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A knowledge geoportal for a knowledge society
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As the various SAEON nodes are established, researchers will be able to input new data, access and integrate existing data, analyse and add value to the data, and share knowledge as part of its mandate.
"CoGIS deals with the complexity in the networking of spatial data," says Avinash Chunthapursat, SAEON's information management co-ordinator. "Different organisations use different systems, and CoGIS will be able to search those systems and integrate the data to produce it as a single integrated entity to the end-user."
He sees it as one of the main advantages of implementing CoGIS that SAEON will not be faced with the daunting task of changing and integrating individual systems of data providers. "That would be a costly and time-consuming exercise, as well as being heavily disruptive," he says.
According to Avinash, SAEON is currently looking at linking up "just about anyone in South Africa and beyond involved in long-term monitoring, or who has long-term environmental monitoring data to share".
The challenge of managing a project of this nature and scale
CoSAMP and its CoGIS broker clearly lie close to the heart of Laurie Barwell of the Natural Resources and the Environment operating unit at the CSIR. Laurie has been a dynamic driving force behind the conceptualisation and development of the SA-ISIS, CoSAMP and CoGIS programs. A civil engineer by training, he specialises in coastal environmental engineering and integrated environmental management. He has a special interest in managing large integrated projects, especially those that promote the sharing of knowledge amongst researchers and other stakeholders.
SAEON e-News interviewed Laurie and asked him 10 questions:
Where did it all start?
The frustration of knowing that a lot of duplication of effort is taking place and that the sharing of spatial information via a user-friendly system was the only way of getting to a point where more time could be spent on adding value to data rather than wasting time with obtaining the data and information to enable decisions to be taken.
This led to an application by the CSIR to the first round of the Innovation Fund (IF) of the National Research Foundation. At the time two other consortia - from the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and from the University of Pretoria (UP) -also submitted the same core idea to the IF. Fortunately the IF evaluators saw the potential and approved the application on condition that all three consortia work together and scale down the project to that of a "proof-of-concept".
At the start the idea was still a bit too advanced for the existing technology and the reality of limited bandwidth in SA. This provided the opportunity for a SA team to be innovative and evolve to become world-class in this type of software development. The expertise has been successfully exported internationally, with the technical team (AgileWorks Pty Ltd) being contracted to do peer reviews in the Middle East as well as participate in international projects such as the SA version of the Global Biodiversity Information System (GBIF), called SABIF.
What exactly does SA-ISIS entail?
The SA Integrated Spatial Information System is basically a "brokering service" where user-needs for obtaining spatial information from a variety of suppliers can be met by putting them in touch with connected providers of spatial information and where they can produce an integrated spatial project (where a number of "maps" from various suppliers can be overlain to form a new map to meet the requirements of a specific question). In the past it took up to 30 days (if you were lucky!) to get to the same point that now takes less than a day.
Through SA-ISIS you could use your web-browser on your PC to discover what information is available and build a spatial project without needing sophisticated (and expensive) software. It is then easy to copy the result and paste it into a presentation or a word-processor document.
Our user survey indicated that 80% of all users of spatial information need to do only this. The rest of the users (20%) are what we call "Power Users", that have in-house GIS capabilities and need to do high level spatial analyses. They will therefore not use the ISIS service to build their project. However, they can use it to discover and obtain the underlying spatial data from the provider in an efficient manner.
How does CoSAMP and CoGIS differ from SA-ISIS, and why the need to develop these programs?
It must be recognised that the Collaborative Spatial Analysis and Modeling Platform (CoSAMP) research project undertaken by the CSIR is much larger than the "brokering service" part that evolved from the SA-ISIS project. This "heart" or "kernel" of the system lies within what we now call the CoGIS (collaborative GIS) system that facilitates interoperability and the sharing of spatial information.
When SA-ISIS was designed, the decision was (wisely) taken that the system would eventually be independent of a particular software provider as it was recognised that technology rapidly advances and that the service would be designed to simply respond to the best available technology. At the time most of the GIS users in SA were using propriety software and it was easiest to develop the proof-of-concept of the "brokering service" around the "software-of-the-day".
Five years later, the concept of Open Source Software and Open Standards (allowing interoperability) is recognised as the only way forward, so the need to modernise and reconstruct the SA-ISIS "heart" or brokering engine to be Open Standards compliant, was recognised by the CSIR. This is what we now call CoGIS, which is a core component of the CoSAMP project.
As earlier advances with the CoGIS became clear, the need for a similar system was recognised by SAEON and the Department of Minerals and Energy. The reconstruction of the SA-ISIS brokering engine to form the CoGIS was therefore co-funded by these parties, thereby avoiding duplication.
At least three other large state projects have subsequently also identified the need for a similar CoGIS functionality. This is great because money is not wasted on duplication and is rather directed to developing the value-add products that can be "plugged-in" to the CoGIS engine.
"The whole SA-ISIS and CoGIS/CoSAMP project is a team effort. I only play the role of (trying) to bridge the gap between technologists and the users … sometimes it's like herding cats … but it's very exciting."
If you had to define CoSAMP and CoGIS in one sentence, what would that be?
CoSAMP is a platform for the linking, enhancement, and management of spatial analysis and modelling capabilities - internally within the CSIR as well as within the wider South African geospatial information community.
