The term cyberinfrastructure (CI) is being used with
greater frequency to refer to how the traditional modes of scientific research
(e.g., experimentation in the lab, observation in the field,
processing/analyzing on a single calculator or computer, calculations on the
back of an envelope) are being extended or replaced by advancements in
information technology. Distributed computing is a particularly important part
of the activity, as the computing power in CI for serving, rendering,
analyzing, and simulating data may be as distributed as the data sets
themselves (e.g., execution of data on one machine, rendering on another,
send to another machine for GIS analysis, etc.). And this distribution often
implies that data producers and providers are willing and able to share their
products, often in near real-time. Full utilization of these advancements is
an emerging area for GIScience with special considerations for geospatial
"grid computing," the so-called "GIS 2," and the development of new
frameworks for searching and analyzing huge datasets from regional
observatories and sensor networks over the web. CI addresses some fundamental
themes and research priorities in GIScience, such as distributed and mobile
computing, spatial information infrastructures, distributed geospatial data
mining, and the geospatial semantic web, all of which are closely related to
the main themes of the GIScience 2008 conference.
Background & Workshop Topics |
Intended Audience |
Goals and Expected Outcomes
Workshop Schedule & Presentations |
Contacts
Background & Workshop Topics
NSF formed the Office of CI and released the vision document Cyberinfrastructure Vision for 21st Century Discovery. "Geography," "geospatial" and "geographic
information science" are barely mentioned in this document, indicating an
opportunity and unique niche that GIScience might fill. Recent momentum on
this topic includes the formation of the new CI Specialty Group of the AAG and the presentation of geospatial CI research
projects at recent AAG meetings in San Francisco and Boston. A CI interest
group was formed at the 2007 UCGIS Summer Assembly, with an eye toward
proposing workshops on this theme for the GIScience community. In addition,
"GIScience and Cyberinfrastructure: Making Global Connections," was the main
theme of the UCGIS Winter Assembly in Washington, DC (February 2008),
featuring speakers from various government agencies.
NSF is ramping up CI funding, so what is the geospatial niche and how can
we convey these CI needs to NSF? GEON, NEON, ORION, already exist for
geology/geophysics, ecology/biology, and the oceans respectively. USGS/FGDC
leads the effort in building the national spatial data infrastructure, which
is directly contributing/leveraging CI while at the same time facing problems,
such as performance and semantics. So we need to address what hasn't been
addressed yet. A geospatial niche might involve more extensive connections to
society/GIScience/social science/humanities. The time is ripe for articulating
a "Geospatial CI Research Agenda," identifying what has been accomplished and
where the new opportunities exist.
Therefore, the CI workshop at GIScience 2008 aimed to continue the momentum of
these prior activities by:
- introducing this emerging topic to interested GIScientists attending the conference, including sub-topics such as:
Geospatial meaning making through semantic integration; |
Geomiddleware |
Using data autonomous sensor networks; |
Distributed geospatial data collection, storage, and analysis |
Synthesizing distributed data for display; |
Context modeling |
Probabilistic modeling; | Semantic, tool, and model interoperability |
Validation, epistemology for agent-based models; | Web portals, web services |
Spatial-temporal 3D modeling, volume, true 3D; | Rapid transformations on the web (e.g., projections) |
High performance computing; | Geospatial decision support tools |
facilitating further dialogue and strategizing on this emerging topic, especially how to bring geospatial and GIScience in CI more to the fore at NSF; and
discussing work in progress in CI among colleagues and how GIScientists might extend this work by additional funding (i.e., workplans for future collaborations, organizing proposal teams for upcoming calls, joint efforts on special issues of journals, white papers, other publication outlets).
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Intended Workshop Audience
This workshop welcomed those new to the topic of CI and interested in
joining this community of researchers, as well as those who are already establishing
themselves in this realm. We sought to raise the awareness of CI within the
GIScience community and to serve specific application domains within and
outside of GIScience. We plan follow-up workshops at other venues along these
lines.
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Goals and Expected Outcomes
The workshop is expected to deliver two outcomes:
- For those new to the topic, a greater understanding of what
CI is, its importance to GIScience, and main ongoing
research topics. As a result they may want to join those already active in the
research area by way of item (2) below.
- For those already active in CI, the workshop included discussions
of possible research projects and collaborative teams that might respond to
upcoming calls for proposals (such as Sustainable Digital Data
Preservation and Access Network Partners (DataNet; NSF 07-601, Feb 2009);
Community-based Data Interoperability Networks (INTEROP; NSF 07-565, July
2009); and Cyber-Enabled Discovery and Innovation (CDI; NSF 07-603, Aug 2009).), as well as special issues of journals.
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Workshop Schedule and Presentations
Download pdf notes from all sessions
9:00 - 9:15 - Welcome and introduction by Dawn Wright (Oregon State), including goals of workshop, round-the-table intros of participants
[pdf of presentation]
9:15 - 9:45 - Shaowen Wang (U. Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) - "Bridging CI and GIScience - A Holistic Approach"
[pdf of presentation]
9:45 - 10:15 - Phil Yang (George Mason) - "GeoCyberinfrastructure"
[pdf of presentation]
10:15 - 10:45 - Rob Raskin (NASA JPL) - "Knowledge as CI: Toward Geographic Knowledge Systems (GKS)"
[pdf of presentation]
10:45 - 11:00 - BREAK
11:00 - 12:00 - Tim Nyerges (U. Washington) - "GIScience Knowledge Web"
[pdf of presentation]
12:00 - 1:00 - LUNCH (Organizers meet to further refine afternoon slots)
1:00 - 2:00 - Lynn Usery (USGS) - "The National Map Relationship to NSDI and NGP"
[pdf of presentation]
"The USGS Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science"
[pdf of presentation]
2:00 - 4:00 - Combine with Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) Workshop
Discussion of community needs and related NSF program announcements. Concluding
discussion of linkages with AAG CI specialty group activities, special issues
for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and
Cartographica, related book projects in development, and other action
items and opportunities.
Download pdf notes from session
Jim Tobias Public Health SOA Poster
OGC Network (like a "Wikipedia of OGC standards and services")
We will maintain an email listserv and/or wiki (likely by the AAG CI Specialty Group) to continue the discussions.
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Contacts
Workshop organizers:
- Dawn Wright, Department of Geosciences, Oregon State University, dawn-at-dusk.geo.orst.edu, geospatial semantic web issues and tools, web portal and services
- Tim Nyerges, Department of Geography, University of Washington, nyerges-at-u.washington.edu; cyber-enabled systems
for geospatial analytic-deliberative data processing
- Rob Raskin, NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, raskin-at-jpl.nasa.gov; semantic interoperability, ontologies
- Lynn Usery, Acting Director, Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science, USGS, usery-at-usgs.gov; rapid transformations on the web; sensor networks
- Phil Yang, Department of Geography and Geoinformation Sciences, Director of the Joint Center for Intelligent Spatial Computing, George Mason University, cyang3-at-gmu.edu; spatial computing, grid-enabled applications, and interoperability
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