OpenDCS
Fiscal Host: Open Source Collective
We maintain a collection of tools for acquiring hydromet data from remote platforms with data sent over NOAA GOES Satellite and other methods.
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Financial Contributions
Top financial contributors
MikeN
$1,510 USD since Jun 2026
2
Charles
$10 USD since Jul 2026
OpenDCS is all of us
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Credit from Charles to OpenDCS •
+$10.00USD
Completed
Contribution #969041
+$1,500.00USD
Completed
Contribution #962816
+$10.00USD
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Contribution #962814
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Today’s balance$1,322.77 USD
Total raised
$1,322.77 USD
Total disbursed
--.-- USD
Estimated annual budget
$1,740.00 USD
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The Logo
Those familiar with OpenDCS, and that has been to the https://github.com/opendcs organization or the repository is familiar with the current logo:...
Published on July 2, 2026 by MikeN
About
OpenDCS started in 1999 under contract from the U.S. Geological Survey to acquire "DCS" (measurements from remote data loggers) data from the NOAA GOES Satellites, https://www.noaasis.noaa.gov/GOES/GOES_DCS/goes_dcs.html. A few years later it was expanded to take those transmissions and convert them to engineering units (e.g. Precipitation usable series of (time, value) pairs, in say "inches"). And after that the software was expanded to perform additional computations on data recieved.
More of the history is available here: https://opendcs-env.readthedocs.io/en/stable/start-software.html#what-is-the-history-of-opendcs
OpenDCS can currently pull in data from the NOAA GOES Systems, Iridium, and some data logger brands. For the GOES system network targets (LRGS), direct from the GOES Satellite (with appropriate hardware), a combined rebroadcast (HRIT) from the satellite (also with appropriate hardware) are supported, the new USGS water data API, and generic web data sources are supported.
The software can be expanded by the user to directly handle additional data sources.
Going forward we are working on modernizing the code base, the most original parts were originally written in C and if you look at the now Java code, and are familiar with 1990s style you can see the vestiges of that original port. Beyond that we're updating how data is accessed so that all operations can be more stable and easier to expand on.
We have one active Release branch that continues an older, but relatively stable version of the software, and in the main branch, which will become our 8.x version, we have jumped to Java 21 and are making use of any feature that makes things better for developers and users as well as taking the time to drastically modify core operations to be more stable. The main branch is also were we are targeting updates to work better in various cloud environments as well as changes to help "quick start" new users.
At this time we have 3 core "implementation", database targets, to meet the needs of the major contributors, as well as a "reference implementation."
More information about what we are working on can be found in the organizations GitHub projects https://github.com/opendcs/opendcs/projects?query=is%3Aopen, as well as open issues, discussions, and our freelists.org mailing lists.
OpenDCS also provides "lrgs.opendcs.org"* in complement to the hosts that NOAA and USGS provide for https://dcs1.noaa.gov/ for users that don't want to setup an account with NOAA.
* Note that there is currently no landing page, you can acquire data with an LRGS instance using a user name and password of "anonymous", which is the default configuration in the software.
That service is currently provided on a best-effort basis, though we try to keep it running and full of data.
More of the history is available here: https://opendcs-env.readthedocs.io/en/stable/start-software.html#what-is-the-history-of-opendcs
OpenDCS can currently pull in data from the NOAA GOES Systems, Iridium, and some data logger brands. For the GOES system network targets (LRGS), direct from the GOES Satellite (with appropriate hardware), a combined rebroadcast (HRIT) from the satellite (also with appropriate hardware) are supported, the new USGS water data API, and generic web data sources are supported.
The software can be expanded by the user to directly handle additional data sources.
Going forward we are working on modernizing the code base, the most original parts were originally written in C and if you look at the now Java code, and are familiar with 1990s style you can see the vestiges of that original port. Beyond that we're updating how data is accessed so that all operations can be more stable and easier to expand on.
We have one active Release branch that continues an older, but relatively stable version of the software, and in the main branch, which will become our 8.x version, we have jumped to Java 21 and are making use of any feature that makes things better for developers and users as well as taking the time to drastically modify core operations to be more stable. The main branch is also were we are targeting updates to work better in various cloud environments as well as changes to help "quick start" new users.
At this time we have 3 core "implementation", database targets, to meet the needs of the major contributors, as well as a "reference implementation."
More information about what we are working on can be found in the organizations GitHub projects https://github.com/opendcs/opendcs/projects?query=is%3Aopen, as well as open issues, discussions, and our freelists.org mailing lists.
OpenDCS also provides "lrgs.opendcs.org"* in complement to the hosts that NOAA and USGS provide for https://dcs1.noaa.gov/ for users that don't want to setup an account with NOAA.
* Note that there is currently no landing page, you can acquire data with an LRGS instance using a user name and password of "anonymous", which is the default configuration in the software.
That service is currently provided on a best-effort basis, though we try to keep it running and full of data.