COBWEB, a citizen science data collection platform.
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| Number of Parts | 183 | |
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| License | CC Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike 3.0 Germany: You are free to use, adapt and copy, distribute and transmit the work or content in adapted or unchanged form for any legal and non-commercial purpose as long as the work is attributed to the author in the manner specified by the author or licensor and the work or content is shared also in adapted form only under the conditions of this | |
| Identifiers | 10.5446/32153 (DOI) | |
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| Production Year | 2015 | |
| Production Place | Seoul, South Korea |
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00:00
Dependent and independent variables1 (number)Physical systemProjective planeNatural numberQuality of serviceInformationMobile WebIntegrated development environmentSoftwareNavigationFile formatProduct (business)Service (economics)Local ringOpen sourceSpeciesServer (computing)Process (computing)State of matterConnected spaceCommunications protocolState observerAreaDispersion (chemistry)Content (media)BuildingSurfaceView (database)Right anglePoint (geometry)Information privacyValidity (statistics)Software developerMereologyArchaeological field surveyLevel (video gaming)Expected valueField (computer science)Arithmetic meanNetwork topologyDecision theoryBus (computing)Order (biology)Execution unitSeries (mathematics)WaveDigital electronicsSoftware frameworkWebsiteComputer programDataflowDescriptive statisticsInterface (computing)CASE <Informatik>MetadataGroup actionType theoryAuthenticationData storage deviceWeb applicationGeometryDenial-of-service attackDifferent (Kate Ryan album)Observational studyReference dataSoftware testingExploit (computer security)Lattice (order)DatabaseVideoconferencingUniverse (mathematics)Computer configurationMetropolitan area networkComputer animation
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Level (video gaming)Multiplication signAreaValidity (statistics)Order (biology)Medical imagingFile formatXMLProgram flowchart
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Medical imagingDrop (liquid)Interface (computing)Storage area networkLevel (video gaming)Zoom lensMereologyCartesian coordinate systemDecision theoryLimit (category theory)Field (computer science)Functional (mathematics)Computer fileNetwork topologyTesselationAreaCuboidRow (database)Multiplication signObservational studyDifferent (Kate Ryan album)Connected spaceGroup actionArchaeological field surveyElectronic mailing listServer (computing)Sheaf (mathematics)Menu (computing)View (database)Uniform resource locatorState observerAdditionFile formatGreatest elementCellular automatonModule (mathematics)VarianceService (economics)QuantumOperator (mathematics)CASE <Informatik>Data storage deviceNumberEndliche Modelltheorie
11:31
Directory serviceContent (media)Cartesian coordinate systemArchaeological field surveyNetwork topologyInterface (computing)Open sourceMereologyOpen setComputing platformFunctional (mathematics)Server (computing)Order (biology)AreaTeilkörperDecision theoryEndliche ModelltheorieRevision controlFunctional (mathematics)Multiplication signLine (geometry)Electronic mailing listInternet service providerCASE <Informatik>Procedural programmingSampling (statistics)Link (knot theory)Lattice (order)WaveComputer fileType theoryMoment (mathematics)Overlay-NetzData storage deviceBit rateDifferent (Kate Ryan album)Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopyOperator (mathematics)Category of beingTask (computing)Computer configurationRow (database)Form (programming)Systems analysis1 (number)Cycle (graph theory)Video gameLibrary (computing)Message passingOnline helpDenial-of-service attackProteinSparse matrixMedical imagingStack (abstract data type)Motion captureAnalytic continuationPlug-in (computing)Mobile appLevel (video gaming)Projective planeCore dumpRepository (publishing)Series (mathematics)CodeMiddlewareRepresentational state transferMobile WebDatabaseLocal ringMultiplicationAxiom of choiceSingle-precision floating-point formatSystem callStatistics
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Motion captureQuicksortPoint (geometry)Analytic continuationElectronic mailing listLink (knot theory)Row (database)Mereology1 (number)Projective planeField (computer science)Process (computing)Open sourceAreaProcedural programmingLevel (video gaming)OntologyArchaeological field surveyPlug-in (computing)Graphical user interfaceState of matterMultiplication signCartesian coordinate systemRevision controlAndroid (robot)Open setComputer configurationFile viewerFunctional (mathematics)Mobile appCombinational logicLocal GroupCore dumpMessage passingConfiguration spaceComputer fileOrder (biology)Digital rights managementData structureCASE <Informatik>Different (Kate Ryan album)Functional (mathematics)DialectMoment (mathematics)InformationEndliche ModelltheorieInternetworkingFlow separationDatei-ServerGroup actionArithmetic meanoutputCommunications protocolTheorySoftwareServer (computing)Block (periodic table)SpacetimeBitCovering spaceFigurate numberComputer animation
