856 research outputs found
The Hierarchic treatment of marine ecological information from spatial networks of benthic platforms
Measuring biodiversity simultaneously in different locations, at different temporal scales, and over wide spatial scales is of strategic importance for the improvement of our understanding of the functioning of marine ecosystems and for the conservation of their biodiversity. Monitoring networks of cabled observatories, along with other docked autonomous systems (e.g., Remotely Operated Vehicles [ROVs], Autonomous Underwater Vehicles [AUVs], and crawlers), are being conceived and established at a spatial scale capable of tracking energy fluxes across benthic and pelagic compartments, as well as across geographic ecotones. At the same time, optoacoustic imaging is sustaining an unprecedented expansion in marine ecological monitoring, enabling the acquisition of new biological and environmental data at an appropriate spatiotemporal scale. At this stage, one of the main problems for an effective application of these technologies is the processing, storage, and treatment of the acquired complex ecological information. Here, we provide a conceptual overview on the technological developments in the multiparametric generation, storage, and automated hierarchic treatment of biological and environmental information required to capture the spatiotemporal complexity of a marine ecosystem. In doing so, we present a pipeline of ecological data acquisition and processing in different steps and prone to automation. We also give an example of population biomass, community richness and biodiversity data computation (as indicators for ecosystem functionality) with an Internet Operated Vehicle (a mobile crawler). Finally, we discuss the software requirements for that automated data processing at the level of cyber-infrastructures with sensor calibration and control, data banking, and ingestion into large data portals.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
Towards global data products of Essential Biodiversity Variables on species traits
Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) allow observation and reporting of global biodiversity change, but a detailed framework for the empirical derivation of specific EBVs has yet to be developed. Here, we re-examine and refine the previous candidate set of species traits EBVs and show how traits related to phenology, morphology, reproduction, physiology and movement can contribute to EBV operationalization. The selected EBVs express intra-specific trait variation and allow monitoring of how organisms respond to global change. We evaluate the societal relevance of species traits EBVs for policy targets and demonstrate how open, interoperable and machine-readable trait data enable the building of EBV data products. We outline collection methods, meta(data) standardization, reproducible workflows, semantic tools and licence requirements for producing species traits EBVs. An operationalization is critical for assessing progress towards biodiversity conservation and sustainable development goals and has wide implications for data-intensive science in ecology, biogeography, conservation and Earth observation
Using Technology Enabled Qualitative Research to Develop Products for the Social Good, An Overview
This paper discusses the potential benefits of the convergence of three recent trends for the design of socially beneficial products and services: the increasing application of qualitative research techniques in a wide range of disciplines, the rapid mainstreaming of social media and mobile technologies, and the emergence of software as a service. Presented is a scenario facilitating the complex data collection, analysis, storage, and reporting required for the qualitative research recommended for the task of designing relevant solutions to address needs of the underserved. A pilot study is used as a basis for describing the infrastructure and services required to realize this scenario. Implications for innovation of enhanced forms of qualitative research are presented
CHORUS Deliverable 2.1: State of the Art on Multimedia Search Engines
Based on the information provided by European projects and national initiatives related to multimedia search as well as domains experts that participated in the CHORUS Think-thanks and workshops, this document reports on the state of the art related to multimedia content search from, a technical, and socio-economic perspective.
The technical perspective includes an up to date view on content based indexing and retrieval technologies, multimedia search in the context of mobile devices and peer-to-peer networks, and an overview of current evaluation and benchmark inititiatives to measure the performance of multimedia search engines.
From a socio-economic perspective we inventorize the impact and legal consequences of these technical advances and point out future directions of research
Metadata management services for spatial data infrastructure
Am Geographischen Institut der Humboldt UniversitĂ€t zu Berlin wird tĂ€glich mit rĂ€umlichen Daten gearbeitet. Die erfolgreiche Arbeit von Forschungsgruppen, LehrtĂ€tigen und Studenten basiert auf brauchbaren Datengrundlagen. Um diese FĂŒlle von Ressourcen ĂŒberschaubar zu organisieren wird seit einigen Jahren eine Geodateninfrastruktur unterhalten. Sie verfĂŒgt - neben anderen Anwendungen - ĂŒber ein Geoportal, das dem Benutzer erlaubt auf die Geodatenbanken des Instituts zuzugreifen. Die Geodateninfrastruktur erlaubt dem Benutzer Ressourcen institutsweit zu suchen, anzuzeigen und (wieder) zu benutzen. Durch dieses kooperative Netzwerk sollen Synergieeffekte erzielt werden da Beschaffungskosten fĂŒr Neudaten entfallen. ZusĂ€tzlich kann die Geodateninfrastruktur LehrtĂ€tigkeit unterstĂŒtzen und als praktisches Beispiel in den Lehrplan integriert werden. KernstĂŒck dieses virtuellen Netzwerks sind Metadaten. Sie ermöglichen die umfassende Beschreibung der Ressourcen des Instituts, sowie Suche und Identifikation von Ressourcen durch das Geoportal. Der Metadaten Katalog des Instituts dient der Organisation dieser Metadaten in standardisierter Form.
Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es, ein neues Metadaten Management Systems fĂŒr die Geodateninfrastruktur des Geographischen Instituts zu implementieren. Der am Ende stehende funktionsfĂ€hige Prototyp soll vom Leitbild des âuser-centric SDIâ Ansatzes geprĂ€gt sein. Dieses Konzept reprĂ€sentiert die nunmehr dritte Generation von Geodatenbanken und rĂŒckt den Benutzer in das Zentrum der Aufmerksamkeit - und dies von Beginn des Implementierungsprozesses an. Der gesamte Arbeitsfluss soll demzufolge stark vom Feedback der spĂ€teren Benutzer und deren Anforderungen geprĂ€gt sein. Mit âJoint Application Designâ und âRapid Prototypingâ wurden Methoden gewĂ€hlt, die diese Art von Software Entwicklung unter aktivem Nutzerengagement unterstĂŒtzen. Als Folge nehmen Nutzerbefragungen, PrĂ€sentations- und Informationsveranstaltungen sowie Fragebogendesign und Auswertung in dieser Arbeit prominente Stellungen ein. Viele Weichen in der Softwareentwicklung wurden nach Auswertung von Nutzerbefragungen gestellt. Im Vorfeld wurde eine Unterteilung der Institutsmitglieder in âExpertenâ und (potentielle zukĂŒnftige) âNutzerâ getroffen. Wenige Experten wurden fĂŒr grundlegende Entscheidungen herangezogen; die Nutzergemeinschaft wurde zu Informationsveranstaltungen eingeladen und mittels Fragebogen zum Thema Interface Design und der optimalen Bedienbarkeit des Geoportals befragt. Diese Veranstaltungen sollten ĂŒber die Vorteile der Geodateninfrastruktur informieren, und durch aktive Beteiligung die Nutzergemeinschaft zu stĂ€rken und zu vergröĂern. Jede GDI basiert auf Kommunikations- und Kooperationsprozessen, weshalb diese AktivitĂ€ten Garanten fĂŒr eine langfristig erfolgreiche Initiative darstellen.
Eine vorangegangene Software Evaluation lieĂ, unter BerĂŒcksichtigung der gesammelten Nutzeranforderungen, fĂŒr das Softwarepacket GeoNetwork open source entscheiden. Die Technische Entwicklung und die Gestaltung der Computer-Nutzer-Schnittstellen des GeoNetwork Prototypen wurden in sich wiederholenden Feedbackschleifen geplant. Abwechselnd soll die Generierung neuer Prototypen auf erneute PrĂ€sentationen inklusive Nutzerbefragungen folgen. Die Ergebnisse dieser Befragungen geben die Richtung fĂŒr weitere Arbeit am Prototyp vor. Als methodischer Rahmen diente der âRapid Prototypingâ Ansatz. Diskussionen in der Runde der Experten sowie die stĂ€ndige Einbindung dieser in wichtige Entscheidungen rund um die GDI soll Teambildung fördern und die Mitglieder der Expertenrunde an das Projekt binden. Sie sind es, die spĂ€ter Verantwortlichkeiten fĂŒr Metadaten ĂŒbernehmen und delegieren können und damit einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Wartung und Instanthaltung der Infrastruktur leisten.
Vorliegende Arbeit beschreibt Planung, Umsetzung und Ergebnis des Implementierungsprozesses dieses Prototyps unter Anwendung spezieller, auf Benutzer Partizipation und Feedback aufbauender Methoden. Es wird am Beispiel der speziellen Fallstudie diskutiert wie weit die gewĂ€hlten Methoden im Sinne des Konzept des âunser-centric SDIâ eingesetzt werden und wie diese Praxis nachhaltig die Benutzerzufriedenheit steigert und zum Erfolg einer GDI langfristig beitrĂ€gt. Die Arbeit schlieĂt mit einem Ausblick in die nahe und ferne Zukunft der möglichen Weiterentwicklung der GDI des Geographischen Instituts.Working with spatial data is âdaily breadâ at the Department of Geography at Humboldt UniversitĂ€t zu Berlin. The success of research projects, staff membersâ work and studentsâ university routines depends on high quality data and resources. A couple of years ago the departmentâs own Spatial Data Infrastructure was founded to organize and publish these resources and corresponding metadata. This virtual infrastructure offers a geoportal that allows the user to discover, visualize and (re-)use the departmentâs spatial and aspatial resources. Maintaining this cooperative network aims at synergy effects like reduction of costs for the acquirement of new resources. Moreover, SDI can be used to support teaching activities and serve as a practical example in the curriculum. Central for SDI are metadata; they represent a comprehensive structured description of the departmentâs resources and are a core piece of the geoportalâs functionalities to discover and identify data. The departmentâs Metadata Catalogue serves as a container for structured organization of metadata.
