Design, Development and Application of Northeast Asia Resources and Environment Scientific Expedition Data Platform

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1 September, 2011 J. Resour. Ecol (3) DOI: /j.issn x Journal of Resources and Ecology Vol.2 No.3 NE Asia Design, Development and Application of Northeast Asia Resources and Environment Scientific Expedition Data Platform WANG Juanle 1 *, ZHU Lijun 1,2, YANG Yi 1,2 and ZHANG Ling 3 1 State Key Lab of Resources and Environment Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing , China; 2 Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing , China; 3 China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing , China Abstract: Northeast Asia is a key area for Earth system studies, global change frontier science research and regional sustainable development research. It has a complex ecological environment, a variety of climatic zones and typical human-earth relationships. This paper outlines a data resources integration system fulfilling the data accumulation and management requirements of the Northeast Asia Resources and Environment Scientific Expedition. The data resources integration system has three subsystems: (i) data resources collection and management standards and specifications system, (ii) data classification system and (iii) a data management and publication software platform. The data resources collection and management standard and specification system has 23 specifications, divided into three types. They are: (i) data collection and processing specification type, (ii) data analysis and archiving specification and (iii) data management and sharing specification. The data resources classification system has four classes, 25 sub classes and 128 data elements. The data management and publication software platform has five function models: (i) data catalogue search model, (ii) metadata management model, (iii) data publication and virtualization model, (iv) data view model and (v) data download model. Based on the designed data integration system a prototype system has been developed and is supported by computer and Web GIS technologies. So far 144 datasets have been integrated into this data system. As more data are accumulated and integrated, it will play an important role in future scientific expedition data application and analysis. Key words: resources and environment; integrated science expedition; data platform; Northeast Asia 1 Introduction Northeast Asia (northeast, northern and northwest China north of the Yellow River; Mongolia; eastern Siberia and far eastern Russia) is a key area for earth system studies, global change frontier science research and regional sustainable development research. The region has a complex ecological environment, a variety of climate zones and typical human-earth relationships (Sun 2007). Natural resources, bio-environments and human activity follow traditional gradient style changes in this area. The temperature per year ranges from higher than 20 C to -20 C; rainfall capacity ranges from mm; the human population per square kilometer ranges from more than 1000 to less than 10; and land use ranges from very high intensity to minimal human activity. Research in Northeast Asia significantly contributes towards research about regional responses to global change and regional sustainable development in line with regional characteristics. Many countries, including the USA, Germany, Japan and Korea have launched long-term scientific research and integrated scientific surveys in this area (Yuri et al. 2008). For example, since 2002 the Northern Eurasian Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI, org/), supported by the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), has carried out a largescale scientific expedition in northern Eurasia. The aim Received: Accepted: Foundation: National Scientific & Technology Basic Work Program of China (2007FY110300, 2011FY110400), National Nature Science Foundation of China ( ). * Corresponding author: WANG Juanle. wangjl@igsnrr.ac.cn.

