SwingStations: a web-based client tool for the Baltic environmental database

This paper describes the operation of a web-based computer program designed as a client program for the Baltic Environmental Database. This database contains a large collection of oceanographic data for the Baltic Sea from all Baltic countries, covering observations from 1900 to the present. A database server manages this database allowing user access via the Internet. To investigate the database, a web-based program (SwingStations) was developed. This program works as a client in client/server interaction with the database. It allows data to be selected using graphical user-friendly queries and to analyze the data in numerical and graphical forms. It is also possible to construct vertical profiles of statistics and time series (time-depth graph) of oceanographic parameters for a selected area of the Baltic Sea. SwingStations applet is written in Java(TM) using Java Foundation Classes Application Programming Interface. This interface is included in the Sun's Java(TM) Plug-in Virtual Machine that provides complete Java Compatible(TM) support for all the popular web browsers on major hardware platforms. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.