NOAA Unified Access Framework (UAF)

The Unified Access Framework project supports NOAA's Global Earth Observation - Integrated Data Environment (GEO-IDE) initiative and has created a framework for engaging NOAA's environmental data management communities through sharing expertise, experience, and information.

NOAA's GEO-IDE is envisioned as a "system of systems" - a framework that provides effective and efficient integration of NOAA's many quasi-independent systems. In order to make this possible, the framework must be built upon agreed standards, principles and guidelines. The UAF project encourages the use of the NetCDF file format, the Climate and Forecast (CF) metadata conventions and the Data Access Protocol (DAP) for local and remote file access. The UAF philosophy is "Don't solve problems, copy success", meaning that by leveraging widely used tools and conventions, we believe we can greatly improve data integration within NOAA and also with NOAA partners.

The UAF approach is to encourage the evolution of existing systems into a service-oriented architecture. The goal of such an architecture is for users to be able to find, access, and use the environmental information they need while also minimizing overall data management burdens.