DST Meeting Notes

Jun 30, 2025

Ted
1. Pushed an update to error logger
2. Used ricks advice for HTTPS prefix
3. Working on updating PDF for info sheet
4. Reduce font sizes and some page breaks
5. Images are taking up the bulk of the page
Akshat
1. Working on android app issues
2. Almost done with checking packages and images upload errors
3. Working on the upload feature for mono cam unicity constraints
4. Will check when getting to the data review screen
5. Then display an error or toast to user
Rick
1. Last week working on api updates for ncalc
2. Jyoti was making 60 simultaneous ssurgo, weather, and ncalc api calls
3. Rewrote Jyoti’s code to make calls serially
4. Updated the cache to be stored locally in node.js
5. She says she’s getting a lot of NAs, that happens when biomass is 0
6. Model will hang up if there is no major component for mukey
7. Maybe it can default to the non major key, brian says no. Return 50x error code
8. Will add a message to the response detailing failures
9. Made an optimization for ncalc predicted weather
  1. Was calculating the max date using an expensive query
  2. Anything 10 days or older ignores the max
  3. SSURGO added index and increased working memory
10. MRV is 99% done, met with Jyoti and dean
11. Dean can run everything through web app
12. Working on standard seed mixes for vegspec
Trevor
1. Wasn’t able to finish up the refactor
2. Committed all the resources
3. Refactor/overhaul branch selector API

Jun 23, 2025

Ted
1. Fixes for the Selector WCCC on the Goals page
2. included updating filters
3. fixed goals page structure
4. moved sections properly
5. Updating planting season filter
  1. will require the back end to be updated to add correct seasons.
Ravi
1. My selected crops page updates
2. images in the info sheet.
3. buttons on the nav bars to be updated
Rick
1. MRV Pipeline - 95% complete.
  1. The entire pipeline can be run from a Web interface, including uploading shapefiles and periodic killdown files, to downloading HLS tiles, to running WISE / WIST, to creating CSV files and viewing PDF plots.
    1. Created a domain for the VM: https://mrv.covercrop-imagery.org/
    2. Got Cloudflare streaming R and C output using WebSockets. This resolves the problem of Cloudflare timeouts.
    3. Put the plot viewer on the VM. (Previously on the UGA Ag Services Lab server.)
    4. The viewer organizes data based on category (Low / Medium / High biomass, Winter-killed, etc.), and it allows the user to notate instructions for each individual plot (Release payment, Wait for imagery, Investigate, etc.)
2. VegSpec
  1. Working on standard seed mixes for different states.
Victoria
Chris
1. Vms per container is hard to define
2. cloud flair allows us to point pork bun DNS at cloud flair and assists with DNS resolution
3. cloud flair also deals with CDN cashing our sites in different locations to make it quicker to retrieve.
4. can prevent using cloud flair level but help with the type of SSL Certs we can use. at this point we need to use 15 yr SSL certs

Jun 16, 2025

Rick
1. MRV Pipeline
  1. Successfully running on VM.
  2. Created route for uploading yearly shapefiles and periodic killdown files.
  3. Created route for downloading new tiles for all locations. (Currently Maryland, Missouri, and Cover Cress fields.)
  4. Created route for extracting median reflectance values.
  5. Created route for running the rest of the pipeline, including WISE / WIST executables, and creating output CSV and plot files.
  6. Documented at http://52.38.39.129:3000/instructions.html
Ravi
1. worked on a handful of tickets related to bugs found in testing
  1. goal order PR has a note to review
  2. currently working on verifying resetting is doing what it should.
Akshat
1. I have been working on Android tasks with Mikah. Last week I finished up solving a bug which let the users create duplicate packages in the MONO app (which should have not been allowed)
2. Also added a feature which prevents the user from editing metadata of the packages a package with the same metadata exists.
3. There was a bug which marked the packages as uploaded when actually they were not successfully added to the database. So currently, working on finding a method to identify those images so that they can be reuploaded.

