I-GUIDE Platform Release Notes

• New Collections feature
  • An abstraction to show all related elements about a particular topic at one place
  • Please refer to An introduction to Collections for basics about working with collections on the I-GUIDE Platform
• User profile enhancements
  • Backend support for elements filter by type for given user allowing frontend to show elements by category on user profile page
  • Backend logic updated to support parallel requests processing enhancing overall performance
• Smart Search
  • Ability to seamlessly switch between different LLMs based on availability
• Major Security Fixes & Updates
  • Critical updates to outdated packages
  • High vulnerability security fixes
  • Added rate limiters to mitigate against potential attacks
  • neo4j database updated to latest LTS version
• Bug Fixes & Misc.
  • Bug fixes for edge cases while merging user accounts with multiple OpenIDs
  • CORS policy issues fixed for several endpoints
  • Endpoints added and thoroughly documented in Swagger to support above mentioned features
  • Updated CI/CD pipeline for automated testing
  • Removed sensitive information from logs
  • Bug fixes for occasional missing thumbnails for knowledge elements

• All private elements converted to unlisted i.e. such elements are not discoverable and will not show up in search results etc. however, they will be accessible via direct URLs
• Added a new Notifications feature available on user profile. These will include notifications generated by the platform for users
• Improved Contributor profile information information e.g. total number of contributions
• Admin panel now allows searching users with respective emails
• Improved backend procedures for platform reproducibility
• Bug Fixes & Misc.
  • Faulty element click count increment for internal function call fixed
  • DOI status assignment fix for new datasets
  • Allowed JSON payload size increased to facilitate large spatial metadata e.g. for continental U.S.
  • Updated API endpoints' response to exclude content embeddings if not required
  • Element search endpoints now include element creation timestamp in their response
  • Typo query error fixed for a corner case in backend function to get an element given its ID

• DOI support for Dataset elements
  • DOI can be requested and assigned for public datasets uploaded by the user on the I-GUIDE Platform
  • Backend metadata and functionality (endpoints) added for existing and new elements
  • Added pagination for elements eligible for and assigned DOI to show on user profile
• User Privacy Enhancement
  • User attributes categorized into public and private where private are only shown on user profile
• Platform Reproducibility Enhancements
  • Capability added to automatically create OpenSearch index from neo4j backup
  • In addition to creating index with searchable content for keyword searching, new functions ensure to generate embeddings for semantic search
• Misc. Fixes and Improvements
  • Regulate semantic search return format while ensuring backward compatibility
  • Temporarily disable automatic PDF embedding for submission and update to avoid smart search bug
  • Updates to automated testing configurations for CI/CD pipeline
  • Fixed CORS issue in endpoints to fetch users from API
  • Updated swagger interface for endpoints corresponding to updates in endpoint parameters
  • Several elements API search endpoints have been updated to operate on IDs instead of title

• Phase-1 for support of multiple user profiles
  • Major updates to user/contributor database schema to support single user having multiple profiles
  • Major updates to API endpoints, marked as v2, to retrieve and work with user/contributor data
  • Existing API endpoints marked as deprecated which will be removed in future
  • Swagger UI updated accordingly
  • Unit tests updated to cover these changes
• Updates to Smart Search feature
  • Improve the RAG pipeline reasoning ability and add embeddings for publications' contents
  • Update the reasoning agent using ReAct framework
• Enhancements to Notebook element type to ensure quality
  • Addition of notebookStatus in element creation success/fail process
  • Notebook element creation now checks for validity of the GitHub link i.e. whether the link exists and is public. In case of invalid link, the element submission fails
  • Added sanitization checks in notebook file names to to avoid submission errors
  • Unit tests updated to cover these changes
• Misc. Bug Fixes & Improvements
  • Fix to handle JWT token issues for v2 API endpoints
  • Code restructuring to improve backend readability and structure; separate utils/ directory for all utility code, database directory with noe4j and opensearch codes etc.