This project goal is the implementation of a new metadata management system for the departmentâs Spatial Data Infrastructure. The resulting prototype should be developed following the user-centric SDI (third generation SDI) paradigm. This approach considers the (possible future) user communityâs requirements and feedback as highly important and suggests an implementation process with continuous user participation. Both methods, âJoint Application Designâ and âRapid Prototypingâ, rely on active user participation and were chosen and applied to support this concept. As a consequence, user assessments, information and dissemination activities and design and analysis of questionnaires occupied a prominent part of this study; the most important decisions during the implementation process were based on user feedback. In the forefront, users were distinguished between (possible future) âusersâ and âexpertsâ. A small group of experts was asked to discuss and make fundamental decisions about the departmentâs SDI development, and the community of users was invited to informative events and to participate by filling out a questionnaire about the geoportalâs usability and interface design. These events were expected to raise user interest, foster a user community and user participation and to provide information about usage and benefits of the departmentâs SDI. SDI, as a communication and cooperation network, benefits from these activities in the long run.
A preliminary software evaluation and the assessment of user requirements led to the decision that GeoNetwork open source was the most promising software to replace the departmentâs current metadata management system. Technical development and implementation of GeoNetwork prototype and its interfaces was accompanied by continuous feedback loops in accordance with the concept of âRapid Prototypingâ. The development of each new version of the prototype is followed by the presentation to users and collection of feedback. This feedback sets the agenda for further developments. Members of the expert group were constantly invited to participate in the SDI implementation process. Discussions regarding elemental SDI issues should foster team building and should bind experts to the project. They are the ones who are needed to take over custodianship for resources and metadata and to therefore play central roles in maintaining the departmentâs SDI.
The thesis at hand describes the planning, design, realization and results of the implementation of a metadata management system prototype, by facilitating special, user participation methods. Using the example of this special case it discusses the combination of these methods with a user-centric SDI approach and implications in terms of user satisfaction and long-term SDI success. The final chapter offers a discussion about the implementation process and closes with an outlook on the possible short and long term development of the department of Geographyâs SDI node
Exploring multi-granular documentation strategies for the representation, discovery and use of geographic information
This thesis explores how digital representations of geography and Geographic
Information (GI) may be described, and how these descriptions facilitate the use of
the resources they depict. More specifically, it critically examines existing geospatial
documentation practices and aims to identify opportunities for refinement therein,
whether when used to signpost those data assets documented, for managing and
maintaining information assets, or to assist in resource interpretation and
discrimination. Documentation of GI can therefore facilitate its utilisation; it can be
reasonably expected that by refining documentation practices, GI hold the potential
for being better exploited. The underpinning theme connecting the individual papers
of the thesis is one of multi-granular documentation. GI may be recorded at varying
degrees of granularity, and yet traditional documentation efforts have predominantly
focussed on a solitary level (that of the geospatial data layer). Developing
documentation practices to account for other granularities permits the description of
GI at different levels of detail and can further assist in realising its potential through
better discovery, interpretation and use. One of the aims of the current work is to
establish the merit of such multi-granular practices. Over the course of four research
papers and a short research article, proprietary as well as open source software
approaches are accordingly presented and provide proof-of-concept and conceptual
solutions that aim to enhance GI utilisation through improved documentation
practices. Presented in the context of an existing body of research, the proposed
approaches focus on the technological infrastructure supporting data discovery, the
automation of documentation processes and the implications of describing geospatial
information resources of varying granularity. Each paper successively contributes to the notion that geospatial resources are potentially better exploited when
documentation practices account for the multi-granular aspects of GI, and the
varying ways in which such documentation may be used. In establishing the merit of
multi-granular documentation, it is nevertheless recognised in the current work that
instituting a comprehensive documentation strategy at several granularities may be
unrealistic for some geospatial applications. Pragmatically, the level of effort
required would be excessive, making universal adoption impractical. Considering
however the ever-expanding volumes of geospatial data gathered and the demand for
ways of managing and maintaining the usefulness of potentially unwieldy
repositories, improved documentation practices are required. A system of
hierarchical documentation, of self-documenting information, would provide for
information discovery and retrieval from such expanding resource pools at multiple
granularities, improve the accessibility of GI and ultimately, its utilisation
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