Jun 9, 2025

Ravi
1. Worked on DST selector issue for avoiding next dialog, put in DST dev chanel
2. Will work on docs next
3. Will also resolve android issue for ag image repo
Akshat
1. Working on android tickets
2. Looking at streaming data, discovered issue is with nginx and cloudflare
3. Will look into chunking the request
4. Looking into other tickets for fetching metadata
5. Will be working on those other tickets
Trevor
1. Working on wrapping up db transfers and service refactors
Rick
1. MRV pipeline has become a full time job
2. Got everything going for MD and Missouri and the Fields
3. Trying to get it to work on the VM
  1. No challenges so far
Elizabeth
1. Finishing up power point presentation for this Wednesday
2. Making sure data is in formats they like
3. Chugging along
Victoria
1. A couple problems with the site, state information pages
2. Mikah needs to touch base with Adam about this
Brian
1. Need to go over things in digital ocean
2. Old PSA website
  1. Set up nginx or apache to forward to the new website
3. Some backups
4. Server that Brian uses
5. Mikah and Brian will meet to discuss

Jun 2, 2025

Ravi
1. Finished updates from wizard suggestions
2. result page on a yes
3. documentation has started
Akshat
1. Dashboard app fixed front end
2. back end issue for optimizing downloads
3. script to check db for ambiguous values or mistakes GitHub actions
4. mono cam and dashboard app
Ted
1. Back end updates
2. unit test for refactor of back end
3. few fixes for selector on back end
4. filter to filter addl filters for crops
5. back end updates and fixes for front end.
Mikah
1. Fixing broken stuff
2. tech dashboard fixed
3. directus fixed
4. Midwest data release this week
5. GLOVIS connect server install done
6. Rohit is tasked with R Clone
Chris
1. Craft 16th at 2 pm for craft
Rick
1. VegSpec:
  1. Knowledge transfer documentation: Vegetation Specification Suite (VegSpec) Application Overview Documentation
  2. Redesigned crop cards
  3. Location added to image credits
2. MRV:
  1. Created plot viewer for Missouri
  2. New report logic for Missouri
  3. Ran biweekly report for Maryland

05-19-25

Ravi
1. Mono app issue with image sequencing.
  1. trying to debug and find out why the issue
Ted
1. Several issues with selector
2. adding buttons for Alaska and HI
3. Pipeline issues
4. More minor issues to work on this week
Akshat
1. Data Cleanup for PM3d db
2. moving data between containers and removing test data.
3. few more db tasks,
4. time out api issues
Rick
1. Vegspec updates
2. data clean up for vegspec
3. MRV pipeline
4. working on MO this week not sure about doing other states
  1. time for completing MO - should take this week
5. will finish up the MRV work through the month
Elizabeth
1. As of eod fri 37 respondents
2. 18 completed 11 assigned to facilitators
3. deadline of the 23rd (fri)
4. upcoming meetings to go over results.
5. Will plan to make updates from testing.
Mikah
1. working with Akshat with monocam and hosting drone on open on demand too.
Victoria
1. NECCC site.
Brian

05-12-25

Ravi
1. Working on the mono app and completed all tasks.
Ted
1. Responsive fixes for the seedCalc and Selector
2. selector calendar fix
3. reviewing NCalc this afternoon
Mikah
1. Will be ready for NCalc Release in a few weeks
2. Knowledge transfer next week
Trevor
1. Knowledge transfer resources
2. will implement database refactor first
Rick
1. MUI updates for vegSpec
2. species page update
Akshat
1. Working on the tickets for cleaning up database for monocam
2. small UI fix for scroll bars still working
3. new updates for drone project are live
  1. Export for plot images is broken will work on this week
Elizabeth
1. User Testing is chugging along
2. 35 testers 12 sessions completed
3. only area not yet covered is HI
4. goals expected to be hit
Brian

05-05-25

Trevor
1. Finishing up DB Scheme refactor this week
2. Knowlege transfer resources
3. transfer db
4. finish refactor.
5. cidc pipeline updates for new vars.
Ted
1. Info sheet updating data to make sure Qualitative has been removed
Ravi
1. Null statements on some of the tool tips. Should be done today.
Mikah
1. PM3d Mono cam with Akshat
2. Mono cam API ticket needs reviewed.
Victoria
1. meeting tomorrow for the NECCC
Chris

04-28-25

Ted
1. created crop cards and info sheet shared components.
Rick
1. Working though Game Theory Figma
Elizabeth
1. getting new facilitator we have 10 testers need more in the mountatins and pacific islands
Mikah
1. Akshat and Trevor working together on the knowledge transfer
Brian
Victoria
1. Needs funding info from Chris for Council website.