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Computer animation
Transcript: English(auto-generated)
00:03
Hello, my name is Panos Terzis, I'm coming on behalf of the University of Edinburgh. I'm going to present to you about Cobweb, and what is Cobweb? The main content for the project is the Global Earth Observation System of Systems, GEO,
00:28
and the UNESCO World Network Biosphere Reserves. The main aim is to create a desperate environment which will enable citizens living with
00:47
environmental reserves to collect environmental data using mobile devices. Information of used policy formation and delivery will be generated by quality controlling the cloud-sourced data and aggregating the spatial data infrastructure,
01:03
type reference data from authoritative sources. In the process of the project, the aim is to build up certain expertise in these new and developing technologies and understand how cloud-sourcing citizen science techniques, combined with SDI-like initiatives, can deliver both societal and commission benefits.
01:24
So we are 13 partners that are spread across Europe. The project is European funded and it's mostly semi-oriented, although you can see there are universities that are participating.
01:40
So we are trying to satisfy everybody and have as deliverables kind of robust software and produce some research. So now I'm going to talk to you about the UNESCO World Network Biosphere Reserves. They are sites established by countries and recognized under the UNESCO's MAN
02:03
and the Biosphere Programme that promote sustainable development based on local community efforts and sound science. There are about 610 biosphere reserves in 117 countries. Our study cases are taking place in the Daffy biosphere in Wales,
02:22
the Vadimshin, Hali island in Germany, and the Gourds of Samaria in Mount Olympus that are both in Greece. So here is the description of the work packages that we need to deliver. It has to do with stakeholder engagement, the citizen observatory framework, mobile data collection and validation, privacy assurance, demonstration development,
02:45
data knowledge management, testing validation and finally dissemination, exploitation and usage. So at the initial stage of the project we gathered up, we had an initial meeting and we wanted to find out what we would like to demonstrate.
03:01
So we ended up with three scenarios. It's biological monitoring which has to do with recording, like for example endangered species of plants or animals that are inside the biosphere reserve area. The second scenario is about earth observation.
03:21
So we would like to have a way where the users go to the field in order to collect some data about the earth observation, following some kind of protocols and then do some kind of validation compared with the remote sensing that has been taking place for the same area.
03:41
And the third scenario is about flooding. We got inspired back then by the flood problems that the UK had, especially in Wales and south of England. And then we started thinking of how we could implement this kind of scenarios, this kind of demonstration.
04:01
So when we started thinking about the architecture, it initially was kind of simple and then got involved through the years and through the requirements. I'm not sure that's very obvious to you, but I'm not going to get into detail about everything. What I would like to point out is that there is a COBE portal that Maria from
04:24
GeoCAD talked about on Wednesday. And what we didn't know about it is that it's based on a geo network. And in the COBE portal we can define different types of users, like the anonymous user and the registered user.
04:42
So we have surveys that can be publicly available and some ones that are private ones because they have to do with sensitive data like endangered species. And then after we prepared our group of users and the metadata of the survey, we jumped to the survey designer, which is some kind of interface where
05:04
we prepared the surveys. And then these surveys are going to the server for some kind of storage network, and then they end up on the COBE web app that the users take with them and go to the field to collect data. All this is wrapped by an authentication service that is based on SAML.
05:23
And when the users collect the data, they go back to where there is Wi-Fi connection, store the data on the server inside the initial database that has the raw data, and then the data goes through some quality service. And then after the quality assurance, they store it on the final database
05:46
that has been also combined with some kind of conflation service in order to compare the SDI data. And then they are ready to be published on geos through some WFS or WMS request.
