Met Office is responsible for maintaining meteorological observations of the weather including items such as rainfall, temperature, wind, pressure, sunshine and radiation. When records began, these observations were recorded on paper forms and from 1959 have been stored in digital format.
The current climatological database MIDAS was responsible for recording the actual observations but not the details of how the observations were made such as use of specific equipment. It was becoming increasingly important to record the conditions under which an observation was made and to record all aspects of the history of a climatological station.
A project was established in March 1997 to develop a 'Metadata' system. This project delivered a Logical Data Model that gave a diagrammatic representation of the data structures and indicated what information was to be stored in the 'Metadata' system. The Met Office wanted to implement this model into a physical database but wanted an expert Oracle consultant to review this model in the context of MIDAS and with reference to the project user requirements.
CDP's database analysis and design expertise were tapped by the Met Office to review the 'Metadata Logical Data Model' and provide an improved model which would lead to the physical implementation of the database.
CDP Oracle Consultant reviewed the current Logical Data Model, highlighting the strengths, and particularly the weaknesses of the current design and produced a revised design that overcame all weaknesses identified, within practical limitations. This provided a platform for the physical implementation of the database which was carried out by CDP.
Various parts of the Oracle database were implemented and poplulated with realistic data to prove the design. Prototype screens were developed in Visual Basic to demonstrate the design and concepts to users.
