Harvesting Information to Harvesting Information to Sustain our Forests:Sustain our Forests:

Creating anCreating anAdaptive Management PortalAdaptive Management Portal

NSF DIGITAL GOVERNMENT PROGRAMNSF DIGITAL GOVERNMENT PROGRAM

www.cse.ogi.edu/forestwww.cse.ogi.edu/forest

Principal Team MembersPrincipal Team MembersTim Tolle Tim Tolle Regional Coordinator for AMA, US Forest ServiceRegional Coordinator for AMA, US Forest Service

Eric LandisEric Landis Forest Information System Specialist, ConsultantForest Information System Specialist, Consultant

Craig PalmerCraig Palmer Natural Resources Monitoring Expert, UNLVNatural Resources Monitoring Expert, UNLV

Fred PhillipsFred Phillips Professor & Head, Mgt. of Science and Tech., OGIProfessor & Head, Mgt. of Science and Tech., OGI

Patty ToccalinoPatty Toccalino Asst. Prof., Environmental Science and Eng., OGIAsst. Prof., Environmental Science and Eng., OGI

Lois DelcambreLois Delcambre Professor, Computer Science and Eng., OGIProfessor, Computer Science and Eng., OGI

David MaierDavid Maier Professor, Computer Science and Eng., OGIProfessor, Computer Science and Eng., OGI

Shawn BowersShawn Bowers PhD Student, Computer Science and Eng., OGIPhD Student, Computer Science and Eng., OGI

Mat WeaverMat Weaver PhD Student, Computer Science and Eng., OGIPhD Student, Computer Science and Eng., OGI

Forest/env. expertiseForest/env. expertise Computer science expertiseComputer science expertise

• Duration: 3 yearsDuration: 3 years• Budget: $1.5 millionBudget: $1.5 million• Participants:Participants:

– Adaptive Management Areas (Tim Tolle)Adaptive Management Areas (Tim Tolle)– Oregon Graduate Institute (Lois Delcambre, David Maier, Patty Oregon Graduate Institute (Lois Delcambre, David Maier, Patty

Toccalino, Fred Phillips),Toccalino, Fred Phillips),– Natural Resource Information Specialist (Eric Landis) Natural Resource Information Specialist (Eric Landis) – Federal Agencies: Forest Service (Northwest Region), PNW Federal Agencies: Forest Service (Northwest Region), PNW

Research Station, Bureau of Land Management, National Science Research Station, Bureau of Land Management, National Science Foundation, Fish and Wildlife ServiceFoundation, Fish and Wildlife Service

• Location: Western Washington, Oregon and CaliforniaLocation: Western Washington, Oregon and California

PROJECT FACTOIDSPROJECT FACTOIDS

Staff Scientist, Pacific Northwest National LaboratoryMark Whiting

Science Advisor, USDI, National Park ServiceRegina Rochefort

Communications Director, USDA Forest Service, PNW Research StationCynthia L. Miner

Chief, Office of Technical Support, Forest Resources, USDI Fish and Wildlife ServiceMonty Knudsen

Executive Director, IMFN SecretariatFred Johnson

MD, Asst. Professor, Division of Medical Informatics and Outcomes Research, OHSU Paul Gorman

Sustainable NorthwestMartin Goebel

President, IUFRO, Oxford Forestry Institute, Dept of Plant SciencesJeff Burley

Co-Inventor of the Topic Map ModelMichel Biezunski

Advisory Board

Forest/environmental expertiseForest/environmental expertise Computer science expertiseComputer science expertise

Assistant Director, Ecosystem Mgt., USDA, Forest ServiceSteve Solem

Current Natural Resource Information Management Conditions

• Diversity of Information Content – Spatial Scale - from genes to ecosystems– Temporal Scale – that’s biological science – Both biological and non-biological information

• Numerous Formats – Napkins to GIS including tabular, graphic, text, video, audio,

physical specimens – Providers provide data – Users seek knowledge

Current Conditions (cont.)

• Numerous Independent Locations of Holdings– Desktop corners, old floppies, hard drives, libraries,

websites, home offices, back rooms• More Mandates Regarding Collection, Management

and Dissemination – EO 12906 – “standardized documentation”– NEPA – provide environmental effects of management

actions to decision makers & public– FOIA – access to federal documents– Unit and Project “Mandates”

Current Conditions (cont.)

