SI2-SSE:GeoVisuals Software: Capturing, Managing, and Utilizing GeoSpatial Multimedia Data for Collaborative Field Research

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Videos, photos, and narratives (audio, text, graphics) enriched with geospatial coordinates can be used to capture spatial data and associated contextual information for a variety of challenging environments. These data can fill gaps where no data exists, capture ephemeral or constantly changing information, and provide contextual insights that elevate local knowledge beyond more traditional methods. Example applications might include how a slum in Haiti changes after a vaccination intervention following a cholera outbreak, or identifying patterns of homeless camps (and their temporal stability) in Los Angeles. The GeoVisuals software system and a Web-based GeoVisuals Data Repository bridge the gap between the diversity of researcher needs and data infrastructure challenges often encountered "in the field". The computing infrastructures help domain researchers and decision-makers capture, manage, query and visualize such big, dynamic data to conduct exploratory and analytical tasks. The utilization of the tools spans across disciplines as diverse as anthropology, clinical health, criminology, disaster management, epidemiology, geography, planning, and sociology. GeoVisuals is being developed with collaboration from many domain researchers in academia, various branches of government, and non-profit sectors, and funded by the NSF Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure and the Directorate of Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). It is shared to users as public-licensed software with free access.The GeoVisuals software consists of a mobile data collection module, a data transmission module, a data storage and computing module, and a visual analytics module. The software helps users to: (1) Capture and transfer geospatial multimedia data in a variety of different field settings ranging from developed countries with advanced IT infrastructures, to countries that still lack a reliable access to the Internet; (2) Manage and explore the collected data, when the data scale and dimensions impose technical challenges for non-IT professionals. It allows for the easy merging and query of GPS, video, audio, narratives, and so on - with flexibility for multiple input types; (3) Apply qualitative, quantitative, and spatial data analysis with mining algorithms, visual representations, and interactions. This robust and easy-to-use software enables the users to conduct information foraging and sense making on geospatial multimedia data. The GeoVisuals Data Repository allows field researchers to share their own data and access the analytical and visualization functions through a web-based platform, being inspired by the open access GenBank for biomedical researchers. The software and the data repository advance the research activities and grant applications of worldwide researchers and educators related to field studies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.