• The platform can now host datasets in addition to registering external datasets
  • MinIO based replicated storage is now integrated with the platform backend to host user uploaded datasets
  • New endpoints to manage internally hosted datasets
  • New test cases for dataset features
  • Updates to elements schema to manage hosted dataset
  • Enforce limits on dataset types and size which can be uploaded
• Support for ACCESS-CI HPC resources (beta)
  • The platform now allows users to directly access Anvil HPC Open OnDemand Portal
  • The platform now allows users to directly access TAMU ACES HPC Open OnDemand Portal
  • In order to have access to these resources, the user must register with the platform using ACCESS-CI credentials and be part of relevant ACCESS allocations
• Non-Curated Open Educational Resources
  • New user type to upload non-curated Open Educational Resources (OER) element types
  • To keep track of curated vs. non-curated OERs, append 'OERshare' tag to OER submissions from users with this specific role
• Security & Misc. Bug Fixes
  • Fix for potential security issue due to unchecked request rate limits
  • Fix for missing resource type after element update
  • Fix for API UIs in the localhost/dev environment

• Anvil HPC Open OnDemand Portal is now accessible through the I-GUIDE Platform
  • A new user role added on the backend
  • At this time, this user role can only be assigned manually
  • This role is restricted to users who have registered using ACCESS-CI only. This avoids the need for a separate login when accessing Anvil Open OnDemand from the platform
• Notebook element type can now be registered using a direct GitHub link. This also supports multiple notebooks in the same repository
  • Automated JupyterHub downloading functionality has also been updated accordingly
  • notebook-file field now accepts relative path of the file in the repository
• [FIX] Stale leftover data
  • Fixed deleting user from the platform did not remove associated data e.g. avatar image etc. from the backend
  • Fixed deleting element from the platform did not remove associated data e.g. thumbnail images, html etc. from the backend

• User role privileges
  • Support for .edu as well as .gov for trusted accounts
  • Check full domain for trusted users
• Automated test cases 07/08/2025
  • New test cases added for above scenarios
  • Added an action for running test cases in an isolated server
  • Automated tests working in an isolated environment for CI/CD
  • Bypass flask-embedding in automated tests
• [FIX] MULTIPOLYGON parsing fixed for WKT strings passed from frontend

We are pleased to announce the release version 0.3 of the I-GUIDE Platform (https://platform.i-guide.io/). The I-GUIDE Platform is an open online platform that provides streamlined and user-friendly access to advanced cyberinfrastructure and cyberGIS capabilities with an integrated software stack for computationally reproducible and data-intensive geospatial analytics.

The I-GUIDE Platform has been developed by a multi-institutional team of professionals and researchers specializing in advanced cyberinfrastructure and geospatial data science. The team is part of the Institute for Geospatial Understanding through an Integrative Discovery Environment (I-GUIDE) https://i-guide.io/ supported by the National Science Foundation.

By integrating data, domain expertise, and educational resources, the platform enables researchers and practitioners to address complex geospatial and environmental challenges. Users from various institutions can quickly login and start using the I-GUIDE Platform with their institutional credentials.

This release of the I-GUIDE Platform includes the following major components.

I-GUIDE Frontend

• Add Smart Search powered by large language models
• Add Element Map which displays elements on OpenStreetMap using spatial metadata
• Allow users to autofill element's spatial metadata
• Implement Advanced Search which gives users more filter options
• Improve consistency and integration with I-GUIDE JupyterHub
• Improve user login session management

I-GUIDE Backend

• Support for an admin panel to manage users and knowledge elements
• Added comprehensive unit tests for backend functionalities accessible via API endpoints
• New users registering with their official emails from educational institutes are automatically assigned as TRUSTED users
• The platform now supports automated role assignment from more than 10,000 educational institutes from around the world
• Added checks to avoid duplicate submissions for publications and dataset elements
• Support for beta version of advanced LLM-based interactive semantic search based on platform knowledge elements
  • The smart search has been connected with the live index of the I-GUIDE Platform
  • The original smart search feature is based on llama3 model
  • Prompt tuning for routing and query augmentation, the references will be shown as clickable hyperlinks
  • Memory management to support interactive user experience
  • Added sanity checks to avoid LLM misuse e.g. rate limiter, results limit etc.
  • Added mechanism to get Instant user feedback for LLM generated responses. The feedback is used to improve tune the model for future queries
  • Added graph database agent for thematic queries.
  • Added support for multi-hop reasoning while generating search results
  • Based on user feedback and testing, the latest version uses qwen2.5 model to improve smart search results
  • Note that this feature is only available to certain users belonging to trusted tiers
• Support for spatial searching based on spatial metadata and indexing for knowledge elements
• Cleanup knowledge elements indexed in OpenSearch to remove inconsistencies in keyword based search results
• All spatial objects returned from backend via API endpoints are formatted in GeoJSON instead of well-known-text (WKT)
• Platform users are now assigned registration date and time. To ensure consistency, existing users are assigned registration based on their earliest contributed element to the platform
• Users now have the ability to customize their display name on the platform. This name will be shown on user profile as well as will be associated with all submitted elements from the user
• Documentation can now be submitted by Content Moderators as well

