3D Viewers, a Dashboard, and Data Services in Support of Arctic Science: ARMAP and AOV

Abstract:

The Arctic Research Mapping Application (ARMAP; http://armap.org/) and the Arctic Observing Viewer (AOV; https://arcticobservingviewer.org) are a suite of online applications and data services that support Arctic science. They provide tracking information (who’s doing what, when, and where) for Arctic-based projects and observing sites, respectively. ARMAP is in collaboration with 17 research agencies that provide project locations with key information about each. AOV includes a range of boreholes, ship tracks, buoys, towers, sampling stations, sensor networks, instrumentation trams, vegetation plots, stream gauges, ice cores, observatories, and more. Both ARMAP and AOV are designed to help science planners, funding agencies, investigators, data specialists, and citizens to: assess status, identify overlap, fill gaps, optimize sampling design, refine network performance, clarify directions, access data, coordinate logistics, educate communities, and spark collaborations to meet Arctic goals. Users can visualize, navigate, select, search, draw, print, view details, and follow links to obtain a comprehensive perspective. Recent improvements introduce new tools and features. Near real-time ship tracks and positions of several vessels of interest are now shown in the web apps, updating every four hours through an AIS subscription via MarineTraffic, with key information such as: status, speed, heading, latitude and longitude, among others. A new “Who’s in the Field” Dashboard uses real-time data to provide information in the form of useful graphs and statistics to guide logistics planning and research coordination at a glance. An official launch of an AOV 3D Viewer provides a smoother user experience through improved visuals, higher-resolution basemaps, custom navigation, and a more intuitive and refined time slider. On the back-end, steps have been taken to improve big data performance, allowing AOV to display and search over 35,000 sites through the use of smart and lazy loading, more server-side processing, paginated data, an upgraded version of the ESRI API, and a new framework using TypeScript and React. Contributing partners include the US NSF and related Arctic Data Center, NOAA, ADIwg, AOOS, a2dc, CAFF, GINA, IASOA, INTERACT, NASA ABoVE, and USGS, among others.