06:01
So here's a picture of the portal. And now I have a video where I demonstrate the part where we prepare the survey, and then we collect the data on the field.
06:52
So here's the survey designer. We have a series of options on the left side.
07:02
Now we decided to create a decision tree filled with questions. We upload it on the server. Then we can also upload our own tiles, like a map layer on the application, which is like some kind of MBTiles format. And we also need, for example, to capture some kind of image of the area
07:23
in order to go through some kind of validation. So we have an image button on the left that we can drag and drop. And then we can save it by the storage network on the server.
07:41
Then we can go to our application and download, for example, the tiles through the interface. So we have a menu on the third part. There is a download section. There is a download button for the survey, a list of download buttons for the tiles, a list of layers.
08:00
We can download it on the device. We can go and check if the layer is okay by enabling it. This is the map view. In this case, it's using open layers.
08:22
So if we zoom, we can see the actual borders of the area that we are interested in. And we have grouped the study area in numbered areas that the different group of users can go and collect the data.
08:43
Then we need to go and download the survey. All this is taking place before we start to go to the field trip because there is limited connectivity over there. So we have a list of surveys that we have prepared. I'm downloading the one with the decision tree that I made before.
09:06
And then we need to prepare the application to cast the base layer, the base map. So there is also this kind of functionality added on the application.
09:35
So you have an interface where you can choose the zoom levels you want to download. You have a limit up to four gigabytes of tiles that you can store.
09:43
So they are stored as actual files on the device.
10:12
Now we can see the bound box of the area that we zoomed. And then it's the time that we need to download our survey.
10:20
We have done it already and captured the record. So the one that we designed, that's the way that it's being rendered on our device. There is another button that starts the decision tree questions. So according to what kind of answer we give, it's getting us to the next question.
10:43
And then we capture an image.
11:04
And we can tap on the map to correct the location if that's not right. For this reason we have layers that might be useful because there is a problem with the connectivity on this kind of areas.
11:21
Here is our observation that we upload up to the server. So the actual record is the additional format and it's stored as a file on the server and as a row on the database with the raw data.
11:43
So here is the interface of the survey design that we saw. On the left hand side we have the different options. So you can see that it has text, range, text area, multiple or single choice selector that can be either text or image.
12:00
We can have an image capture, we can have something more advanced like some kind of image capture that gives us also details about how vertical the picture is, for the line of sight of our goal that we are using. Audio capture, give a warning message in case that, for example,
12:20
we need to provide health and safety in case that we go to capture some flooding that might be dangerous for the user. Decision tree questions, the ones you saw, prepare layers and choose the geometric type of the survey which can be either point, polygon or line. So all these are stored with our storage middleware on the server.
12:46
We have named it PCPI which stands for Personal Cloud API. It's a Python based application which is also open source and it's under the BSD3 license. It has, at the moment, support for Drawbooks and our own server.
13:03
It's a REST API that you can do get, post, delete, put requests to the server in order to create files or delete, etc. So, for example, here's an API call for checking which providers have been provided.
13:21
In our case, it's local in Drawbooks. You can go and check the code, you can add your own driver, like, for example, Google Drive. I'm providing you links with the documentation of the PCPI and the actual code. It's based on a bottle micro-framework. Here's a series of examples of how it's used.
13:42
For example, you can do a post request and create a file, give a request in order to fetch it, delete for deleting it and for checking the list, the contents of the directory. And now, I'm going to talk to you about the actual application.
14:00
The application is a hybrid application based on Cordova and jQuery Mobile for the interface. As far as the map interface, we can use either OpenLayers or Leaflet. Before I go to that slide, I would like to let you know that
14:20
one of the initial requirements of the project is that we would like to have a quick way to make the app extensible or a way of compiling and have different types of functionalities. So, versions of simple apps or complicated apps for more expert users. So, we ended up with a platform called FilterPopend.
