|
|
LTER Site Byte
LTER Site: Georgia Coastal Ecosystems
Contributor: Wade Sheldon (Nov 14, 2006)
Site Byte:
We submitted our GCE-II renewal proposal to NSF in February 2006, so most IM effort this past year was dedicated to helping researchers acquire, integrate and analyze data for publication and incorporation in the proposal. We also acquired some new ancillary long-term data sets from NWS and NOAA stations along the way, which we documented and added to our online data portal (http://gce-lter.marsci.uga.edu/portal/). We decided not to significantly overhaul our web site prior to the renewal, so we focused instead on tightening integration between web-accessible databases and web applications. For example, we developed a dynamic personnel list and bio pages that automatically display recent data submissions and complete lists of publications and presentations, with follow-up query links to our data catalog and bibliographic database query page. We also replaced all contact information links displayed by other web applications (e.g. data catalog, web calendar, species lists) and static web pages with query links to these dynamic bio pages to improve cross-linking of information and centralize content control for contact information to one database.
The GCE-II renewal proposal was very well received by reviewers, and both science and IM reviewers were very supportive of our IM program, web site, software development, and network participation. The only suggested changes were to provide a web-accessible version of our MATLAB data search client (already under development) and to "take some risks in thinking about value-added products or interfaces with other digital library efforts beyond the LTER". The latter suggestion will be difficult to address, both logistically and philosophically, so we're not yet sure how we will respond.
Work this summer has largely focused on wrapping up projects left over from GCE-I and preparing for new challenges in GCE-II, particularly a new emphasis on spatial data and GIS to support studies on marsh hammocks. I took over hosting of ESRI licenses in the UGA Marine Sciences Dept. and began supporting several GIS workstations, due in part to the relocation of our Marine Extension Service GIS lab across campus. I also set up a small GIS lab on Sapelo Island as part of a collaboration with the Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve. We are currently in the process of hiring a full time assistant IM / GIS specialist to assist researchers with collecting GPS data in the field and develop geospatial databases for our project, as well as assist me in acquiring and documenting new tabular data sources and maintaining our IS. This represents a huge and exciting operational change at GCE, more than doubling the FTE dedicated to informatics.
At the network level, I was elected to serve on NISAC to fill out Peter McCarney's term. This committee provides a great opportunity to interact with domain scientists on issues relevant to IM, and I expect to learn a lot this year. I have also participated in the Trends editorial meetings as a NISAC representative, and look forward to more interaction with this group. I have also continued to collaborate with Don Henshaw and Suzanne Remillard at AND on ClimDB/HydroDB development. We recently contributed a paper on ClimDB/HydroDB to the International Conference on HydroScience and Engineering, which is now submitted for review and publication. I also developed a ClimDB/HydroDB data access client for the GCE Data Toolbox for MATLAB (http://gce-lter.marsci.uga.edu/lter/research/tools/data_toolbox.htm), allowing users to retrieve data from any registered station directly into MATLAB for analysis and transformation. Suzanne and I presented a poster and demo on these tools at the 2006 LTER ASM. I am currently collaborating with Barrie Collins at CWT to provide near-real-time USGS data and plots on the web for the CWT study site, and we are exploring the possiblity of sharing resources on GIS development in the future.
|