2 WANG Juanle, et al.: Design, Development and Application of Northeast Asia Resources and Environment Scientific Expedition Data Platform 267 Land cover investigation in remote sensing surface Natural Geography background investigation of climate and soil Water resource and water environment investigation Aquatic organisms and land forest grass ecosystem Population and social economy Data standardization acquisition Data standardization management Data unified summary Data classitication system of resource and environment science expedition Element dimension Time dimension Space dimension Data standardization compilation and introduction database Vector format data Raster format data Attribute table data Data search Display of space location Browse and visit of space data Browse and visit of attribute data Data access Fig.1 Architecture of resource and environment science expedition data integration system in Northeast Asia. of this initiative is to form a deeper understanding of the interaction between the driving mechanisms of ecosystem, atmosphere and human activity. Chinese, Russian and Mongolian scientists have also launched a joint science expedition in this area (Sun and Dong 2008). Through this joint science expedition and research cooperation, the project aims to support Earth system science research on global change and regional sustainable development through the acquisition of regional resource and environment data. The science expedition focus includes water, soil, atmosphere, animal, human and other fields. Methods of data acquisition vary and types of data use different formats. Consequently, integration of the science expedition data and information becomes an important problem (Wang 2007, 2010). These problems can be divided into three classes: (1) how to promote the standardization of the collection and management of interdisciplinary expedition data; (2) how to build a scientific and appropriate classification system; (3) how to present the data of different sources and formats in maps and how to access them with a visual interface. Focusing on the questions above, this paper proposes the use of a data integration system for the integrated scientific expedition in northern China and neighboring areas. 2 Design of data integration system framework A data integration framework was designed according to the requirements of data collection, heterogeneous data integration and visible management of the Resource and Environment Science Expedition data integration in Northeast Asia. As illustrated in Fig.1, the framework includes three parts: standardization of data collection and management, building of data categories, and database construction and visible access of heterogeneous data. (1) Standardization of data collection and management. Content of the expedition of Northeast Asia s resources and environments includes land coverage surveys based on remote sensing (RS) images, natural geographic environmental (such as soil and climate) surveys, water resource and water environment surveys, aquatic animal and water bird surveys, land ecosystem (such as forest and meadow) surveys, human habitat environment surveys, and population and social economic surveys. The foundation of the expedition data integration would be the assurance that all the data resources collected from different subjects comply with a unified specification. (2) Building a data category system of expedition data. There is considerable diversity in the time scales, spatial scales and feature granularity of data because of the diversity of scientific expedition data sources. As a result, it is necessary to build an integrated data category system to define common time scales, spatial scales and feature granularity (Wang and Zhuang 2009). (3) Database construction and visible access of heterogeneous data. All data collected in the scientific expedition will be integrated in the database, including time information, spatial information, feature information and metadata information. It also includes a data presentation platform which supports data query, location presentation, browse and access of spatial data and attribute data, and data acquisition.

3 268 To solve the questions across these three system components, a range of research was undertaken including research into data standards and specification creation, data category classification system design, and data management prototype software research and development accomplished with the help of GIS and computer techniques. 3 Data standards and specification research Taking into account the particular needs of the different subjects and topics, corresponding data collection and management standards were developed. There are three main classes. The class of data collection and processing has 10 specifications; the class of data analysis and integration has seven specifications; the class of data management and sharing has six specifications. In total there are 23 standard specifications. 3.1 Specifications of Data Collection and Process Class This includes the surface survey on remote sensing and specification of data collection and process, specification of investigation in soil sampling, specification of investigation in forest ecology specification, specification of investigation in grassland ecology sampling, specification of data collection and process regarding water resources, specification of data collection and process regarding aquatic organisms and ecosystems, specification of data collection and process regarding typical lake environment, social and economic surveys and specification of data collection and process, living environment survey and specification of data collection and process, specification of data collection and process regarding aerosols. Its contents includes preparatory planning for all topics, field investigation, preliminary arrangement about interior work, expedition data integration, expedition results submitted, quality management, data updates and archive and other standard specifications. 3.2 Specifications of Data Analysis and Integration Class This includes core metadata standards and specifications for the data archive of the integrated science expedition. The core metadata standard of the integrated science expedition includes a dataset identity module, dataset content modules, a distribution information module, a quality information module and corresponding code table. Specifications for the data archive document of the integrated science expedition include dataset name, dataset description, data source description, data processing methods, results of data application and intellectual property. Journal of Resources and Ecology Vol.2 No.3, Specifications of data management and sharing class This includes the integrated science expedition management method in northern China and its adjacent areas, detailed rules of data submission, format specification for investigation report writing, and format specification for investigation diary writing in the field. The data submission and archiving specifications explain the technical requirements around investigation data submission, involving organization and management concerning data submission, the contents of investigation data submission, the process of data submission, data management, rights protection, rewards and sanctions. 