Changing the geospatial landscape in libraries Jack Reed Stanford Libraries Karen Majewicz University of Minnesota Libraries Tom Cramer Stanford Libraries
Finding geospatial data can be the most difficult part of research, teaching, and learning
Experience is the finding aid
One of the biggest problems for Code for America projects is getting access to the data. Lyzi Diamond formerly Code for America
Landscape in 2014 Users had trouble finding data Limited access to geospatial data Federated data often was unavailable Reliance on proprietary solutions No preservation strategy
When I do find it, I can t download it. Why can t I do [common task]? Why would I ever use the library catalog? Is it supposed to work like this?
Emergence of GeoBlacklight Do one thing really well discovery Focus on the end user Align technology stacks Build on the foundation of an existing ecosystem built on Blacklight Outline a sustainability plan and risks from the beginning
Designed for end users and adopters
Integration and harvesting from multiple sources OpenGeoPortal Esri Open Data Portal CKAN - Data.gov GeoBlacklight
Software and collaborations beyond GeoBlacklight OpenGeoMetadata - organizations sharing geospatial metadata on GitHub GeoCombine - a toolkit for geospatial metadata transformations GeoMonitor - service monitoring for geospatial data OpenIndexMaps - a community and specification for sharing index maps
OpenGeoMetadata - https://github.com/opengeometadata Enables geospatial metadata sharing, harvesting, collaboration Not another production service to run, just to share metadata Doesn t preclude you from using other options (e.g OAI, ResourceSync)
OpenIndexMaps - https://openindexmaps.org/ https://earthworks.stanford.edu/catalog/stanford-ts545zc6250
GeoServer OGR GDAL Access Preservation OpenGeoMetadata PostGIS Carto GeoMonitor LeafletJS Discovery Solr GeoBlacklight OpenIndexMaps
GeoBlacklight Community
Geo4LibCamp2019 4th Annual Where: Stanford University Geospatial librarians, practitioners, managers and developers from libraries across the world. When: February 4-8, 2019 http://geo4libcamp.org/
Bidney, M., Mattke, R. & Weessies, K. (2012), white paper
Project Summit - Nov. 2015 Major Decisions Selected metadata standards Include data & maps Chose GeoBlacklight
Geospatial Community
Project Summit - Dec. 2017 Major Decisions Redistribute member roles & responsibilities Convene a Strategic Leadership Group to guide future plans Consider problems with ephemeral data
ephemeral data
Making it Run for You
How It All Works Together 1.) Put metadata into Github (in Open Geometadata) 2.) Use GeoCombine to 3.) Present GeoBlacklight harvest & index the for discovery and metadata access Happy Patron Libraries Start Here SDI 4.) Load geo-files to a spatial data infrastructure 6.) SDI web-services give GeoBlacklight rich & dynamic interactions 5.) Preserve all assets in a preservation repository (for long-term access)
Four Key Services Preservation Access 1. 2. Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) Any preservation repository Discovery 3. 4. GeoBlacklight OpenGeoMetadata with GeoCombine
Thanks to a distributed architecture, you can run any piece locally, or as a hosted service.
Open <Data, Software, Community> Provides Insurance Open Data: use your metadata whenever and wherever Open Software: community-maintained software means your systems are portable Open Community: build your own organization s knowledge and expertise with like-minded institutions
Impact: Content from Many Sources
Impact: Content from Many Sources Harvard Minnesota Berkeley Stanford MIT Wisconsin Tufts Iowa Columbia NYU MSU UMich Illinois Purdue Indiana Princeton UVA Maryland
Impact: Content from Many Sources Harvard Minnesota Berkeley Stanford MIT Wisconsin Tufts Iowa Columbia NYU MSU UMich Illinois Purdue Indiana Princeton UVA Maryland
Impact: Content from Many Sources 85,000 Items
Impact: EarthWorks vs. Cholera
Discussion Questions How many libraries have maps? GIS data? a center for maps/gis? a geospatial catalog a Spatial Data Infrastructure staff with expertise in geospatial services? How do or will you provide this at your institution? How can we cultivate this capacity best, as a community?
Geo4LibCamp2019 4th Annual Where: Stanford University Geospatial librarians, practitioners, managers and developers from libraries across the world. When: February 4-8, 2019 http://geo4libcamp.org/