Designing the Cyberinfrastructure for Spatial Data Curation, Visualization, and Sharing

Widely used across disciplines such as natural resources, social sciences, public health, humanities, and economics, spatial data (digital maps) are an important component in many studies and have promoted interdisciplinary research development. Though institutional data repository provides a great solution for data curation, preservation, and sharing, it usually lacks the spatial visualization capability which limits the use of spatial data to professionals. To increase the impact of research generated spatial data, and truly turn them into digital maps for a broader user base, we have developed the workflow and cyberinfrastructure to extend the current capability of our institutional data repository. In this project, spatial data are curated and preserved in the data repository, as well as shared as map services using GIS server. Data visualization was created to ensure general information users can browse maps to find location-based information. Data download option, metadata and DOI allow researchers to identify, cite, and reuse the datasets. In addition, these data are ingested into the spatial data portal to increase the discoverability for spatial information users. Initial usage statistics suggest that this cyberinfrastructure has greatly improved the spatial data usage and extended the institutional data repository to facilitate spatial data sharing.