4 Data classification system design The data of the integrated science expedition in Northeast Asia includes natural geographical environments, forest and grass ecosystems, water resources and water environments, aquatic organisms and terrestrial ecosystems, community economics and living environments, global changes and transect monitoring. The design of data classification system and related elements is as follows. The overall system of data resources includes of four large classes, 25 small classes and 128 elements. Fig.2 shows the large class and small class of the system of data resources. The data catalog is the main line of data integration for all kinds of integrated science expedition data. Finally, a diverse range of science expedition data will be listed in the different data types. It was important to establish unified time, space and data elements bases. (1) Time base. The time period of the resource and environment science expedition data integration in Northeast Asia is from 2008 to As there is a combination of current and historical data, the time base is designed to have three base years (2000, 2005 and 2010). Part of measured investigation data is based on the year investigated. (2) Spatial base. The boundaries of administrative divisions from where investigation data collected are confirmed using the WGS84 coordinate system to integrate spatial information of investigation data according latitude and longitude. It includes a sampling database of forest and grassland, sampling database of water resources and water environments, sampling database of soil profiles, sampling database of remote sensing interpretation marks. (3) Data element base. According to the specific resources of all thematic investigation, data elements definition of all data resource are confirmed, and the semantic description of data element is unified. Also, a data elements dictionary is established. This can avoid the question of different meanings with the same data name and different names with the same meaning of data.

4 WANG Juanle, et al.: Design, Development and Application of Northeast Asia Resources and Environment Scientific Expedition Data Platform 269 Data systems of integrated science expedition in Northeast Asia area Base geography and image data Natural environment and ecological background data Natural resource data Population and community economy Base geography data Hydrology Water resource Population data Image data Water environment Forest resource Community economy Surface mulch Grassland resource Index data of living environment evaluation system Soil Climate Biological resources Mineral resources Other community economy Aquatic organisms Energy resources Forest ecosystem Tourism resources Grassland resource Other resource type Nature reserve and land biodiversity Transect gradient Others Fig. 2 Data classification system of resource and environment science expedition data integration in Northeast Asia. 5 Design and building of data management and sharing platform With the support of geographic information system (GIS) and internet database techniques, a prototype of the data integration platform software was designed and developed. This platform publishes categories of data according to specifications and integrates and manages data in a uniform data classification system. 5.1 Logical structure of data management and sharing platform The logical structure of the data sharing platform can be divided into four levels: raw data level, relational database level, spatial-temporal data management level, visible presentation and interaction level (Fig. 3). Query of data category Query by time extent Query by spatial extent Query of metadata Data category management Data layout Geo-- spatial data publishment Data scanning Metadata Database Time info. Spatial info. Feature info. Data files Vector and coverage data Environment and ecology data Resource data Society and economy data Fig. 3 Logical model of data management software platform.

5 Physical structure of data management and sharing platform The data sharing platform is built on a PostGIS database. Using Java, the platform utilizes Geoserver to publish geo-spatial data, and Open Layers and Flex techniques to present data on the client side. Five tables are included in the platform: table geo_ spatial, table geo_meta_data, table geo_meta_field, table geo_field and table geo_category. These tables formed the metadata and category of data tables. Table geo_spatial records spatial addresses and their corresponding codes. The address field values are extracted from data tables location field. These codes replace those location values when data tables are stored. Table geo_meta_data records data files metadata, including file code, file name, theme code, file type, time and description. Table geo_field records all the field names and replaces them by field codes. Table geo_meta_field connects table geo_meta_data and table geo_field. Table geo_category manages theme classifications and theme codes. The theme codes are referred in table geo_meta_data. 5.3 Prototype of data management and sharing platform The prototype of the data management and sharing Journal of Resources and Ecology Vol.2 No.3, 2011 platform is shown in Fig. 4. We use the example analytical data of soil investigation and soil sample in Northeast Asia area to introduce the process of data integration and visible access. (1) Reorganization of soil profiling sample data according to related specification: convert sample location information, complement background knowledge and gather the collected data and laboratory data. (2) Database storage: collected data are held in the form of Word files and Excel files. The data structure needs to be built first. The collected data will be imported into a relational database or a spatial database. (3) Data query: there are several approaches to realize the function of data queries, including data search through data category, temporal extent, spatial extent and attribute information. (4) Spatial present and data scanning: pick one of the datasets to display the soil sample points located on the map. Each mark on the map will generate a response in detailed information dialog about both data and metadata. Sample points show their location on the map and detailed information (Fig. 4). (5) Data access: choose view the detailed data to open the data table and view detailed content. Detailed data information includes soil profile location, address name, soil level, organic capacity, nitrogen capacity, phosphor capacity, soil texture and a living environment description. (6) Data access: choose download data to download the selected data, vector data in Shapefile format and data tables in the format of Excel files. Fig. 4 Distribution of soil profile sampling locations in Northeast Asia area.