04-21-25

Akshat
1. Processor functions for backend pipeline
2. merged map into selector, seedcalc
Ted
1. Working on the front end updates for the WCCC termination filter
2. data on back end isn't ready but front end isn't ready.
Elizabeth
1. Only a few (6) respondents
  1. looking for many more
  2. hopeing to find more through the facilitators.
  3. facilitators should be ready to go
Rick
1. crop card shared component
2. will add map to vegspec
3. Data Clean up for vegspec
4. MRV pipeline will be able to be run by dean.
5. will add in info sheet component once its made.
6. new weather server this week.
Mikah
1. will get updated formula for hollow cellulose
2. batching processes is going well.
  1. sending 3900 file
  2. could be 10 -15 that size total
  3. will need to move to VM eventually
Brian
1. azure stuff to handle
2. need funding to pay for those servers.
Victoria
1. first accent for cover crop council website.

04-07-25

Ted
1. Making progress with he DB updates
2. getting used to DB code
3. working with Rick and Akshat on map implementation on selector seedcalc is next
Trevor
1. PM3d mono oak issues not resolved yet but no bugs found could be env based
2. craft web hooks switched over to chronjob processor is not reliable people getting too many emails if delay. will revert back to in line
3. will use redis for emailing and association jobs
Ravi
1. Working on the WCCC notes issue
  1. PR to be reviewed.
2. flooding frequency issue is next
Akshat
1. Working on map component with User History with Ted
2. working for both Selector and VegSpec
3. will implement in seedcalc
4. met with Jinam for drone project. talked about removing HTTP server
5. will take info from mounted drive directly
6. processor functions done with fetching and validating
  1. next is to normalize the data.
Rick
1. In preparation for new weather server, optimized the Julia program to download, join, and import an hour of NLDAS-2 and MOSAIC NetCDF files in 4s. -
  1. That’s 80,000+ rows x 50 columns, which works out to one million data points per second.
  2. After accounting for building indexes, I can now download and import 2 years of NLDAS-2 + MOSAIC data per day.
2. Moved MRV plots from JPEGs to PDFs, and created a web-based plot viewer: - MRV Pipeline
  1. PDFs take half the time to generate, they’re searchable, and they are 1/6th the size of the JPEGs. However, you can’t scroll through them using the arrow keys like you can with JPEGs.
  2. Wrote a web program that solves the problem: https://aesl.ces.uga.edu/psa/mrv/plots/?date=25-0325
3. Provided option to specify which tiles to download:
  1. download.R uses the polygons API to limit the STAC search to the tiles needed. Unfortunately, Jyoti’s access to the polygons API is restricted by USDA.
  2. There doesn’t appear to be a way to specify which tiles to download. Instead, the program passes the bounding box of Maryland and filters out tiles that aren’t needed.
  3. This is a stop-gap solution until the craziness is over.
4. Programmed image credits: - VegSpec
  1. After over four months of waiting and numerous attempts by USDA IT*, I finally got a list of image links with credits.
  2. * I was given a SQL statement that returned NULL for all contributors; another SQL statement that I couldn’t run due to missing tables; a CSV of a missing table, with filenames but no id that matched anything in my copy of the database; a CSV of contributors without filenames (which I already had); an apparent FULL JOIN on filenames and contributors so that nearly all images showed multiple contributors; then finally a workable dataset after a new IT dev was brought on.
  3. Most species have multiple images, and each image has multiple records for defining author, artist, title, etc.
  4. Many species have synonyms.
  5. Created an endpoint, which combines the multiple records, accounts for synonyms, and returns a single image and description per species: https://developweather.covercrop-data.org/vegspec/imagecredits
5. Ncalc API
  1. Reduced runtime of the API from 2 hours down to 5m 30s by caching SSURGO and Weather API calls. However, that’s still too slow for Cloudflare timeouts.
  2. Attempted streaming the results, but streaming still needs to be finished withing Cloudflare’s 100s time limit.
  3. Will see if SSE (Server-Side Events) will work instead.
Elizabeth
1. game theory and I trained eight more people to be facilitators for the western specie selector testing. The council is recruiting respondents (a.k.a. testers), and some of the facilitators are recruiting, too. We plan to start testing April 23, after the next WCCCB e-board meeting, and complete testing May 16. We are tracking the characteristics and experience levels of respondents to make sure we have good representation from the region. Adam created an awesome walk-through of the selector for the western region, and we hope it goes live soon after a meeting tomorrow with Sarah Seehaver.

