A loosely integrated data configuration strategy for web-based participatory modeling

Abstract

Participatory modeling is an important approach for solving complex geo-problems from a comprehensive and holistic viewpoint, and it brings together stakeholders from multiple disciplines to provide diverse resources, including modeling, data fields and computational assets. Data configuration work (e.g., preparing appropriate input data for model execution, connecting a model’s output to the input data of another model) is important for constructing and executing a participatory modeling task. Most current data configuration methods depend on the model integration logic, which presents a challenge when adding new modeling resources into a model to dynamically create and execute new modeling tasks. To support the construction of participatory modeling tasks in a web environment, this article proposes a loosely integrated data configuration strategy for decoupling data configuration work from the execution process of a participatory modeling task. A model service controller is designed for model input/output (I/O) configuration, and a data service controller is designed for data access configuration. These two controllers can help modelers link the data I/O demands of a model-service with the appropriate data-services; thus, different modeling instances can be dynamically joined to a participatory modeling task and executed without reconstructing the original data configuration settings. A prototype participatory modeling system is proposed to demonstrate the flexibility and feasibility of the proposed method using an experimental modeling case. The results show that the proposed data configuration strategy supports the integration of different model-services based on the data dependency relationships and that the complexity and difficulty in configuring data for a participatory modeling tasks in the web environment are minimized.

Keywords:

• data configuration
• participatory modeling
• model service
• data service
• web environment

Acknowledgements

We appreciate the detailed suggestions and comments from the editor and the anonymous reviewers. We express heartfelt thanks to the other members of the OpenGMS team.

Computer code availability

Architecture Designer: Min Chen, Songshan Yue and Yongning Wen

Software Developer: Songshan Yue and Chaoran Shen

Address: No.1 Wenyuan Road Qixia District, Nanjing, 210,023 P.R.China

Email: [email protected]

First available: 2018

Hardware requirements: 1 GHz CPU 1024 MB RAM

Software requirements: Windows (or other platforms supporting NodeJS)

Availability: Open source (no license, source code available upon request)

Cost: Free

Program language: JavaScript, C++ and C#

Program size: 145 MB

Software Access: Sent by email

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [41701441]; The National Natural Science Foundation of China [41622108]; Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions [164320H116]; The National Natural Science Foundation of China [41471317]; The National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) [2015CB954103]; and the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions [grant number 164320H116].