GCE Data Toolbox Training and User Support
Overview
The GCE Data Toolbox was originally developed by Wade Sheldon in 2001 as a data management tool for the Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER program (GCE). The toolbox was made available to the public in compiled form starting in 2005, and then released as open source software in 2010. A Trac website was also established in 2010 to provide some basic user support (documentation Wiki, downloads, bug reporting). However, through 2011 the software was regarded as a GCE research product, with limited support provide outside of this LTER program.
In 2012, GCE teamed up with the Coweeta LTER program (CWT), already using this toolbox, to actively seek funds to promote and broaden support for this software. Funding was provided by the LTER Network in 2012 for software development, documentation, training and user support. Additional funding was provided by an NSF SI2 grant to Tony Fountain et al. to extend the toolbox to support the Open Source Data Turbine streaming middleware and CUAHSI Observations Data Model and conduct user training. With the help of this external funding, the GCE Data Toolbox is now being promoted as a community-based software product for environmental information management.
User support tools are actively being developed, and a list of current support resources is provided below. Please join the discussion email list below, or contact Wade Sheldon or John Chamblee if you have suggestions or want to be informed of future additions to this website.
Support Resources
Email List
An email discussion list was established at the University of Georgia to provide peer-to-peer support and information about new toolbox releases and features. You can subscribe to this list and view the list archives on the GCETOOLBOX-L LISTSERV web page. Note that subscription requests must be approved and only registered users can view the archives to minimize spam.
Manuals and Documentation
Documentation for the GCE Data Toolbox is provided with the software downloads, and is also available as a separate download here. Tutorials have been developed with fundingfrom the LTER Network, and are posted on this website. Links to available documentation are provided on the Documentation page.
Workshop Products
Information about training workshops, as well as presentations, tutorials, sample data and other resources are available on the Workshops page.
Outreach Materials
Various overview presentations, seminars and other outreach materials are available on the Outreach page. These materials can be used to learn about use of the GCE Data Toolbox by various research programs, and to promote the toolbox software.
Function List
A list of all functions included in the toolbox is provided with the software downloads in both text and HTML format (contents.txt and contents.html, resp.) and also available online. Functions are grouped by category and accompanied by a brief description and calling syntax. Complete function help is also available in the MATLAB environment using the built-in help facility (e.g. help fetch_noaa_hads).
A list of frequently-used command-line functions is also available online and downloadable in Acrobat PDF format. These functions represent core API commands that can be used to build custom MATLAB workflows leveraging the GCE Data Toolbox.
