Share IT Distributed GIS

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Share IT-Distributed GIS

• Keith T. Weber, GISP
• GIS Director, Idaho State University

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In the Beginning

• GIS was independent
• The GIS analyst or manager was typically a
  one-person shop
• He/she created the data, analyzed the data, and
  printed the maps

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Along Came the Internet

• The proliferation of networks and the Internet
  caused a chain-reaction
• GIS data was easy to share
• Increasingly larger datasets were shared
• GIS data was stored (self-sharing) on the network

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Old Habits are Hard to Break

• Centralized GIS on the network
• Clearinghouses
• One-stop-shops
• Someone was in charge

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But the One-stop-shop Broke

• What now?
• Re-invent the one-stop-shop
• There are now more than 100,000 GIS
  clearinghouses
• Each state, each large agency, each large company
• Why so many one-stops?
• Data incompatibilities
• Standards
• Control issues

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Control Fallacies

• Protect trade secrets
• Data security
• Intellectual property

--FALSE--
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Prove It!

• IBM
• Boeing
• What do these two examples have in common?
• Mass-collaboration
• Open structure
• De-centralized organization
• (for more, read Wikinomics)

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The Web 2.0

• The Next Generation
• All about mass collaboration
• Mash-ups
• Synergy
• Distributed, de-centralized systems
• (for more, read The Starfish and the Spider)

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Collaboration is New?

• Traditional collaborations were
• A selected team of colleagues
• Hierarchical in structure
• Breadth of knowledge relatively narrow
• Mass collaboration is
• An open set of contributors
• De-centralized in structure
• Breadth of knowledge can be extremely broad

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A Working Hypothesis

• Can Web 2.0 concepts be applied to scientific
  inquiry?

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A Problem to Solve

• How must rangelands be managed to produce
  healthy, sustainable environments?

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Study Areas

• ONeal Ecological Reserve
• USSES
• Ebro Valley
• Darhad Valley
• Others

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Pieces of the Puzzle

• Range Science, Biology, Ecology, and
  Environmental Science
• Geographic Information Science
• Social Science
• Expert Knowledge (ranchers)
• Economics
• History
• Political Science
• ETC!

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A Canvas to Work On

• WikiScience (http//giscenter.isu.edu/wikiscience)

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A Challenge

• Develop a Community of Practice
• Find a suite of uniquely qualified minds to each
  contribute a piece of the puzzle

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The Role of GIS

• Collect data
• Prepare maps and models
• Perform spatial analyses to discover trends,
  spatial patterns, and relationships
• This is the task of talented graduate and
  undergraduate students
• Mentored directly by scientists at the GIS Center
  
• Mentored indirectly by WikiScience community
  participants

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The Role of GIS (contd)

• Use ArcGIS Server and web services to make all
  these geo-spatial data available to everyone
• Help build the Geo-Web

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Role of the WikiScience Community

• Use the data
• Interpret the data within your own area of
  expertise
• Discover meaning, relationships, trends
• Let the data speak
• Share
• Contribute

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What data?

• For example, data from the Oneal study area
• where we are conducting a grazing treatment
  experiment
• Total rest pasture
• Rest-rotation pasture (5.8 ADA)
• HISD pasture (14.6 ADA)

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What data? (contd)

• Weather data
• Explore changes in weather patterns and interpret
  effects on rangelands

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Are Weather Patterns Changing?

• Is global climate change affecting Idaho?
• Data is available on the WikiScience websiteyou
  can determine this for yourself

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Prediction Increasing Carbon Levels will Cause
Global Climate Changes
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Prediction We will see Global Temperature
Increases
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Prediction More Extreme High Temperatures

• There will be more record breaking heat waves
  than ever before

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Prediction Winters will not be as Cold

• Milder winters will lead to higher insect
  infestations, etc.

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Here in SE Idaho
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These results

• Are preliminary
• Up for discussion and interpretation

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Questions