Why Web GIS May Not Be Enough: A Case Study with the Virtual Research Vessel

Abstract

During several decades of investigation, the East Pacific Rise seafloor-spreading center at 9-10°N has been explored by marine geologists, geophysicists chemists, and biologists, emerging as one of the best studied sections of the global mid-ocean ridge. It is an example of a region for which there is now a great wealth of observational data, results and data-driven theoretical studies. However, these have yet to be fully utilized, either by research scientists or educators. While the situation is improving, a large amount of data, results, and related theoretical models still exist either in an inert, non-interactive form (e.g., journal publications), or as unlinked and currently incompatible computer data or algorithms. Presented here is the prototype of a computational environment and toolset, called the Virtual Research Vessel, to improve the situation by providing marine scientists and educators with simultaneous access to data, maps, and numerical models. While infrastructure is desired and needed for ready access to data and the resulting maps via web GIS, in order to link disparate data sets (data to data), it is argued that data must also be linked to models for better exploration of new relations between observables, refinement of numerical simulations, and the quantitative evaluation of scientific hypotheses. For widespread data access, web GIS is therefore only a preliminary step rather than a final solution, and the ongoing implementation of the Virtual Research Vessel (scheduled for final completion in [2004][2005]) is a case study for the mid-ocean ridge community to test the effectiveness of moving beyond the "data-to-data" mode towards "datato-models" and "data-to-interpretation". Keywordsweb GIS, computational environment, mapping and exploration, seafloorspreading, mid-ocean ridges, interdisciplinary science

Exploring Eye Movement Patterns on Cartographic Animations Using Projections of a Space-Time-Cube

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Expanding Distance Education in the Spatial Sciences Through Virtual Learning Entities and a Virtual GIS Computer Laboratory

“…Peng and Tsou (2003) define webGIS as a GIS distributed across a computer network to integrate, disseminate, and communicate geographic information on the World Wide Web (Peng & Tsou, 2003). Wright, O'Dea, Cusing, Cuny, and Toomey (2003) discussed implications of a webGIS, a computational environment and toolset that provides marine scientists and educators with simultaneous access to data, maps, and query wizards. They stress that webGIS is only a preliminary step, rather than a final solution to teach GIS, since spatial data must be also linked to models for better exploration of new relations between observed values, refinement of numeric simulations, and the quantitative evaluation of scientific hypotheses.…”

“…They stress that webGIS is only a preliminary step, rather than a final solution to teach GIS, since spatial data must be also linked to models for better exploration of new relations between observed values, refinement of numeric simulations, and the quantitative evaluation of scientific hypotheses. ArcIMS software developed by ESRI has been used in numerous applications to develop webGIS (Wright et al, 2003;Mathiyalagan, Grunwald, Reddy, & Bloom, 2005) Stainfield, Fisher, and Ford (2000) presented a Java/VRML stand-alone, multidimensional interface explorer with basic GIS functionality. Though such tools provide display and query capabilities for spatial datasets, they fall short in GIS instruction due to limited functionality for spatial modeling.…”

TeraGrid GIScience Gateway: Bridging cyberinfrastructure and GIScience

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