6 WANG Juanle, et al.: Design, Development and Application of Northeast Asia Resources and Environment Scientific Expedition Data Platform Conclusions At present, approximately one thousand datasets have been assembled. Storage contains more than 1TB and 144 datasets have been standardized. All datasets have completed metadata and file information. Because of the large amount of historical data collected by the expedition, numerous data are non-standard and this created obstacles in the building of the database. Future research will include data reorganization and integration and thus perfect the data integration system presented here. Acknowledgements This work was supported by National Scientific & Technology Basic Work Program of China (2007FY110300, 2011FY110400), National Nature Science Foundation of China ( ). Thanks to the support of Thematic Investigation Team in northern China and adjacent areas. Thanks to the support of research agencies in Russia and Mongolia such as the Baikal Institute of Natural Management, Russian Academy of Sciences, and Institute of Geographic Research of Mongolia. Valuable comments from reviewers and editors are gratefully acknowledged. References Sun H L Integrated science expedition and research about natural resource in China. Beijing: Commercial Press. (in Chinese) Wang J L, Zhuang D F Earth system science data. In: Sun J L, Lin H (eds.). Earth system research and science data. Beijing: Science Press. (in Chinese) Wang J L Study on key technological question about science data integration and sharing--take an example for research and reference data. Postdoctoral Report in Institute of Geographic Sciences and Nature Resources Research, CAS. (in Chinese) Wang J L. Study on geosciences multi-dimensions data model integration and sharing oriented. The 18th International Conference on Geoinformatics, June 18-20, 2010, Beijing. Yuri MUN, Ick Hwan KO, Lunten JANCHIVDORJ, et al Integrated water management model on the Selenge River Basin status survey and investigation. 东北亚资源环境综合科学考察数据平台构建及其应用 王卷乐 1, 朱立君 1,2, 杨懿 1,2 3, 张玲 1 中国科学院地理科学与资源研究所资源与环境信息系统国家重点实验室, 北京 ; 2 中国科学院研究生院, 北京 ; 3 中国矿业大学 ( 北京 ), 北京 摘要 : 东北亚区域是一个资源相对集中, 生态环境格局复杂, 气候地带性多样, 人地关系对比显著的区域, 集成该区域的资源环境综合科学考察数据对于全球变化等前沿科学研究和区域可持续发展等具有重要研究意义 针对该区域资源环境综合科学考察数据积累和管理的需求, 研究构建了包括三大体系的东北亚资源环境综合科学考察数据平台, 即数据资源采集与管理标准规范体系 数据分类体系 数据管理和发布软件体系 其中, 标准规范体系包括数据采集规范 数据管理规范和综合考察规范三类共 23 项 ; 数据分类体系包括 4 个大类 25 个小类 128 个要素 ; 数据平台软件系统包括数据目录检索管理 元数据管理 数据发布与可视化 数据浏览与获取等 5 个功能模块 ; 基于地理信息技术和网络技术, 实现了东北亚资源环境综合科学考察数据平台原型系统, 初步实现了数据的集成管理与可视化访问 目前已集成 144 个数据集 ( 库 ), 为东北亚综合科学考察数据的深度集成和应用奠定基础 关键词 : 资源环境 ; 综合科学考察 ; 数据平台 ; 东北亚区域