This year, a presentation on 'Soils to Satellite'(S2S), a
collaborative project funded by the Australian National Data Service (ANDS) was given by Craig Walker
(Director of the Eco-informatics Facility of TERN) and Peter Doherty
(Atlas of Living Australia Programme Manager).
The presentation outlined the gains of greater synergies and
collaborations between the NCRIS capabilities and how S2S
addresses these.
Craig described how the NCRIS capabilities had vast volumes of
data and high levels of expertise especially in advanced technology and
technical infrastructure covering the Australia's environmental information
landscape.
'For example, the Australian Ecological Knowledge and Observation
System (ÆKOS) built by Eco-informatics
has well-described, raw scientific ecological data as its focus and complements
the Atlas of Living Australia which focuses on data and profiles of species and
specimens (biodiversity data)', said Craig.
'ÆKOS as part of its development has
leveraged ALA's expertise in systematics, biodiversity and spatial platforms.'
Peter said the S2S incubator project
demonstrates the integration of disparate data (independent of structure
and standards), as well as strong collaboration and cooperation between
NCRIS capabilities and the value and power of the mature ALA web
services.
'It also contributes to and enriches ANDS Research
Data Australia platform and generates 'real world' feedback for future
iterations'.
'S2S brings together technical expertise and
technological infrastructure for mutual benefit', agree Craig and Peter.
'There are many benefits enabling raw ecological
plot and biodiversity data to be explored to support species,
community and ecosystem distribution modelling to address climate change
science questions in new ways not previously possible.'
