open Source software
wherever possible
• Met.no encurages developers to
participate in Open Source projects
• Open Data Policy
Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

15. Snowball effect outside met.no
• yr.no sets the bar for open data policy in
Norwegian public institutions
Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no

16. Thank you
Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no