14:43
It's, again, open source on GitHub under VST license. The idea is that we have some core mechanics, some core software, which is very simple. It has only two libraries, let's say, the map library, which is showing a map and the record format,
15:03
which is, in our case, how to save a record, which is a GeoJSON, without any more functionality. And then we decided that we are going to write all the extra functionalities as plugins, which are different GitHub repositories.
15:21
And then we can have another GitHub repo, which is the main project that defines which plugins can be included on FilterPopend. It can also define the theme of the application by providing their own CSS. And all this is configured with a JSON file.
15:46
So, at the moment, the Cobweb app has this kind of functionality. It's GPS tracking, map search, casting your maps on the actual SSD drive, adding overlays like GeoJSON, MBTiles and KML,
16:02
creating your own decision tree questions, having images as options on the survey, provide warnings, help material, also an interface for the PCPI in order to store this kind of data on our server by using the PCPI. You can also configure the base map
16:21
to select either OSM or our own map stack. And in red is the one that we are developing at the moment, which is some kind of geofence plugin and GPS continuous capture. Specifically, continuous capture is a requirement coming from our biologists. They would like to have some kind of statistical analysis
16:42
of where the users have been to track records and how much time they spent there and which areas they didn't go at all. So, in order to make things faster, we decided to make a list of command lines
17:01
for automating procedures like checking if there are any updates of the plugins or adding a plugin like the install Cordova plugin, generating the static pages, deploying the application on either Android or iOS, and then releasing it in order to have a ready to be uploaded
17:22
on iTunes or Google Play Store. Here is an example of the configuration file for configuring all the Cordova and filter plugins.
17:44
Again, I don't have internet, so here it is.
18:08
As you can see, we have a list of the Cordova plugins I would like to include on our application, a list of filter plugins which start to be used from the filter plugin, the core software, and what kind of version is the app that we are going to release.
18:36
So, in that way, we can compile and make our different applications very quickly.
18:42
So, here you can see three different applications that we have developed. One is Coqweb, that is using all this functionality that I described and has OpenStreetMap as a base map. There is the filter.sm, which is another version with, for example,
19:00
requirements that are coming from other projects. And finally, there is the filter.gb, which was the initial application where we have provided our own map stack with a combination of open data in the UK and OpenStreetMap. And then, after we save our data on the server, we have a leaflet map viewer
19:21
where we can see details about the map, about the data we collected, like details about the survey, the picture, and maybe some sensor data. How much time do I have? 30 seconds. One minute. One minute, okay.
19:40
Yeah, one minute. I'm not going to go into detail about this because I'm not, you know, it's been developed by the University of New York, but it's the seven pillars that the data are going through for some kind of quality assurance. We have developed a GUI for some expertise user to go and decide
20:02
what kind of quality assurance the data have to go through. And the way we have evolved to those kind of states is by contacting local groups that are working on these partial reserve areas. We have trained them about the software.
20:21
Then we send them on the field. This is the way that they tested. We found bugs. They gave us ideas for more functionality. And this is how we have made all these plugins. And here is the timeline of this procedure with the co-design projects. And what's next?
20:40
We are on the process where we are including ontologies. We'd like to build a geofence plugin for tourist purposes, especially for some areas that have many tourists. And what's going to happen after the project finishes? For this reason, we decided to go towards the open source technology, especially for some parts of the whole architecture,
21:01
especially the ones that we are responsible for. For example, Geonetworks is open source. Filtrpopen is open source with a VST license and the PC API and the map here. Okay, thank you. Questions? Some useful links.
21:22
Thanks very much, Panos. Have we got any questions? Oh, it's got one. At the moment, can you just record point information? And is the GPS continuous capture going to enable you to record tracks?
21:43
Or is that more just to add sort of more depth to the point information? So the continuous track, the one that I talked about is, so when you start a survey, you have an option, when you start your filter, for example, you have a list of surveys that they need GPS continuous capture
22:03
and you can enable them. The application is asking you, the survey manager would like you to have a continuous GPS capture. The pop-up message comes, you say yes, and you have like a list of the surveys that are going on at that time
22:21
and give you which ones have been recorded, but the user has the option to stop the GPS capture. So this GPS capture is coming with the actual, the whole survey, not its record individually. Okay, great. Okay, thanks very much, Panos.