2. An on-line platform
For:
Earth Observation Scientists
Facilitating:
Collaboration between scientists
Data access, management and sharing
Application access, management and sharing
Leveraging:
Web 2.0 and social networking technologies
Cloud computing technologies
Funded by:
CANARIE - Network Enabled Platform (NEP-1) program
Cybera
(http://geochronos.org/)
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Oct. 21, 2010 2
3. Solutions
Portal rich with social networking features
Tags, bookmarks, profiles, blogs, wikis, friends/contacts, groups
Media/document sharing, publications, presentations
Discussions, message boards, calendars
Status, activity feeds
Technology
Portal built on top of a social networking platform
Initial prototype built in Facebook (http://www.facebook.com)
Secondary prototype built on white label social networking platform Ning
(http://www.ning.com)
Current portal built on open source white label social networking platform Elgg
(http://www.elgg.org)
Next Steps
Plan to keep using Elgg platform and upgrade as new versions released
Develop new Elgg plugins as needed
Collaboration
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6. Solutions
Spectral Libraries
Store, share and browse spectral data
View spectral plots, metadata, ancillary data and maps
Manage and generate metadata for spectra
Create and share metadata schemas
Spectral Library solution also being used to manage MODIS
satellite data
Technology
iRODS (http://www.irods.org/) for data storage/management
Next Steps
Further generalization of spectral library solution
Acquire, store, manage, browse and share other types of data
Flux tower and phenology tower data
Meteorological data
Other data
Data
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Oct. 21, 2010 6
9. Solutions
Interactive Application Service (IAS)
On-line, on-demand access to scientific applications
Share application sessions and data with other users
Batch Processing Service (BPS)
Background batch processing of longer running tasks and simulations
Automation of data workflows – mosaic, reproject and subset MODIS data
Technology
IAS and BPS are hosted on top of a cloud computing platform
Use ASPEN (http://grid.ucalgary.ca/projects/DataCentre/) which can
dynamically provision virtual machines to host applications based on user
demand
Next Steps
Better integration between different data and application services
Application of batch processing/workflow service to other problems
Applications/Processing
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13. Apr 21, 2009 - CANARIE NEP-1 Synergy Workshop
(Winnipeg)
Jun 22, 2009 - SpecNet Workshop (Lethbridge)
Jun 24-26, 2009 – Meeting of the Collaborative Research
Network II (CRN2) and Small Grant Program for the Human
Dimensions (SGP-HD) Principal Investigators (Montevideo,
Uruguay)
Jul 6-18, 2009 - IAI International Wireless Sensor Networking
Summer School (Edmonton)
Aug 15, 2009 – Elgg Camp (Boston)
Oct 14, 2009 – Summit 09 (Banff)
Nov 17,18, 2009 – SC 2009 (Portland)
Nov 20, 2009 – GCE 2009 (Portland)
Presentations/Demonstrations
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14. Dec 9, 2009 – e-Science 2009 (Oxford, UK)
Dec 14, 2009 – AGU Fall Meeting (San Francisco)
Mar 4, 2010 – Earth Observation Science Day
(Edmonton)
Mar 15, 2010 – OGF 28 (Munich)
Apr 29, 2010 – European Cooperation in Science and
Technology (COST) Meeting (Italy)
May 5, 2010 – BCNET/CANARIE Conference 2010
(Vancouver)
Aug 14, 2010 – IAI Collaborative Research Network
Meeting (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Sep 22, 2010 – Cybera Summit 2010 (Banff)
Presentations/Demonstrations - II
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Oct. 21, 2010 14
15. R. Curry, C. Kiddle and R. Simmonds. Social Networking and
Scientific Gateways. In Proceedings of the Grid Computing
Environments Workshop, Portland, OR, November 20, 2009.
N. Markatchev, R. Curry, C. Kiddle, A. Mirtchovski, R. Simmonds
and T. Tan. A Cloud-based Interactive Application Service. In
Proceedings of the 5th IEEE International Conference on e-
Science, Oxford, UK, December 9-11, 2009.
J. A. Gamon, C. Kiddle, R. Curry, N. Markatchev, G. Pastorello Jr.,
B. Rivard, G. A. Sanchez-Azofeifa, R. Simmonds and T. Tan.
GeoChronos: An On-line Collaborative Platform for Earth
Observation Scientists. In Proceedings of the AGU Fall Meeting,
San Francisco, CA, December 14-18, 2009. (Abstract)
Publications
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16. J. Gamon, C. Coburn, L.B. Flanagan, K.F. Huemmrich, C. Kiddle,
G.A. Sanchez-Azofeifa, D.R. Thayer, L. Vescovo, D. Gianelle, D.A.
Sims, A.F. Rahman and G.Z. Pastorello. SpecNet Revisited:
Bridging Flux and Remote Sensing Communities. To appear in
the Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, 2010.
R. Curry, C. Kiddle, R. Simmonds and G. Z. Pastorello Jr. An On-
line Collaborative Data Management System. To appear in
Proceedings of the Gateway Computing Environments Workshop,
New Orleans, LA, November 14, 2010.
Publications - II
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17. Project Team
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Oct. 21, 2010 17
Dr. Arturo Sanchez-Azofeifa
University of Alberta
Dr. John Gamon
University of Alberta
Dr. Benoit Rivard
University of Alberta
Dr. Rob Simmonds
University of Calgary
Prinicipal Investigators
Project Coordination Platform Development Domain Scientists