ABSTRACT

Understanding the characteristics of the rapidly evolving geospatial software ecosystem in the United States is critical to enable convergence research and education that are dependent on geospatial data and software. This paper describes a survey approach to better understand geospatial use cases, software and tools, and limitations encountered while using and developing geospatial software. The survey was broadcast through a variety of geospatial-related academic mailing lists and listservs. We report both quantitative responses and qualitative insights. As 42% of respondents indicated that they viewed their work as limited by inadequacies in geospatial software, ample room for improvement exists. In general, respondents expressed concerns about steep learning curves and insufficient time for mastering geospatial software, and often limited access to high-performance computing resources. If adequate efforts were taken to resolve software limitations, respondents believed they would be able to better handle big data, cover broader study areas, integrate more types of data, and pursue new research. Insights gained from this survey play an important role in supporting the conceptualization of a national geospatial software institute in the United States with the aim to drastically advance the geospatial software ecosystem to enable broad and significant research and education advances.

摘要

了解美国快速发展的地理空间软件生态系统的特征对于实现依赖于地理空间数据和软件的融合研究和教育至关重要。本文描述了一种调查方法，以更好地了解地理空间用例、软件和工具，以及在使用和开发地理空间软件时遇到的限制。该调查通过各种与地理空间相关的学术邮件列表和列表服务进行广播。我们报告定量响应和定性见解。由于 42% 的受访者表示他们认为他们的工作受到地理空间软件不足的限制，因此存在足够的改进空间。总体而言，受访者对陡峭的学习曲线和掌握地理空间软件的时间不足表示担忧，并且通常限制访问高性能计算资源。如果采取足够的努力来解决软件限制，受访者认为他们将能够更好地处理大数据、覆盖更广泛的研究领域、整合更多类型的数据并进行新的研究。从这次调查中获得的见解在支持美国国家地理空间软件研究所的概念化方面发挥了重要作用，旨在大幅推进地理空间软件生态系统，以实现广泛而重要的研究和教育进步。