Ecogrid: from Field Observation to Spatial Knowledge 5 April 2005 Floris Sluiter Computational Bio- and Physical Geography, UvA.

Ecogrid: from Field Observation to Spatial Knowledge

5 April 2005Floris Sluiter Computational Bio- and Physical Geography, UvA

Sub Program 1.4 of the VL-e program

Two projects on biodiversity:• Bambas

– Parameter Optimization and Data Assimilation in Bird Avoidance Models

• Ecogrid– The topic of today

Co-workers:

• Willem Bouten, chair CBPG• Guido van Reenen, CBPG (Analysis Data Model)• Floris Sluiter, CBPG (Design & Implementation)

VOFF (10 nature organizations)• Victor Mensing, Vlinderstichting• Dirk Zoetebier, Sovon

Special Thanks to:• Aart Jan van der Linden, Talmon Communications

(portal prototype implementation)

Overview

• Ecogrid Aims • Example: Red-backed Shrikes• Data Acquisition• Spatial databases• Ecogrid System Overview• Working Prototype:

– Data Acquisition Portal– Science/Analysis Portal

• Remarks & Questions

Ecogrid: the Aims SP1.4

• Construct a virtual database that is connected to geographically distributed databases which contain information on the distributions of species, on landscape characteristics and on weather.

• Develop generic methodologies and toolsfor scale conversions, to be able to integrate and interpret data that are observed at different spatial scales.

• Use this infrastructure across the boundaries of organizations to identify:– Spatial food web structures– Biodiversity hotspots– Effects of changed land use.

Example: Insect diversity and Red-backed Shrikes

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Nitrogen dep.

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Data Acquisition

The Netherlands has one of the worlds most extensive and densest networks for collecting data on the spatial and temporal distributions of flora and fauna

Spreadsheets/’databases’Notebook

Biologist

Data Acquisition (continued)

• Combine biological data with data on– Weather & Climate data– Landscape characteristics

• Land use• Soil• Vector maps of roads/cities and other infrastucture• Vegetation• …

Some of these datasets we will host ourselves, others we will connect to through web services

Spatial databases:Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

• Spatial functions to query (SQL) within and across layers:– Equals()– Disjoint()– Intersects()– Touches()– Crosses()– Within()– Contains()– Overlaps()

• Special indexing techniques (GisT)‘Layers’ build with

these data types, stored as tables inPostgreSQL/PostGIS.

Ecogrid system: overview

Sovon

Vlinder-stichting

Data Acquisition

PortalLandscape

Weather

EcogridVirtual Meta

Database

Scale conversionModules

Geostatistics

. . . . . . . .

Data miningmodules

Processed data

Model Experiments

Spotfire

VL-eScience Research Environment

BAMBASDatabase

SciencePortal

Ecogrid system: Prototype

Sovon

Vlinder-stichting

Data Acquisition

PortalLandscape

Weather

EcogridVirtual Meta

Database

Scale conversionModules

Geostatistics

. . . . . . . .

Data miningmodules

Processed data

Model Experiments

Spotfire

VL-eScience Research Environment

BAMBASDatabase

SciencePortal

TaxonomyFenology

Codes

Ecogrid: Portal Prototype

Ecogrid: Portal Prototype

Ecogrid: Portal Prototype

Ecogrid: Portal Prototype

Ecogrid: Portal Prototype

Concluding Remarks

• PostgreSQL (and Postgis) are especially suited for large scientific databases

• 12 April we will present the prototype to all the partners in this project

• By the end of the year all the databases will be filled and we will have online data aqcuisition.

• Then we will shift our focus on using the data and concentrate on Analysis and Datamining

http://www.vl-e.nl/

Questions?