I-GUIDE Forum 2024 Highlights
During October 14-16, Jackson, Wyoming was abuzz with scholars and practitioners focused on our 2024 Forum: Convergence Science and Geospatial AI for Environmental Sustainability. A full day of hands-on workshops and tutorials preceded presentations, panels, and lightning talks that profiled research in data-intensive geospatial and convergence sciences, education and CyberGIS innovations, and geoAI. Our local hosts from the University of Wyoming generously sponsored a welcoming reception, and dozens of research posters were on display during a second day's conference reception. Representatives from the National Science Foundation shared insights on funding opportunities. As always, social and professional networking was a hallmark of this event!
A published set of Forum proceedings is available, including these examples of research that represents I-GUIDE's characteristic approach to convergence science and our enhanced I-GUIDE Platform.
- Data-Intensive Convergence Science for Analyzing Place-Based Spatial Accessibility
- Typology of Atmospheric Conditions Leading to Dam Overtopping in the Eastern US
- Communicating Uncertainty and Cataloging Bias in Spatial Data Science Education
- A Convergence Framework for Integrating CyberGIS Education and Research on the I-GUIDE Platform
Stay tuned for the forthcoming announcements about I-GUIDE Forum 2025!
Can you imagine the flow of water over a landscape resulting from cascading dam failures? A collaborative effort between I-GUIDE and the Advanced Visualization Lab at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois can help you do just that. This newly-released data-driven scientific visualization highlights a disastrous flooding event that affected South Carolina in 2015. I-GUIDE's ongoing research provides insights for this national-scale problem.
Optimized Formats for High-Performance Geospatial Computing (HPGC)
OGC's Testbed 20 Preliminary Results Presented
Sponsored by I-GUIDE, the OGC Testbed 20 HPGC preliminary report was presented during OGC’s 130th member meeting in Goyang , South Korea, from November 4 to 7, 2024. The report investigates cloud-optimized geospatial data formats for high-performance computing (HPC) in response to rapid data growth in fields like climate science and disaster response. It addresses inefficiencies in traditional HPC systems related to data transfer input/output operations. Participants assessed Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF, GeoZarr, and GeoParquet formats, benchmarking their performance in data ingestion, access, and parallel processing. The findings highlight each format's strengths and limitations, guiding future developments for more efficient, interoperable solutions in geospatial computing. Full results are expected to be presented in early 2025.
The latest cutting-edge research and publications
from the NSF I-GUIDE Project Team
A changing climate, with intensifying precipitation may contribute to increasing failures of dams by overtopping. An analysis of 552 U.S. dams reveals that the maximum 1-day rainfall linked to failures is often not extreme relative to design criteria. Persistent atmospheric circulation patterns that lead to recurrent rainfall events, rather than just more moisture in the atmosphere is a possible reason. The probability of these compound precipitation risks has increased across much of the country. With over 90,000 aging dams still in service, the increasing likelihood of intense rainfall sequences raises concerns about future dam failures.
