Building the IDECi-UIB: the scientific spatial data infrastructure node for the Balearic Islands University

Technical and methodological enhancements in Information Technologies (IT) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) has permitted the growth in Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI) performance. In this way, their uses and applications have grown very rapidly. In the scientific and educational working fields, different institutions and organisations have bet for its use enforcing information exchange that allows researchers to improve their studies as well as give a better dissemination within the scientific community. Therefore, the GIS and Remote Sensing Service (SSIGT) at the Balearic Islands University (UIB) has decided to build and launch its own SDI to serve scientific Geo-Information (GI) throughout the Balearic Islands society focussing on the university community. By these means it intends to boost the development of research and education focusing on the field of spatial information. This article tries to explain the background ideas that form the basic concept of the scientific SDI related to the concepts of e-Science and e-Research. Finally, it explains how these ideas are taken into practice into the new University Scientific SDI

A Grid platform for the European Civil Protection e-Infrastructure: the Forest Fires use scenario

During the full cycle of the emergency management, Civil Protection operative procedures involve many actors belonging to several institutions playing different roles. In this context the sharing of information is a vital requirement to make correct and effective decisions. Therefore a European-wide technological infrastructure providing a distributed and coordinated access to different kinds of resources (data, information, services, expertise, etc.) could enhance existing Civil Protection applications and even enable new ones. In the recent years Grid technologies have reached a mature state providing a platform for secure and coordinated resource sharing between the participants in the so-called Virtual Organizations. Moreover the Earth and Space Sciences Informatics provide the conceptual tools for modelling the geospatial information shared in Civil Protection applications during its entire life cycle. Therefore a European Civil Protection e-infrastructure could be based on a Grid platform enhanced with Earth Sciences specific services. However Civil Protection applications stress the requirements of Earth Sciences research applications, for example in terms of real-time support. Therefore a set of high-level services specifically tailored for such applications must be built on top of the Grid platform. As a result of a requirement analysis, the FP6 project CYCLOPS has proposed an architectural framework for the future European Civil Protection e-Infrastructure. In this architecture a layer of high-level services tailored to Civil Protection applications is built on top of the EGEE Grid middleware. This architectural approach has been tested implementing a prototype of a grid-enabled RISICO, the application for wild fire risk assessment used by the Italian Civil Protection

A grid-enabled Web Map server

Today Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provide several tools for studying and analyzing varied human and natural phenomena, therefore GIS and geospatial data has grown so much in both public and private organizations. A Challenge is the integration of these data to get innovative and exhaustive knowledge about topics of interest. In this paper we describe the design of a Web Map Service (WMS) OGC-compliant, through the use of grid computing technology and demonstrate how this approach can improve, w.r.t. security, performance, efficiency and scalability, the integration of geospatial multi-source data. End users, with a single sign-on, securely and transparently, gets maps whose data are distributed on heterogeneous data sources belonging to one o more Virtual Organizations via distributed queries in a grid computing environment

Grid Enabled Geospatial Catalogue Web Service

Geospatial Catalogue Web Service is a vital service for sharing and interoperating volumes of distributed heterogeneous geospatial resources, such as data, services, applications, and their replicas over the web. Based on the Grid technology and the Open Geospatial Consortium (0GC) s Catalogue Service - Web Information Model, this paper proposes a new information model for Geospatial Catalogue Web Service, named as GCWS which can securely provides Grid-based publishing, managing and querying geospatial data and services, and the transparent access to the replica data and related services under the Grid environment. This information model integrates the information model of the Grid Replica Location Service (RLS)/Monitoring & Discovery Service (MDS) with the information model of OGC Catalogue Service (CSW), and refers to the geospatial data metadata standards from IS0 19115, FGDC and NASA EOS Core System and service metadata standards from IS0 191 19 to extend itself for expressing geospatial resources. Using GCWS, any valid geospatial user, who belongs to an authorized Virtual Organization (VO), can securely publish and manage geospatial resources, especially query on-demand data in the virtual community and get back it through the data-related services which provide functions such as subsetting, reformatting, reprojection etc. This work facilitates the geospatial resources sharing and interoperating under the Grid environment, and implements geospatial resources Grid enabled and Grid technologies geospatial enabled. It 2!so makes researcher to focus on science, 2nd not cn issues with computing ability, data locztic~, processir,g and management. GCWS also is a key component for workflow-based virtual geospatial data producing

