Integrating spatial and temporal data across the LTER network
Over the past few years, several LTER-wide projects have created web services to easily find, access and compare long-term ecological datasets (e.g., EcoTrends*) and spatial datasets (e.g., LTER Spatial Data Workbench/CREATE**) across the LTER network; however, temporal and spatial datasets are often stored separately and accessed from different websites. Integrating long-term data and map layers from across the LTER network in a single website could be the next step in improving access to LTER’s rich legacy of both temporal and spatial data. The goals of this working group are 1) to discuss what kinds of temporal and spatial data are crucial to ecological studies, 2) to discuss possible avenues of making both types of data available from a single website via web services, and 3) to brainstorm how the data would be best visualized by the users. This project will build upon the current EcoTrends project. This working group is open to all ASM participants.
*The EcoTrends project makes derived long-term data products (data tables, plots, and metadata) from all 26 LTER sites and 24 other research sites (USDA ARS, USFS, etc.) available for browsing, downloading and comparing on the EcoTrends website (http://www.ecotrends.info).
**The LTER Spatial Data Workbench Image Browse and Data Access Page (http://www.lternet.edu/technology/sdw/sitelist.html) and the Center for Rapid Environmental Assessment and Terrain Evaluation (CREATE; http://create.hpc.unm.edu/create/lter.php), provide spatial data across the LTER network.