The Scalable Brain Atlas: instant web-based access to public brain atlases and related content

The Scalable Brain Atlas (SBA) is a collection of web services that provide unified access to a large collection of brain atlas templates for different species. Its main component is an atlas viewer that displays brain atlas data as a stack of slices in which stereotaxic coordinates and brain regions can be selected. These are subsequently used to launch web queries to resources that require coordinates or region names as input. It supports plugins which run inside the viewer and respond when a new slice, coordinate or region is selected. It contains 20 atlas templates in six species, and plugins to compute coordinate transformations, display anatomical connectivity and fiducial points, and retrieve properties, descriptions, definitions and 3d reconstructions of brain regions. The ambition of SBA is to provide a unified representation of all publicly available brain atlases directly in the web browser, while remaining a responsive and light weight resource that specializes in atlas comparisons, searches, coordinate transformations and interactive displays.Comment: Rolf K\"otter sadly passed away on June 9th, 2010. He co-initiated this project and played a crucial role in the design and quality assurance of the Scalable Brain Atla

Interactive topographic web mapping using scalable vector graphics

Large scale topographic maps portray detailed information about the landscape. They are used for a wide variety o f purposes. USGS large scale topographic maps at 1:24,000 have been traditionally distributed in paper form. With the advent of the Internet, these maps can now be distributed electronically. Instead of common raster format presentation, the solution presented here is based on a vector approach. The vector format provides many advantages compared to the use of a raster-based presentation. This research shows that Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is a promising technology for delivering high quality interactive topographic maps via the Internet, both in terms o f graphic quality and interactivity. A possible structure for the SVG map document is proposed. Interactive features such as toggling thematic layers on and off, UTM coordinate readout for x, y, and z (elevation) were developed as well. Adding this type of interactivity can help to better extract information from a topographic map. A focus group analysis with the online SVG topographic map shows a high-level of user acceptance

Integrated XML andGML in Geographical Information System

This project basically concentrated on the study of extensible Markup Language (XML) and Geography Markup Language (GML) in Geographical Information System (GIS). The objective of the project is to convert the spatial data (e.g.: coordinates, area, etc) by using the XML and GML and then coding will be integrated and viewed in the web browser by using the Scalable Vector Graphic (SVG)technology. Basically, this project is done to find a new way to overcomethe weaknesses of map digitizing and taking advantage of the GML technology in Geographical Information System. The project scope is concentrate on the usage of XML andGML in GIS. Research is done onXML technologies, which are provided for GML. The technologies included technology for encoding and data modeling (Data Type Definition, XML Schema), technology for transforming (XSLT) and technology for graphic rendering (SVG). Research on GML is focused on manipulation of spatial data to convert to simple features such as point, line and polygon. This project combines XML, GML and SVG technologies in order to meet the project objectives. In completing this project, waterfall model is use as the methodology for the system development. The project is developed according tothe four phases of system development, which are planning, analysis, design and implementation. The discussion ofthis project will be more on GML compatibility and the advantages of using SVG to view the map. The simple display of map created will be able to show thatGML is suits for handling geo-spatial data overthe Internet. The user would be able to view the map and zooming feature is provided by SVG

Folders: A Visual Organization System for MIT App Inventor

In blocks programming languages, such as MIT App Inventor, programs are built by composing puzzle-shaped fragments on a 2D workspace. Their visual nature makes programming more accessible to novices, but it also has numerous drawbacks. Users must decide where to place blocks on the workspace, and these placements may require the reorganization of other blocks. Block representations are less space efficient than their textual equivalents. Finally, the fundamental 2D nature of the blocks workspace makes it more challenging to search and navigate than the traditional linear workflow. Because of these barriers, users have difficulty creating and navigating complex programs. In order to address these drawbacks, I have developed Folders, a visual organization system, for App Inventor. Folders, which are modeled after the hierarchical desktop metaphor folders, allow users to nest blocks within them, and solve many of the aforementioned problems. First, users can use Folders, rather than spatial closeness, to place and organize blocks, thereby explicitly indicating a relationship between them. Second, Folders allow users to selectively hide and show particular groups of blocks and address the issue of limited visible space. Lastly, users are already familiar with the folder metaphor from other applications, so their introduction does not complicate App Inventor. Unfortunately, Folders also introduce new obstacles. Users might expect that putting blocks into Folders removes them from the main workspace semantically. However, Folders are only for organizing blocks and decluttering the workspace, and their contained blocks are still considered part of the main workspace. Furthermore, Folders exacerbate the search and navigation problem. Since blocks can now be hidden in collapsed Folders, finding a usage or declaration of a variable, procedure, or component can be more difficult. I have received preliminary feedback on my initial implementation of Folders and am designing a user study to evaluate my Folders system