CoGIS is the collaboration "heart" of the system that allows for the discovery, sharing and integration of spatial information sourced from a variety of providers connected via a web-based network.
What would you see as the main benefits of using the CoGIS?
The ability to archive, search and discover spatial and other information and tools in a secure environment which enables collaborative research.
What is the knowledge geoportal framework developed by the CoSAMP project?
The CoSAMP project developed the notion of a Knowledge Geoportal, extending the typical concept of a geoportal, whereby geoinformation and services are discovered and accessed from a central place, usually on the Internet.
In a poster discussed by my colleague Graeme McFerren of the CSIR’s Meraka Institute at the SAEON Summit, he proposed that geospatial and associated contextual knowledge artifacts, such as documents, guidelines, process methodologies, tools and services be made available in a similar 'onestop' fashion. This becomes particularly useful if consumers of geoinformation and services are inexperienced in the use thereof.
To this end, the CoSAMP project has developed a web-based framework for organising, accessing and reusing knowledge artifacts related to geospatial information harnessing, analysis and modeling.
"At the start the idea was still a bit too advanced for the existing technology and the reality of limited bandwidth in SA. This provided the opportunity for a SA team to be innovative and evolve to become world-class in this type of software development."
One of the most important aspects of this framework is the concept of a workbench - a virtual container for grouping and organising knowledge artifacts along a particular theme. An example of a workbench is a place on the Knowledge Geoportal where a user could locate and access knowledge about the processes of, and tools for searching for, discovering, verifying and composing spatial datasets into a useful analysis environment. A workbench of this nature would be termed a 'Geoassembly workbench'.
The poster presented the workbench model, illustrating it with content from the CoSAMP point of view. It is believed that the workbench concept is extensible to other knowledge environments, notably SAEON, where knowledge concerning discovery of, access to and good practice in the usage of environmental monitoring information (including geoinformation) should be conspicuously available.
What would the direct benefits of CoGIS be to SAEON?
SAEON needs to be able to create a secure, collaborative research environment that integrates activities seamlessly across a number of nodes and partners within SA and beyond.
Core to this is to ensure that the systems used are compliant and compatible with international standards and will actually be there in the long term and not foreclose on any future technological options. This need is shared by all collaborators in the CoGIS project.
The learning gained through the development of SA-ISIS and CoGIS is of direct benefit to realising the mandate of SAEON, and the fact that a number of public entities are already participating in a collaborative research project is building and strengthening this spirit.
How much training of staff would be required before the SAEON nodes can start linking up?
The trick is to make the researcher experience a non-threatening and logically accessible environment that is experienced as being seamless. In other words, users will not even realise that they are accessing information from other nodes.
The look-and-feel of the system is therefore designed to be similar to that experienced in the day-to-day use of any PC Browser. Very few new things will have to be learned by the everyday user as the aim is to make interaction as logical and intuitive as possible. Of course the present version of the system needs improvement and this will be achieved via feedback as researchers start interacting and using the system.
The provision of the infrastructure, back-up and security, recovery service, including a help-desk and e-based basic training service, is another collaborative effort being set up at present. Here we hope to involve the world-class infrastructure located at the Innovation Hub as a facilitating environment.
Who are currently the main players in CoGIS?
The CSIR, SAEON and the Department of Minerals and Energy (via CSIR) are the main players in the CoGIS component of CoSAMP. The technical team consists of AgileWorks (Pty) Ltd and Relogix (Pty) Ltd, who are the software developers and external technical consultant / auditor respectively. Here Hardy Jonck of AgileWorks and Wim Hugo of Relogix are the key people.
Next steps: What does the future hold for CoGIS? And for SAEON with CoGIS?
My vision for 2015 is the prevalence of the spirit of Ubuntu ("I am because we are") throughout Africa, typified by the willingness to share knowledge freely achieved by technology and infrastructure that allows real interoperability and seamless collaboration. In other words, facilitating NePAD via CoGIS!
It is not unrealistic to foresee a user located anywhere in the world being able to seamlessly and securely interact with data, information, analysis tools and/or sensors located in various places elsewhere in the world without experiencing any interoperability barriers. The need for physically being close to or at the providers of such resources is therefore unnecessary. This enabling environment will allow for efficiency in research activities.
The fact that less time is spent on obtaining the research data and information, and on the duplication of effort, should enable higher quality research output as there should be more time for quality thought and focus on the "So What?" and the "Now What?" questions and less time required on "What-is-where & how-much-of-it-is-there?"
"The real challenge is getting providers and owners of data, information and useful analysis tools to sign up and actually start making the resources available to the network. This is where SAEON can and will play an essential facilitating role to the benefit of the whole community."
The immediate next step is to build on what has been achieved to date and to start customizing the CoGIS by developing value-add "plug-ins" and other core features in response to specific identified needs from the user community.
In parallel to this is the real challenge of getting providers and owners of data, information and useful analysis tools to sign up and actually start making the resources available to the network. This is where SAEON can and will play an essential facilitating role to the benefit of the whole community.
Of course the biggest challenge we face is to work within the (artificial) limitations created by the limited bandwidth available in SA. The CoGIS team has succeeded to work within this reality with a number of innovations being developed, but this is a real waste of time and money which can easily be overcome through the political will to lift the bandwidth restrictions in SA.