04-07-25

Trevor
1. WCCC addl updates
  1. tickets created and assigned out.
2. DST service refactor
  1. will help modularize each component
  2. akshat is working on this
3. CRAFT bug being worked on
Ted
1. acessabillity issues on Vegspec
2. akshat updates to map discussion
3. working on back end ticket for selector
Ravi
1. AGIR updates made for user MD
2. uploaded addl data to azure
3. PM3d app has issue with back end dashboard app not working because of timeout error. data not being fetched
4. Wizard app
  1. project setup and landing page started
Akshat
1. finished with image matching upload on weeds repo
2. making changes to map per review with ted
3. Will work on back end ticket from Trevor
4. ticket from Matthew for image matching task.
Rick
1. Automated MRV pipeline and biweekly report
2. jyoti approved report from today
3. api work for pm3d, surgo, ncalc, and weather api
4. `greatly reduced wait time!
5. data clean up for veg spec
Elizabeth
Brian
Mikah

03-31-25

Trevor
1. WCCC updates needed
  1. big issue needs to add tagging assigned to Brennen
  2. minor data updates will also be assigned out by morning tomorrow - ted
2. sccc data pull finished by friday
3. craft webhook refactor by today
4. outline for future of update of backend.
Ravi
1. AGIR issue fixed
2. back end update fixed - labels on the notes sections being update
3. one more ticket with Pm3D
Akshat
1. Map refactor finished
  1. testing with rick
    1. bugs fixed
  2. placed in shared components.
  3. implemented into selector and seedCalc.
2. Android project making updates ready for next steps
Ted
1. Working on VegSpec
  1. accessibility issues sizing and contract is done and
  2. annotations left.
Rick
1. weather server crashed and fixed
2. collab with me about demo
3. collab with ted over vegSpec
4. Akshat with map
Elizabeth
1. user testing will “begin” wed with mock testing
2. should meet with all facilitators early next week
3. need info from WCCC for next steps.
Anna
1. timeline for the seedCalc Midwest states not known yet will follow up with weekly

03-24-25

Trevor
1. User history updates
2. SCCC seedcalc stuff still to clear up
  1. will require to repull data
3. craft webhook refactor
4. refactor back end dst to make verification easier.
Ravi
1. updates to seedCalc
2. Debugging issues with AGIR
Ted
1. accessibility issues for NCalc
Akshat
1. working on map refactor
2. working on integrating DSTs functions into map
3. image matching task for image repo
Rick
1. updates to vegspec
2. data corrections for vegspec
3. weather server optimization to have hosted at NCstate
4. more automation to joti’s project.
Elizabeth
1. Meeting tomorrow with WCCC eboard
2. get through final questions for finalizing testing materials.
3. mock testing next week hopefully
4. full testing 2nd week of April if possible
Mikah
1. Released images for seedcacl
2. prep for wccc meeting tomorrow
Brian

03-17-25

Trevor
1. Discussed update for user field
2. finishing up updates from west
  1. finishing up hawaii
  2. Missing info sheets done
  3. other issues corrected
  4. seedcalc bug to be wrapped up tomorrow
    1. SCCC crops throwing SDK error.
Ravi
1. Starting to fix issues he found on SeedCalc from testing
2. will be doing more Code Review
3. has some AGIR and PM3d Tasks
Akshat
1. Refactor of the Map component
  1. separating logic
  2. need to meet over selector map updates
Ted
1. Working on the accessibility and some testing updates for seedcalc
2. accessibility for NCalc next
3. FlyFree date correction
4. Mobile updates for info sheet.
Rick