An automatic marker for vector graphics drawing tasks

In recent years, the SVG file format has grown increasingly popular, largely due to its widespread adoption as the standard image format for vector graphics on the World Wide Web. However, vector graphics predate the modern Web, having served an important role in graphic and computer-aided design for decades prior to SVG's adoption as a web standard. Vector graphics are just as - if not more - relevant than ever today. As a result, training in vector graphics software, particularly in graphic and other creative design fields, forms an important part of the skills development necessary to enter the industry. This study explored the feasibility of a web application that can automatically mark/assess drawing tasks completed in popular vector graphics editors such as Adobe Illustrator, CorelDRAW, and Inkscape. This prototype has been developed using a collection of front-end and back-end web technologies, requiring that users need only a standards-compliant, modern web browser to submit tasks for assessment. Testing was carried out to assess how the application handled SVG markup produced by different users and vector graphics drawing software; and whether the assessment/scoring of submitted tasks was inline with that of a human marker. While some refinement is required, the application assessed six different tasks, submitted eleven times over by as many individuals, and for the greater part was successful in reporting scores in line with that of the researcher. As a prototype, serving as a proof of concept, the project proved the automatic marker a feasible concept. Exactly how marks should be assigned, for which criteria, and how much instruction should be provided are aspects for further study; along with support for curved path segments, and automatic task generation

Generating eScience Workflows from Statistical Analysis of Prior Data

A number of workflow design tools have been developed specifically to enable easy graphical specification of workflows that ensure systematic scientific data capture and analysis and precise provenance information. We believe that an important component that is missing from these existing workflow specification and enactment systems is integration with tools that enable prior detailed analysis of the existing data - and in particular statistical analysis. By thoroughly analyzing the existing relevant datasets first, it is possible to determine precisely where the existing data is sparse or insufficient and what further experimentation is required. Introducing statistical analysis to experimental design will reduce duplication and costs associated with fruitless experimentation and maximize opportunities for scientific breakthroughs. In this paper we describe a workflow specification system that we have developed for a particular eScience application (fuel cell optimization). Experimental workflow instances are generated as a result of detailed statistical analysis and interactive exploration of the existing datasets. This is carried out through a graphical data exploration interface that integrates the widely-used open source statistical analysis software package, R, as a web service

GVSOS: A New Client for OGC SOS Interface Standard

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies.The popularity of sensor networks has increased very fast recently. A major problem with these networks is achieving interoperability between different networks which are potentially built using different platforms. OGC’s specifications allow clients to access geospatial data without knowing the details about how this data is gathered or stored. Currently OGC is working on an initiative called Sensor Web Enablement (SWE), for specifying interoperability interfaces and metadata encodings that enable real‐time integration of heterogeneous sensor webs into the information infrastructure. In this work we present the implementation of gvSOS, a new module for the GIS gvSIG to connect to Sensor Observation Services (SOS). The SOS client module allows gvSIG users to interact with SOS servers, displaying the information gathered by sensors in a layer composed by features. We present the detailed software engineering development process followed to build the module. For each step of the process we specify the main obstacles found during the development such as, restrictions of the gvSIG architecture, inaccuracies in the OGC’s specifications, and a set of common problems found in current SOS servers implementations available on the Internet