• Multiple Stakeholders– Providers - data “owners”, support staff, archivists, budget

personnel, webmasters– Users – resource managers, K-PhD, business, policymakers,

researchers, public interests

• Numerous Controlled Vocabularies & Thesauri– Integrated Taxonomic Information Service Database– Global Change Master Directory Keyword List– NBII Thesaurus (early 2001) – WMC’s Recommended Watershed Terminology– NRCS Climate Glossary– “Local” and Individual Keyword Lists

Challenges

• Easy Access for All Levels of Expertise• Turning Data into Knowledge - Usable• Making Contributions Simple• Low Cost• Interoperable Searching • Persistent Information• Provide Quality Assurance• Encourage the Use of Standards

Adaptive

Management

Areas

 

Adaptive Management of Forest Lands

Monitor:Gather

Information

ContinuousManagement

Evaluate(LessonsLearned)

Act

Plan &Set

Directions

The ability for the user to:

search multiple and diverse sources (individual Adaptive Management Area sites)

in an easy manner.

What do we need?

     Understand the client requirements and opportunities

 

Cle Elum and Wenatchee

Eugene and Corvallis

Star RS and Applegate Watershed Center

Test

Areas

Questions for Workshops

What kind of information would you want?

What kind of information will you provide?

What kind of “meta-information is needed?

Which semantics need to be standardized?

controlled vocabulary(ies):

useful? easy to use? good for searching?

What equipment is needed?

“Places”

Similar Places

Most of the work is centered around three topics:

environmental analyses and associated resource decisions;

budget; and

personnel.

We also asked policy questions:

What should the collection policy be?

What training is needed? For whom?

What are the organization’s financial and funding capabilities?

Who does data management?

What expertise is available (including time)?

What resource equipment is available?

Who are the customers? Why?

What we heard … about policyAccess?

some data will be widely availableother data must be closely held

Use common meta-data?

Make data available?not so much interest in raw data

Concern about funding beyond development

Primary Information• Documents

– reports– assessments– decisions– studies– environmental impact statements– ….

• Maps– in GIS systems– on paper

Documents are often linked toa geographic place

Place 1Place 2 Place 6Place 6...

Many of the keywords (climate, hydrology) are associated with places!

Therefore….attach metadata to places!

Place 1Place 2 Place 6Place 6...

Use controlled vocabularies - for aspects

Place 1 Place 2 Place 6Place 6...

hydrology controlled vocabulary

topography controlled vocabulary

climatecontrolledvocabulary

Feature: search by one or more aspect

Place 1 Place 2 Place 6Place 6...

climatecontrolledvocabularyuser user

browsesbrowsesto to

findfinddocumentsdocuments

Similarity Search

Place 1 Place 2 Place 6Place 6...

climatecontrolledvocabulary

user user wantswantsstudiesstudies

in placesin placeslike like

this onethis one

1

4

2

3

5

Place 1 Place 2 Place 6Place 6...

Gazeteer(to look up place names) GIS

• Search by one or more aspects of interest• Search by location (GIS)• Search by place name (gazeteer)

System Features (cont.)

• Make it really easy to browse the superimposed information (the controlled vocabularies)

• Provide the same, easy-to-use mechanism for:– attaching metadata to place– searching for a document by aspect/keyword– specifying a similarity search– navigating through related documents

Digital Library Infrastructure• Digital Library Framework• Document Server• Digital Object Identifiers• Gazetteer

LibraryCollection + Catalogs + Services

Basically the same for “real” and digital libraries

Sample Architecture

User

Browser

UIgateway

HandleSystem

Repos. Repos.

Collection

Index

Index

Index

Collection

Services and Interfaces

• Repository service: deposit, storage, access• Index service: queries to handles and meta-data

– document format– fixed vocabulary fields

• Collection service: form meaningful groups• User interface gateway

Which Architecture and Implementation?

• Have looked at Dienst– Both a protocol and implementation– There are other proposals (e.g., Marion)

• Leipzig Document Server– Web interface for depositing documents– Can handle Dienst protocol

Digital Object Identifiers

• From publishing industry– General way to name documents and other

“creations” (e.g. opera score)– Different levels of granularity (in theory)

• document, section, paragraph– Issued through a naming authority

• Can have sub-authorities– Associated description with each DOI

Key Aspects of DOIs• Identifies content, not location• Persistent• Built on Handles

– Handle formatnaming authority/unique local name10.1045/january99-bearman