Flexfunds funding: Improved visualization tool facilitates analysis of spatiotemporal data

The VAT tool (Visualization, Analysis and Transformation) has received a major upgrade: With the support of NFDI4Biodiversity's Flexfunds program, which is used to fund targeted community projects, it has been optimized to make it even easier for researchers to analyze and visualize biodiversity data. A central component of this further development is the new Geo Engine Manager, which makes it much easier to manage and combine different data layers on maps.

Significance of spatiotemporal biodiversity data

In biodiversity research, data is not only numerous but also complex: species are observed over years at different locations, environmental conditions change and ecosystems often react to external influences over long periods of time. These spatially and temporally linked data are essential for identifying developments - but analyzing them poses a challenge. They are often available in different formats, come from different sources and have to be laboriously processed before they can be used in a meaningful way. This is where VAT comes in: It facilitates the interactive processing and visualization of data - and thus helps to better understand changes in biodiversity.

Spatiotemporal biodiversity data contain two key pieces of information: the location and the time of an observation. Only by linking these two dimensions is it possible to systematically record and analyze ecological changes. For example, it is possible to understand whether a species is expanding its range over the years or whether it is becoming rarer in certain regions.

Such analyses are crucial for identifying long-term trends that are influenced by environmental changes, climate change or human intervention. For example, researchers can investigate whether certain species are retreating to higher altitudes or cooler latitudes in response to rising temperatures or whether habitats are being fragmented by urbanization. The combination of spatial and temporal data therefore provides a basis for sound ecological models. These models are mathematical or computer-aided simulations that help to better understand complex relationships in nature. They use existing data to make predictions about future developments - for example, how a species could spread under certain environmental conditions or what effects climate change could have on an ecosystem.

With the current further development of the VAT, it is now even easier to process and interpret such data - an important step towards making scientific work with spatiotemporal biodiversity data more efficient and accessible.

How VAT supports researchers

VAT relies on the open source software Geo Engine to make optimum use of this data. This specially developed technology makes it possible to efficiently process, analyze and visually prepare large volumes of geodata. This enables researchers to record and evaluate complex ecological relationships more quickly - without any in-depth programming knowledge.

A key advantage of VAT is the interactive linking of different data sources. Researchers can upload their own data sets and combine them with existing environmental or climate data. For example, long-term changes in species distribution can be correlated with temperature trends or land use changes. The visualization functions of the VAT make it easier to display such patterns not only in tables or diagrams, but also on interactive maps.

The VAT provides valuable support for interdisciplinary research teams in particular: biologists, geographers and environmental scientists can combine their data in a common platform and carry out analyses without complicated software settings. In this way, the tool helps to reduce the hurdles involved in working with large, heterogeneous biodiversity data and provides researchers with more efficient access to crucial information.

“The new functions enable the uncomplicated visualization of species changes in climate and land use change and make the handling of large data sets much more efficient.”

(VAT user Birgit Gemeinholzer, University of Kassel)

Further development by the Geo Engine Manager

In order to make the VAT even more user-friendly and flexible, NFDI4Biodiversity has made funds available from the Flex Funds program in 2022. This funding program of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) makes it possible to further develop research infrastructures in a targeted manner. A key result of this funding is the new Geo Engine Manager – a tool that makes it much easier to manage data and map layers in the VAT. Researchers can use it to efficiently control metadata and data organization without having to deal with complicated technical details.

The Geo Engine Manager is therefore a kind of control center for data and map layers within the VAT. It makes it possible to:

• Manage data and metadata efficiently by enabling researchers to structure and describe existing datasets. 
• Organize map layers to combine different data sources and create interactive visualizations.
• Save and reuse analysis workflows to make research processes more efficient.

Examples of the practical use of the Geo Engine Manager

• Customize metadata: Data that has been uploaded can be displayed in the Geo Engine Manager and its descriptions or other metadata can be adjusted. The changes made are saved and are then also visible in the GIS.
• Provide generated data for others: After transforming existing data, a new layer can be created and provided with the corresponding metadata. Access rights can be assigned and the layer can be made visible in the data catalog. The defined user group then has access to the layer in the GIS.
• Create a clearer data catalog: New layer collections can be created and existing or newly created layers can be assigned to them. This improves the organization of data records and makes relevant data easier to find and better structured.

Collaboration and outlook

In addition to the technical development, extensive user documentation was also created. This ensures that users can quickly familiarize themselves with the system and use all functions efficiently. As Birgit Gemeinholzer, Professor of Systematic Botany at the University of Kassel and regular user of the tool, confirms: “The new functions enable the uncomplicated visualization of species changes in climate and land use change and make the handling of large data sets much more efficient.”

Three central partners were involved in the implementation of this project: The German Federation for Biological Data (GFBio e.V.), which holds the license for Geo Engine and accompanied the development, the University of Marburg, which operates and administers the VAT system, and Geo Engine GmbH, the development team that implemented the technical innovations.

We are currently testing how various research groups work with the new functions and what further improvements are possible. The aim is to continuously develop the VAT and further facilitate access to biodiversity data.

Detailed documentation and application examples of the VAT can be found here.

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