D4Science Geopo al: a amewo k o managing and publishing
geo e e enced esea ch objec s
F. Mangiac apa and G. L. Vannini
Ins i u e o In o ma ion Science and Technology "A. Faedo"
Na ional Resea ch Council, Pisa, I aly
Keywo ds: Geopo al, D4Science, Vi ual Resea ch En i onmen , Web-GIS, Open
Science, In e ope abili y, Geospa ial Da a
In he cu en con ex o Ea h and En i onmen al Sciences, he exponen ial g ow h in he
p oduc ion o geospa ial and empo al da a makes i essen ial o adop ad anced ools o
managing, publishing, and sha ing complex in o ma ion. The D4Science Geopo al [1]
ep esen s an inno a i e and e sa ile solu ion speci ically designed o add ess hese
challenges. Th ough Vi ual Resea ch En i onmen s (VREs) [2], i o e s a comp ehensi e
digi al en i onmen aligned wi h he FAIR p inciples o Open Science.
De eloped as an in eg al pa o he D4Science digi al in as uc u e [3], he Geopo al is an
open-sou ce amewo k, dedica ed o he managemen o complex geo e e enced esea ch
objec s cha ac e ized by spa ial, empo al and mul imedia da a. I s modula a chi ec u e
consis s o h ee main componen s: Da a-En y, Da a-Viewe and Geopo al Se ice.
Da a-En y ( on -end) suppo s use s in managing and publishing da a. The Da a-Viewe
( on -end) o e s ools o explo e geo e e enced objec s h ough in e ac i e maps, en iched
wi h dynamic isualiza ions and empo al ep esen a ions. Bo h modules communica e wi h
he Geopo al Se ice (back-end), esponsible o s o ing, pe sis ing and secu ely accessing
da a, in eg a ing wi h he ad anced se ices o he D4Science in as uc u e, including
s o age sys ems, geospa ial se e s, da abases and ca alogs.
The compa ibili y o he Geopo al wi h in e na ional s anda ds de ined by he Open
Geospa ial Conso ium (OGC), such as Web Map Se ice (WMS) and Web Fea u e Se ice
(WFS), ensu es in e ope abili y and in eg a ion wi h o he pla o ms and IT sys ems,
encou aging mul idisciplina y collabo a ion and esou ce sha ing in dis ibu ed esea ch
a eas.
One o he mos signi ican applica ions o he Geopo al is he Ree A chi e Lab, a VRE
designed o suppo he scien i ic communi y in he s udy o co al ee s. This digi al
en i onmen allows he managemen and publica ion o high- esolu ion unde wa e
o hopho os, o e ing ools o anno a ing and ca aloguing he collec ed da a. A u he
impo an example is he Da ase o he Na ional Geopo al o A chaeology (D4GNA)
[4], de eloped o he I alian Minis y o Cul u e. The D4GNA manages o e 1,200
a chaeological exca a ion esea ch p ojec s, bo h na ionally and in e na ionally, p omo ing
he s anda diza ion and digi iza ion o a chaeological documen a ion, and p omo ing he
accessibili y, sha ing and open euse o da a.
This con ibu ion shows how Geopo al ep esen s an e ec i e and eplicable solu ion o
he in eg a ed managemen o geospa ial, empo al and mul imedia da a. Designed in line
wi h he needs o mode n esea ch in as uc u es, he Geopo al p omo es in e disciplina y
coope a ion and inno a ion in he managemen o cu en en i onmen al and cul u al
challenges.
Re e ences:
[1] Candela L., Ci illo R., Mangiac apa F., Pagano P., Sinibaldi F., Vannini G. L. The gCube geopo al
pla o m, CNR-ISTI (2023). ISTI Technical Repo , ISTI-2023-TR/012. doi: 10.32079/ISTI-TR-
2023/012
[2] Assan e M. e al. The gCube sys em: Deli e ing Vi ual Resea ch En i onmen s as-a-Se ice.
Fu u e Gene a ion Compu e Sys ems, 95:445–453, 2019. doi: 10.1016/j. u u e.2018.10.035
[3] M. Assan e e al. (2019) Enac ing open science by D4Science. Fu u e Gene . Compu . Sys . 101:
555-563 10.1016/j. u u e.2019.05.063
[4] Acconcia V. e al. ARIADNE Plus e il D4GNA – Da ase pe il Geopo ale Nazionale pe
l’A cheologia. DigI alia, 18(1):129–140, 2023. doi: 10.36181/digi alia-00064