TY - CHAP
T1 - Zero to a trillion
T2 - Advancing Earth surface process studies with open access to high-resolution topography
AU - Crosby, Christopher J.
AU - Arrowsmith, J. Ramón
AU - Nandigam, Viswanath
N1 - Funding Information:
Uncertainties in funding levels and competition for tight funds with other large-scale research infrastructure in the United States have been a major challenge for OT. Given the open data ethos and Earth-science applications, OT's support by the US NSF has been greatly appreciated. In times of sustained flat government budgets for science, renewal proposals, and steady funding have been possible. However, we also recognize the wide global interest and the broad applications beyond Earth science and into education and commercial realms. Balancing open access with the real costs of maintaining the cyberinfrastructure, data storage and transport, supporting staff, providing quality user support, and new developments are difficult. Open access to data means free data to many. At a basic user level that is sensible, but as mentioned above in the partnerships section, SA with data providers have generated additional revenue and have enabled OT to deliver specific large data collections by leveraging NSF's investments to build and refine the platform (e.g., Indiana Statewide data— https://doi.org/10.5069/G9959FHZ ). Moving forward, we are exploring a diversified sustainability model for OT that we hope will include ongoing academic funding from NSF, as well as expanded collaborations with data partners, sponsorship, and potentially a fee-for-use for specific new data access and processing features.
Funding Information:
Many thanks to the large community of OpenTopography users, collaborators, and partners. Contributions from the OpenTopography team past and present are gratefully appreciated. OpenTopography is guided by an advisory committee whose input has been essential. OpenTopography has been steadily supported by the US NSF, most recently under Award Numbers 1833703, 1833643, and 1833632. Matthew Beckley produced Fig. 4 . Many thanks to Paolo Tarolli and Simon Mudd for their invitation for this contribution and to Tasha Frank and Narmatha Mohan at Elsevier for their forbearance.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - High-resolution topography (HRT) is a powerful observational tool for studying the Earth's surface, vegetation, and urban landscapes, with broad scientific, engineering, and education-based applications. Submeter resolution imaging is possible when collected with laser and photogrammetric techniques using the ground, air, and space-based platforms. Open access to these data and a cyberinfrastructure platform that enables users to discover, manage, share, and process then increases the impact of investments in data collection and catalyzes scientific discovery. Furthermore, open and online access to data enables broad interdisciplinary use of HRT across academia and in communities such as education, public agencies, and the commercial sector. OpenTopography, supported by the US National Science Foundation, aims to democratize access to Earth science-oriented, HRT data and processing tools. We utilize cyberinfrastructure, including large-scale data management, high-performance computing, and service-oriented architectures to provide efficient web-based visualization and access to large, HRT datasets. OT colocates data with processing tools to enable users to quickly access custom data and derived products for their application, with the ultimate goal of making these powerful data easier to use. OT's rapidly growing data holdings currently include 283 lidar and photogrammetric, point cloud datasets (> 1.2 trillion points) covering 236,364 km2. As a testament to OT's success, more than 86,000 users have processed over 5 trillion lidar points. This use has resulted in more than 290 peer-reviewed publications across numerous academic domains including Earth science, geography, computer science, and ecology.
AB - High-resolution topography (HRT) is a powerful observational tool for studying the Earth's surface, vegetation, and urban landscapes, with broad scientific, engineering, and education-based applications. Submeter resolution imaging is possible when collected with laser and photogrammetric techniques using the ground, air, and space-based platforms. Open access to these data and a cyberinfrastructure platform that enables users to discover, manage, share, and process then increases the impact of investments in data collection and catalyzes scientific discovery. Furthermore, open and online access to data enables broad interdisciplinary use of HRT across academia and in communities such as education, public agencies, and the commercial sector. OpenTopography, supported by the US National Science Foundation, aims to democratize access to Earth science-oriented, HRT data and processing tools. We utilize cyberinfrastructure, including large-scale data management, high-performance computing, and service-oriented architectures to provide efficient web-based visualization and access to large, HRT datasets. OT colocates data with processing tools to enable users to quickly access custom data and derived products for their application, with the ultimate goal of making these powerful data easier to use. OT's rapidly growing data holdings currently include 283 lidar and photogrammetric, point cloud datasets (> 1.2 trillion points) covering 236,364 km2. As a testament to OT's success, more than 86,000 users have processed over 5 trillion lidar points. This use has resulted in more than 290 peer-reviewed publications across numerous academic domains including Earth science, geography, computer science, and ecology.
KW - Cyberinfrastructure
KW - Geoinformatics
KW - Geomorphology
KW - Surface processes
KW - Topography
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85083335529&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85083335529&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/B978-0-444-64177-9.00011-4
DO - 10.1016/B978-0-444-64177-9.00011-4
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:85083335529
T3 - Developments in Earth Surface Processes
SP - 317
EP - 338
BT - Developments in Earth Surface Processes
PB - Elsevier B.V.
ER -