Constructing a first-generation
cyberinfrastructure to support
ecological forecasting
Understanding and Forecasting Ecological Change: 3rd Annual Symposium
February 20, 2009
Joshua S. Campbell

Cyberinfrastructure
Cyberinfrastructure (CI) is the application of

information technology to the problem of efficiently
connecting data, computers, and people with the
goal of enabling the discovery of novel scientific
theories and knowledge.
Utilizes IT

Connecting

Distributed science


Vision
To share KBS data via the web

Identify, Organize, Metadata, Publish

Designed to support ecological forecasting

Land cover

Kansas Field Station and Ecological Reserves (KSR)

Hydrology


Motivation
Unrealized Value

Network Effects

NSF’s vision of Cyberinfrastructure

Sharing is the new research paradigm


Stakeholders
Scientific Community

Increase knowledge inside ecoforecasting community

about available datasets
Participate with a global research community

Public Outreach

Provide decision-makers and citizens access to KBS

science

Ecoforecasting and CI
Utilizes a range of atmospheric, geological,

hydrological, ecological, biological, and cultural data
Sorry if I forgot one…

Geography is the unifying framework

GIS provides the computational framework

Maps are a primary data interface


How will users interact with the data?

Designing Cyberinfrastructure
(National Academies Workshop, June 2007, http://cyberinfrastructure.us/)
Open standards

Proprietary platforms (linking)

Open source software

Open access publishing

Simplified data licenses (Science Commons)

Access management systems


Data Organization
Application
s
Web
Services
Dataset
s

System Design
3 Components

ArcGIS Server

GeoNetwork

KARS website redesign

Redundant and Discoverable


Demos
KSR Web Map

GeoNetwork

Interactive Map

Data Download

Google Earth

ArcGIS REST Services


Web application
is ‘consuming’
two web
services

Hyperlink
provides direct
access to the
GeoNetwork
metadata catalog
Each web service
is built from
individual
datasets

GeoNetwork provides
search capabilities based
on:
keyword
geographic location
KBS division
type of data

A built-in interactive map
viewer allows data to be
visualized and queried
prior to download

Data can be downloaded
in a number of formats,
including shapefile,
KML, WMS and REST

Provides direct
access to the ESRI
REST services page

HTML representation of all services running on the
server

REST services can be viewed in a number of
clients

Google can find and index both attributes and
geography

Supported Interfaces and Operations allow direct
programmatic access to the service. This allows the
data to be used in distributed modeling applications,
without having to be downloaded.

Next steps
Increase functionality of the system

Add more datasets

Create ‘geoprocessing’ web services

Increase users

New dynamic-HTML website


Challenges
Technology

Scientific research and IT are two distinct skillsets

WebGIS is not the same as desktop GIS

Culture

Data is power (or so researchers think)

F.U.D. (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt)

Extra work to provide metadata


Questions…?
KBS system is still in beta

System is expected to be operational this summer

Email

jsc1@ku.edu