Training of Crisis Mappers and Map Production from Multi-sensor Data: Vernazza Case Study (Cinque Terre National Park, Italy)

This aim of paper is to presents the development of a multidisciplinary project carried out by the cooperation between Politecnico di Torino and ITHACA (Information Technology for Humanitarian Assistance, Cooperation and Action). The goal of the project was the training in geospatial data acquiring and processing for students attending Architecture and Engineering Courses, in order to start up a team of "volunteer mappers". Indeed, the project is aimed to document the environmental and built heritage subject to disaster; the purpose is to improve the capabilities of the actors involved in the activities connected in geospatial data collection, integration and sharing. The proposed area for testing the training activities is the Cinque Terre National Park, registered in the World Heritage List since 1997. The area was affected by flood on the 25th of October 2011. According to other international experiences, the group is expected to be active after emergencies in order to upgrade maps, using data acquired by typical geomatic methods and techniques such as terrestrial and aerial Lidar, close-range and aerial photogrammetry, topographic and GNSS instruments etc.; or by non conventional systems and instruments such us UAV, mobile mapping etc. The ultimate goal is to implement a WebGIS platform to share all the data collected with local authorities and the Civil Protectio

Researcher-Led Development of E-Research in the Social Sciences: The Case of an E-Social Science Pilot Demonstrator Project

The introduction and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the process of research is extending beyond research management into research practice itself. This extension of the use of ICT in research is being termed as e-research. The characteristics of e-research are seen as the combination of three interrelated strands, which are: the increased computerization of the research process; research organized more predominantly in the form of distributed networks of researchers, and a strong emphasis on visualization. E-research has become established in the natural sciences but the development of e-research in relation to social sciences is variable and less pervasive. The richness of the social sciences and their variety of practices and engagement in diverse fields of study mean that e-research as utilized in the natural sciences cannot be easily migrated into the social sciences. This paper explores the development of e-research for the social sciences. The paper is based on an ESRC funded e-social science demonstrator project in which social scientists sought to shape the use of Grid ICT technologies in the research process. The project is called: \'Collaborative Analysis of Offenders\' Personal and Area-based Social Exclusion\': it addresses social exclusion in relation to how individual and neighbourhood effects account for geographical variations of crime patterns and explores the opportunities and challenges offered by e-research to address the research problem. The paper suggests that if e-research is driven from the needs of social research then it can enhance the practice of social science.E-Research; Social and Area-Based Exclusion; Young People at Risk of Crime; Information and Communication Technologies; Collaborative Research; Interdisciplinary Research

UK utility data integration: overcoming schematic heterogeneity

In this paper we discuss syntactic, semantic and schematic issues which inhibit the integration of utility data in the UK. We then focus on the techniques employed within the VISTA project to overcome schematic heterogeneity. A Global Schema based architecture is employed. Although automated approaches to Global Schema definition were attempted the heterogeneities of the sector were too great. A manual approach to Global Schema definition was employed. The techniques used to define and subsequently map source utility data models to this schema are discussed in detail. In order to ensure a coherent integrated model, sub and cross domain validation issues are then highlighted. Finally the proposed framework and data flow for schematic integration is introduced

MusA: Using Indoor Positioning and Navigation to Enhance Cultural Experiences in a museum

In recent years there has been a growing interest into the use of multimedia mobile guides in museum environments. Mobile devices have the capabilities to detect the user context and to provide pieces of information suitable to help visitors discovering and following the logical and emotional connections that develop during the visit. In this scenario, location based services (LBS) currently represent an asset, and the choice of the technology to determine users' position, combined with the definition of methods that can effectively convey information, become key issues in the design process. In this work, we present MusA (Museum Assistant), a general framework for the development of multimedia interactive guides for mobile devices. Its main feature is a vision-based indoor positioning system that allows the provision of several LBS, from way-finding to the contextualized communication of cultural contents, aimed at providing a meaningful exploration of exhibits according to visitors' personal interest and curiosity. Starting from the thorough description of the system architecture, the article presents the implementation of two mobile guides, developed to respectively address adults and children, and discusses the evaluation of the user experience and the visitors' appreciation of these application