I-GUIDE JupyterHub

• I-GUIDE JupyterHub has migrated to https://jupyter.i-guide.io. It must be noted that directly accessing the JupyterHub is discouraged
• I-GUIDE JupyterHub is now accessible to Trusted users only
• Unlike previous versions, the JupyterHub can now be accessed without the need for a separate login
• The backend of the JupyterHub is now deployed on an updated Kubernetes cluster deployed on JetStream2 resources

Miscellaneous minor updates and bug fixes

• Multiple vulnerable dependent packages updated to fix known bugs
• Bug fixes for elements showing up in search after their visibility changed to private by owners
• Structural changes to the code base for better maintenance, readability and expandibility
• Bug fix for corner case for user registration when CILogon does not return associated email
• Bug fix for corner case when user registers and logs in the first time un the same session
• General code integrity and quality improvements e.g. removed unused imports & dependencies, following coding standards etc.

How to report bugs or issues?

Report new issues or bugs by submitting a ticket at https://platform.i-guide.io/contact-us

Best regards,

The I-GUIDE Platform Team

We are pleased to announce the release version 0.2.1 of the I-GUIDE Platform (https://platform.i-guide.io/). The I-GUIDE Platform is an open online platform that provides streamlined and user-friendly access to advanced cyberinfrastructure and cyberGIS capabilities with an integrated software stack for computationally reproducible and data-intensive geospatial analytics.

The I-GUIDE Platform has been developed by a multi-institutional team of professionals and researchers specializing in advanced cyberinfrastructure and geospatial data science. The team is part of the Institute for Geospatial Understanding through an Integrative Discovery Environment (I-GUIDE) https://i-guide.io/ supported by the National Science Foundation.

By integrating data, domain expertise, and educational resources, the platform enables researchers and practitioners to address complex geospatial and environmental challenges. Users from various institutions can quickly login and start using the I-GUIDE Platform with their institutional credentials.

This release of the I-GUIDE Platform includes the following major components.

I-GUIDE Frontend

• Multiple levels of user privileges
  • Trusted: Can contribute most but not all of the elements
  • Contributors: Can contribute all elements including Open Educational Resources (OER)
  • Content Moderators: Can edit all elements to ensure quality
• Open Educational Resources (OER) element types now support markdown editor to customize content based on user’s discretion.
  • OER elements can only be submitted by privileged users
• Support for new Map type elements
• Support for new Code (GitHub repository) type elements
• Support for bookmarking elements
• Support for keeping element contributions private by registered users
• Support for multiple resolutions for platform images (element thumbnails, user avatars etc.) for improved interactivity under various internet access speeds
• Interactive Map, Connect & Discover buttons on the landing page
  • Map: Shows all Map type elements submitted by users
  • Connect: Shows a full graph of all connected elements in the platform
  • Discover: Focuses on the search functionality of the platform
• New elements now have the option to specify spatial and temporal metadata and properties

I-GUIDE Backend

• Documentation and details of I-GUIDE Platform API endpoints accessible through swagger interface available at https://backend.i-guide.io/api-docs/
• Public access to platform code repository under MIT License accessible at https://github.com/I-GUIDE/iguide-ue-backend
• Major code refactoring for collaborative development with updated documentation
• Added functionality to handle element visibility i.e. (public/private)
  • Every element has a visibility property
  • All endpoints updated to retrieve elements considering appropriate visibility and user ownership
  • New endpoints added to toggle visibility and retrieve private elements
  • Existing endpoints updated to return adjusted element counts
• Contributors are now identified using unique system generated IDs instead of OpenIDs returned by CILogon. This will help in users having multiple emails, accounts especially when moving between different institutions
• Updated search endpoints to include count of elements for every type
• Added endpoints to add/remove/update documentation to support tutorials, FAQs etc. Documentation type resources can only be created, edited or deleted by users with administrative privileges
• Filter bad words from search and avoid counting them towards trending searches and top keywords
• New endpoint to get a graph of all connected elements in the platform
• Related elements endpoint now supports user specified depth e.g. depth=2 would return “related of related” elements
• Support for spatial and temporal data for every submitted element
• Element registration and update timestamps

