CyberGIS: blueprint for integrated and scalable geospatial software ecosystems
CyberGIS: blueprint for integrated and scalable geospatial software ecosystems
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DOI：
10.1080/13658816.2013.841318
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发表时间：
2013-11
影响因子：
5.7
通讯作者：
Shaowen Wang
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Shaowen Wang
地理信息科学和系统已经蓬勃发展了几十年。在可预见的将来，地理信息系统预计将继续在许多领域发挥重要作用（例如，生态学、环境工程和科学、地理和空间科学、地球科学和公共卫生，仅举几例），用于解决科学问题和改善具有重大社会影响的决策实践（Wang和Zhu 2008）。然而，尽管先进的计算、信息和通信技术基础设施（又名网络基础设施）已经成为一种新的范式，为众多领域的数据和计算科学提供支持（Wright和Wang，2011年），巨大的挑战继续从大量的地理空间数据和各种应用中产生，尤其涉及实现功能组件的灵活共享和集成以及以可扩展的方式满足重要的计算需求。为了应对这些挑战，cyberGIS代表了新一代GIS，它综合了先进的网络基础设施、地理信息科学以及空间分析和建模（Wang 2010）。人们认识到，以网络地理信息系统为中心的令人兴奋的前沿领域可以建立综合、可扩展和可持续的地理空间软件生态系统，并为数据丰富的地理空间研究和教育提供基础。例如，2010年10月，美国国家科学基金会资助了一项为期5年的重大倡议，有一些机构和多个国际合作伙伴参与，调查“CyberGIS软件集成促进可持续地理空间创新”（cybergis.org）。这期IJGIS特刊的目的是收集一组完整的原创论文，这些论文描述了围绕cyberGIS的最新进展，特别关注如何更好地理解集成和可扩展的地理空间软件生态系统的复杂性。生态系统的隐喻特征cyberGIS软件强调cyberGIS作为系统的系统，开发和异构的计算，通信和信息环境的演变。网络地理信息系统有多种系统形式，包括基础设施、中间件、在线门户和网关、平台、服务和工具包。这些不同的形式往往服务于不同的目的。通常，基于网络GIS的科学问题解决过程或网络GIS应用程序需要协调使用由一个以上的系统形式或一个形式的多个实例提供的能力或资源。因此，了解不同的系统形式或实例如何彼此交互，以及如何实现它们之间的灵活集成，以满足单个系统形式或实例无法满足的需求变得越来越重要。协作、互操作和可扩展的集成对于实现作为系统的开放系统的cyberGIS至关重要。Wang、Anselin、Bhaduri、克罗斯比、Goodchild、Liu和Nyerges的论文通过阐述国家科学基金会CyberGIS项目的愿景，并描述该项目的进展和路线图，重点是创建和
Geographic information science and systems have flourished for multiple decades. In the foreseeable future, GIS is expected to continue to play essential roles in numerous fields (e.g., ecology, environmental engineering and sciences, geography and spatial sciences, geosciences, and public health, to name just a few) for solving scientific problems and improving decision-making practices with significant societal impact (Wang and Zhu 2008). However, while advanced infrastructure of computing, information, and communication technologies (aka cyberinfrastructure) has emerged as a new paradigm for empowering data and computational sciences across numerous fields (Wright and Wang 2011), enormous challenges continue to arise from massive geospatial data and diverse applications, particularly related to achieving flexible sharing and integration of functional components and meeting significant computational requirements in scalable ways. To address these challenges, cyberGIS represents a new-generation GIS based on the synthesis of advanced cyberinfrastructure, geographic information science, and spatial analysis and modeling (Wang 2010). Exciting frontiers centred on cyberGIS have been recognized to establish integrated, scalable, and sustainable geospatial software ecosystems, and underpin data-rich geospatial research and education. For example, in October 2010, the US National Science Foundation funded a 5-year major initiative with a number of institutions and multiple international partners involved to investigate ‘CyberGIS Software Integration for Sustained Geospatial Innovation’ (http://cybergis.org). The purpose of this IJGIS special issue is to gather a cohesive set of original papers that describe the state of the art advances revolving around cyberGIS, with a particular focus placed on gaining a better understanding of the complexity of integrated and scalable geospatial software ecosystems. The metaphor of ecosystem for characterizing cyberGIS software emphasizes cyberGIS as systems of systems that are developed and evolved in heterogeneous computing, communication, and information environments. Many system forms of cyberGIS exist, including infrastructure, middleware, online portal and gateway, platform, service, and toolkit. These different forms often serve various purposes. Oftentimes, cyberGIS-based scientific problem solving processes or cyberGIS applications require coordinated use of capabilities or resources provided by more than one system form or multiple instances of one form. Consequently, it has become increasingly important to understand how different system forms or instances interact with each other and how to achieve flexible integration among them for the needs that cannot be satisfied by a single system form or instance. Collaborative, interoperable, and scalable integration is crucial to the realization of cyberGIS as open systems of systems. The paper by Wang, Anselin, Bhaduri, Crosby, Goodchild, Liu, and Nyerges takes a holistic approach to addressing the importance of integration by articulating the vision of the National Science Foundation CyberGIS Project and describing the progress and roadmap of the project focusing on creating and