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QGreenland: Enabling Science through GIS
  • +1
  • Twila Moon,
  • Matt Fisher,
  • Trey Stafford,
  • Lynne Harden
Twila Moon
National Snow and Ice Data Center, CIRES, University of Colorado Boulder

Corresponding Author:twila.moon@colorado.edu

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Matt Fisher
National Snow and Ice Data Center, CIRES, University of Colorado Boulder
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Trey Stafford
National Snow and Ice Data Center, CIRES, University of Colorado Boulder
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Lynne Harden
Education and Outreach, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder
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Abstract

Geoscientists often spend significant research time identifying, downloading, and refining geospatial data before they can use it for analysis. Exploring interdisciplinary data is even more challenging because it may be difficult to evaluate data quality outside of one’s expertise. QGreenland, a newly funded EarthCube project, is designed to remove these barriers for interdisciplinary Greenland-focused research and analysis via an open data, open platform Greenland GIS tool. QGreenland will combine interdisciplinary data (e.g., glaciology, human health, geopolitics, hydrology, biology, etc.) curated by an international Editorial Board into a unified, all-in-one GIS environment for offline and online use. The package is designed for the open source GIS platform QGIS. QGreenland will include multiple levels of data use: 1) a fully downloadable base package ready for offline use, 2) additional disciplinary and/or high-resolution data extension packages for select download, and 3) online-access-only data to facilitate especially large datasets or updating time series. Software development has begun and we look forward to discussing techniques to create the best open access, reproducible methods for package creation and future sustainability. We also now have a beta version available for experimentation and feedback from interested users and the Editorial Board. The version 1 public release is slated for fall 2020, with two subsequent annual updates. As an interdisciplinary data package, QGreenland is designed to aid collaboration and discovery across fields. Along with discussing QGreenland development, we will also provide an example use case to demonstrate the potential utility of QGreenland for researchers, educators, planners, and communities.