ecocloud: EcoScience Research Data Cloud

The ecocloud project will provide an online platform giving researchers easy access to large volumes of curated data and tools using Cloud and Virtual Laboratory (VL) technology.

Access to good quality ecological and biodiversity data is required to adequately measure the state of the environment. Recent technologies have enabled consistent and continuous collection of ecological data at high resolutions across large spatial scales, and there are a number of initiatives and institutions collecting this data. The challenge remains, however, to bring these data together and expose them to methods and tools to analyse the interaction between biodiversity and the environment. These challenges are mostly associated with the accessibility, visibility and interoperability of data hosted in disparate places, and the technical capacity, computation and analysis needs of those interpreting the data. This is where EcoCloud comes in.

Start date 22 January 2018

Expected completion date 4 January 2019

Investment by ARDC $1,125,000

Co-investment partners

Atlas of Living Australia

Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES)

The Biodiversity and Climate Change Virtual Laboratory (BCCVL)

Australian Plant Phenomics Facility

CSIRO Land and Water

Griffith University

Department of Environment and Energy

eResearch South Australia

Fenner School of Environment and Society (ANU)

Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN)

The Queensland Cyber Infrastructure Foundation (QCIF)

Lead node

1 Requirements analysis

Completion of requirements analysis for the Daily climate grids and the Species trait data. Completion of requirements analysis for the Modelling capability; and analysis of system and user requirements for the Data service. System and user requirements for the ecocloud compute platform were analysed, and business analysis and requirements for the Essential Environmental Measures (EEMs) program led by the Australian Government Department of Environment and Energy (DoEE)

2 Training materials

Development of the EcoEd training engagement plan, and development and publication of the guide "10 Ecosystem Science Research Data Things". New case study training module published.

3 Trusted data

Trusted data scoping document developed, and data discovery layer ready for testing. Development of ecocloud compute platform extensions. ecocloud Trusted data communications plan complete.

4 Training 2

EcoEd training Pathways series forums held in at least 3 cities. New cohort of EcoEd Champions trained and three "EcoEd in action" case studies completed. Production of the EcoEd training Pathways series outcome report.

5 Species trait modelling

Species trait data ready and access to the BCCVL platform complete. Species trait modelling requirements implemented in BCCVL with case study applications.

6 Data Portal Live

ecocloud data portal live, including daily climate grid data, and EEMs data through TERN. The Ecoscience trusted data review is also complete.

7 Analysis Environment Live

The ecocloud analysis environment is live, including integration with the ANDS (now ARDC) data service registry. Final Report Completed.

Core features

Ready-to-go data

Easily search, discover and access a suite of ecological datasets through our ecocloud Explorer.

Compute power

We connect to Australia’s national cloud computing infrastructure so you don’t have to burden your personal computer

Analysis tools

Utilise preloaded and preconfigured popular analytical tools such as RStudio and Python in a cloud environment

Who is this project for?

The ecocloud Platform provides tools for ecoscience researchers.

What does this project enable?

The ecocloud Platform can be used to:

Perform computation using a range of tools by launching servers to run those tools.
Manage data, the input data to the compute and the result data produced by it.
Find public datasets using ecocloud Explorer.