So what is pachube?
How does it relate to
OpenSim & Second Life?
- A way to upload & share data, typically from a database, machine or other “real world” source.
- A proxy to allow for data to be shipped out from OpenSim or Second Life or likely many other virtual worlds. This data can make reports, control items like robotics or send notifcations.
- Offers the optional Extended Environments Markup Language (EEML) XML format making collecting and analyzing data far easier than random CSV or XML files. You can add additional details to the data such as location, disposition & other variables.
So for example lets take our own companies project where we place Radar & Sonar Fuel & Lubricant probes into dozens of fuel tanks throughout Florida. This system reports remote tank levels back to a central server so our client can dispatch fuel deliveries using a smart priority system.
In our state of Florida fuel delivery depends greatly on weather conditions. Being able to tap into pachube’s data could allow us to find a local weather feed near one of our remote fuel probes and correlate the data. Not only could we show in 3D if it was raining or flooded near a certain tank in near real-time but over time we could collect data to compare to our clients fuel deliveries. We are currently working with the fuel probes REST/Web Services API to start bringing their live data into 3D.
What this would eventually yield is a database of collected data about fuel usage vs weather conditions. In addition to the great 3D view showing the tank & weather this data collected would likely yield trends to allow for future analysis and planning for deliveries. Prior to pachube & EEML we could not really do this as if we even found a weather station the data would likely be in a random format causing much extra effort to integrate.
So pachube is more than a spot to upload your data, it is a way for all of us to start learning more about the environment around us and become much more efficient due to this knowledge. ReactionGrid is planning classes for 2009 on using pachube and some economical data collection and control devices that will be great for individuals, business or schools to learn from.
Some great pachube feeds:
- City of LaSalle Wellfield Drawdowns
- pqslwind
- space weather
G2 has a local device (DI-194RS Data Logger Starter Kit) in our offices we will be using in conjunction with Microsoft Robotics Studio to start showing not only how to send data to pachube and then ReactionGrid but also how to control items in our office from the virtual space. We use Microsoft Robotics Studio because it is tuned to collect data and control items & unlike Second Life we can data dump from remote locations right into the OpenSim Microsoft SQL Server 2008 database for prim rezzing & other functions. Stay tuned campers!