Digital Government: Collecting and Using Geospatial Data in the Field: An Extensible Framework and Testbed

Abstract:

Digital Government: Collecting and Using Geospatial Data in the Field: An Extensible Framework and Testbed

This work will conceive, develop, and test an extensible framework to support the collection and use of geospatial data in the field. Partner Federal agencies include the Bureau of the Census, the US Geological Survey, and several agencies of the US Department of Agriculture.

The proposed activities are designed to meet five key objectives:

1. 1. Develop a model documenting and formalizing the infrastructure, tools, and key capabilities required to support a flexible and extensible field data collection system.
2. Conduct research on computer science tools and associated information technologies required to fully integrate digital geospatial data into the collection process.
3. Conduct research on infrastructure components that are needed to implement the system in a manner that limits the complexity of the system from the vantagepoint of the user in the field.
4. Investigate emerging field data collection technologies to determine how the usage of geospatial data is transformed by these new interfaces.
5. Explore the framework model and research developments in an application environment by developing prototype components and testbeds that correspond to agency data collection settings.

Six developments will be needed to address the research objectives:

1. a user-driven framework model,
2. a conceptual framework for conflation of heterogeneous geospatial data for field use,
3. a multi-agent system to support tools required to use and collect geospatial data in the field,
4. interoperable searching and discovery mechanism for prepared, existing, and potentially unknown sources of data,
5. object-oriented warehouse designs for the field data collection environment, and
6. evaluations of emerging field technologies and their impact on user activities.