SCI-WMS: Python-Based Web Mapping Service for Visualizing Geospatial Data

SCI-WMS is an open-source web service for the visualization and qualitative assessment of distributed geospatial data. The modular cross-platform Python implementation of SCI-WMS allows the service to keep pace with the rapid developments in the geospatial data science community to produce visualizations for numerous types of model outputs with transparent support for both structured and unstructured geo-referenced topologies. This article outlines the implementation and technology stack for visualizing geospatial data using SCI-WMS and details the deployment of SCI-WMS for visualizing model data and simulations within the scope of the US Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Coastal and Ocean Modeling Testbed (COMT) project (Luettich et al., J Geophys Res Oceans 118(12):6319–6328, 2013).