loading page

MyGeoHub: A Collaborative Geospatial Research and Education Platform
  • +3
  • Rajesh Kalyanam,
  • Lan Zhao,
  • Larry Biehl,
  • Carol Song,
  • Venkatesh Merwade,
  • Nelson Villoria
Rajesh Kalyanam

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

Author Profile
Larry Biehl
Author Profile
Carol Song
Author Profile
Venkatesh Merwade
Author Profile
Nelson Villoria
Author Profile

Abstract

Scientific research is increasingly collaborative and globally distributed; research groups now rely on web- based scientific tools and data management systems to simplify their day-to-day collaborative workflows. However, such tools often lack seamless interfaces, requiring researchers to contend with manual data transfers, annotation and sharing. MyGeoHub is a web platform that supports out-of-the-box, seamless workflows involving data ingestion, metadata extraction, analysis, sharing and publication. MyGeoHub is built on the HUBzero cyberinfrastructure platform and adds general-purpose software building blocks (GABBs), for geospatial data management, visualization and analysis. A data management building block iData, processes geospatial files, extracting metadata for keyword and map-based search while enabling quick previews. iData is pervasive, allowing access through a web interface, scientific tools on MyGeoHub or even mobile field devices via a data service API. GABBs includes a Python map library as well as map widgets that in a few lines of code, generate complete geospatial visualization web interfaces for scientific tools. GABBs also includes powerful tools that can be used with no programming effort. The GeoBuilder tool provides an intuitive wizard for importing multi-variable, geo-located time series data (typical of sensor readings, GPS trackers) to build visualizations supporting data filtering and plotting. MyGeoHub has been used in tutorials at scientific conferences and educational activities for K-12 students. MyGeoHub is also constantly evolving; the recent addition of Jupyter and R Shiny notebook environments enable reproducible, richly interactive geospatial analyses and applications ranging from simple pre- processing to published tools. MyGeoHub is not a monolithic geospatial science gateway, instead it supports diverse needs ranging from just a feature-rich data management system, to complex scientific tools and workflows.