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.