The document describes an online collaborative platform for earth observation scientists that facilitates data access, management, and sharing through web 2.0 technologies and cloud computing. It outlines the platform's features, including user profiles, discussions, and interactive application services, alongside its development plans and prototype details. The platform has gained usage among various communities, with a focus on expanding access and functionality for scientific collaboration.

1. An On-line Collaborative Platform for Earth Observation Scientists

2. An on-line platform For: Earth Observation Scientists Facilitating: Collaboration between scientists Application access, management and sharing Data access, management and sharing Leveraging: Web 2.0 and social networking technologies Cloud computing technologies Semantic Web technologies Funded by: CANARIE - Network Enabled Platform (NEP-1) program Cybera ( http://geochronos.org/ ) SC09 Nov. 14-20, 2009

3. Solutions Portal rich with social networking features Tags, bookmarks, profiles, blogs, wikis Friends/contacts, groups Discussions, message boards, calendars Status, activity feeds Technology Portal built on top of a social networking platform Initial prototype built in Facebook ( http://www.facebook.com ) Secondary prototype built on white label social networking platform Ning ( http://www.ning.com ) Current portal built on open source white label social networking platform Elgg ( http://www.elgg.org ) Next Steps Plan to keep using Elgg platform and upgrade as new versions released Develop new Elgg plugins as needed i.e., plugins for more easily sharing publications and presentations Collaboration SC09 Nov. 14-20, 2009

4. Dashboard SC09 Nov. 14-20, 2009

5. Groups SC09 Nov. 14-20, 2009

6. Solutions Interactive Application Service (IAS) On-line, on-demand access to scientific applications Share application sessions and data with other users Technology IAS is hosted on top of a cloud computing platform Use ASPEN ( http://grid.ucalgary.ca/projects/DataCentre/ ) which can dynamically provision virtual machines to host applications based on user demand Next Steps Batch processing and automated workflow services Handle longer running data processing tasks and simulations Automate data workflows involving data acquisition and transformation of data into different data products more suitable for use by scientists (i.e., mosaic, reproject and subset MODIS data) Applications SC09 Nov. 14-20, 2009

7. Application Catalogue SC09 Nov. 14-20, 2009

8. Interactive Application Service SC09 Nov. 14-20, 2009

9. Solutions Spectral Libraries Store, share and browse spectral data View spectral plots, metadata, ancillary data and maps Manage and generate metadata for spectra Create and share metadata schemas Technology iRODS ( http://www.irods.org/ ) for data storage/management Semantic Web technologies such as RDF (Resource Description Framework) to link/relate data Next Steps Generalization of spectral library solution Acquire, store, manage, browse and share other types of data MODIS and other satellite data Flux tower and phenology tower data Meteorological data Other data Data SC09 Nov. 14-20, 2009

10. Spectral Library - Browse SC09 Nov. 14-20, 2009

11. Spectral Library - Metadata SC09 Nov. 14-20, 2009

12. Portal Usage Over 70 users from Europe, South America and North America Used at IAI International Wireless Sensor Networking Summer School in Edmonton in July 2009 (~40 participants) On-going usage by Tropi-Dry community for collaboration and sharing documents Slowly opening up portal to different communities of users as development progresses SC09 Nov. 14-20, 2009

13. Apr 21, 2009 - CANARIE NEP-1 Synergy Workshop (Winnipeg) Jun 22, 2009 - SpecNet Workshop (Lethbridge) Jun 24-26, 2009 – Meeting of the Collaborative Research Network II (CRN2) and Small Grant Program for the Human Dimensions (SGP-HD) Principal Investigators (Montevideo, Uruguay) Jul 6-18, 2009 - IAI International Wireless Sensor Networking Summer School (Edmonton) Aug 15, 2009 – Elgg Camp (Boston) Oct 14, 2009 – Summit 09 (Banff) Presentations/Demonstrations SC09 Nov. 14-20, 2009

14. R. Curry, C. Kiddle and R. Simmonds. Social Networking and Scientific Gateways. To appear in Proceedings of the Grid Computing Environments Workshop , Portland, OR, November 20, 2009. N. Markatchev, R. Curry, C. Kiddle, A. Mirtchovski, R. Simmonds and T. Tan. A Cloud-based Interactive Application Service. To appear in Proceedings of the 5th IEEE International Conference on e-Science , Oxford, UK, December 9-11, 2009. J. A. Gamon, C. Kiddle, R. Curry, N. Markatchev, G. Pastorello Jr., B. Rivard, G. A. Sanchez-Azofeifa, R. Simmonds and T. Tan. GeoChronos: An On-line Collaborative Platform for Earth Observation Scientists. To appear in Proceedings of the AGU Fall Meeting , San Francisco, CA, December 14-18, 2009. (Abstract) Publications SC09 Nov. 14-20, 2009

15. Project Team SC09 Nov. 14-20, 2009 Dr. Arturo Sanchez-Azofeifa University of Alberta Dr. John Gamon University of Alberta Dr. Benoit Rivard University of Alberta Dr. Rob Simmonds University of Calgary Prinicipal Investigators Project Coordination Platform Development Domain Scientists

16. Virtual Organization SC09 Nov. 14-20, 2009

17. Contact Information SC09 Nov. 14-20, 2009 http://geochronos.org/ [email_address] http://grid.ucalgary.ca/ http://ceos.ualberta.ca/ http://www.cybera.ca/