I-GUIDE JupyterHub

• Updated container image to include vim/nano for use in terminal
• Added CyberGISX kernels to our CVMFS instance in order to support more notebooks on our platform
• Deployed backup instance for Jupyterhub on Anvil in case Jetstream goes down
• New documentation for users on kernels available on the I-GUIDE JupyterHub Platform: https://github.com/I-GUIDE/KernelDocumentation

Miscellaneous minor updates and bug fixes

• Fixed an issue for new users when logging in the first time and trying to submit an element right away
• Some pages show duplicate elements when navigating through them
• Removed redundant packages from setup and documentation
• Filter whitespace from search keywords
• Fix for issue when updating an element removed existing related connections

How to report bugs or issues?

Report new issues or bugs by submitting a ticket at https://platform.i-guide.io/contact-us

Best regards,

The I-GUIDE Platform Team

We are pleased to announce the release version 0.2 of the I-GUIDE Platform. The I-GUIDE Platform is an open online platform that provides streamlined and user-friendly access to advanced cyberinfrastructure and cyberGIS capabilities with an integrated software stack for computationally reproducible and data-intensive convergence research and education. 

The I-GUIDE Platform has been developed by a multi-institutional team of professionals and researchers specializing in advanced cyberinfrastructure and geospatial data science. The team is part of the Institute for Geospatial Understanding through an Integrative Discovery Environment (I-GUIDE, https://i-guide.io/) supported by the National Science Foundation.

 The I-GUIDE Platform enables users to discover resources and execute interactive workflows implemented as Jupyter notebooks. Users from various academic institutions can immediately login and start using the I-GUIDE Platform with their institutional credentials. 

This release of the I-GUIDE Platform includes updates in the following major components.

I-GUIDE Platform Gateway

• Improved user environment and interface design
• Link to platform working/availability status on the main user interface

I-GUIDE JupyterHub

• New container images
  • A Singularity container and corresponding CyberGIS-Compute (https://cybergis.github.io/cybergis-compute-python-sdk/) model to post-process simulation results from the National Water Model (WRFHydro) and generate a tabular comparison of retrospective and simulated streamflow.
  • A Singularity container and corresponding CyberGIS-Compute model to generate a database in the header array format (HAR) based on data from U.N. FAOSTAT for use with version 3.0 of the SIMPLE model (https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.13019/RPZW-BX12).  
• A new Geospatial AI Jupyter kernel is available on the platform for NLP applications. The kernel includes commonly used libraries and models such as PyTorch, Natural Language Toolkit, spaCy, and HuggingFace Transformers.

I-GUIDE Resource Catalog

• User interface updates, including an enhanced resource landing page
• Initial ability to register resources stored in S3 
• S3 data registration example
• Vue 2 to Vue 3 update for the catalog user interface

I-GUIDE Convergence Science Notebooks

A set of reproducible notebooks showcasing research being carried out by the I-GUIDE convergence science team including for example:

• Estimating the contribution of global drivers in future stress on water resources as estimated by the SIMPLE-G model
• Image segmentation by foundation model fine-tuning 
• Detecting hydrological responses and shrinkage patterns of the Great Salt Lake
• Exploring spatio-temporal dynamics of a meta-coupled world
• Characterizing the spatiotemporal changes of wildland urban interface in the United States using Google Earth Engine API
• Assessing margins of adaptation to human heat stress: local, national, and global socioeconomic responses
• Examining effects of transit-induced gentrification using US census API
• Modeling the relationship between urban tree canopy, land cover, and land surface temperature

How to report bugs or issues?

Go to I-GUIDE Platform Notebook Showcase page at https:/i-guide.io//platform/discovery/. Scroll all the way down and you will see a red button on the bottom right corner that says “Report issues”. It will lead to a Google Form for issue or bug reporting.