Implementing Dapper for in-situ profile data

[McCann, Mike]

DODS techies,

The discussion over the dapper specification has been interesting to follow.

I would like to contribute to the discussion, but feel that I need some experience with implementing a server for our data which reside in a relational database.  

I know that I could extract the data into EPIC-compliant netCDF files and load them into dapper with dapperload.sh, but am hoping that there might be a better way.  I've experimented a bit with the OPeNDAP DRDS server but don't see how I can write a das/dds to mimic the dapper spec, viz:

> -------------------------------
> 
> Profile / Sounding Collection: (same as Dapper "CTD measurements" example)
> 
>  Sequence {
>   lat, lon, time;
>   id;       
>   Sequence {
>     z;		
>     v1, v2, ...
>   } obs;             
>  } profile;         
> 
> -------------------------------


Is this possible with DRDS?  Or, is the reason there is so much discussion regarding the spec is that this capability is in the process of being implemented?

Some guidance would be welcome and I'd be glad to contribute if I can.

-Mike

--
Mike McCann 
Software Engineer
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
7700 Sandholdt Road
Moss Landing, CA 95039-9644
Voice: (831) 775-1769 Fax: (831) 775-1646 http://www.mbari.org