Soil and Landscape Grid

of Australia

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Landscape Attribute Details

Detailed descriptions of all the products available in the Australian Soil and Landscape Grid can be viewed in the CSIRO Data Access portal metadata records

The landscape attribute products available from the Soil and Landscape Grid of Australia were derived from DEM-S, the smoothed version of the national 1 second resolution Digital Elevation Model, which was derived from the 1 second resolution Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data acquired by NASA in February 2000.

Available Landscape Attributes

Attribute	Description
Slope (%)	Slope measures the inclination of the land surface from the horizontal.
Slope (%) Median 300m Radius	The median slope within a 300 m radius representing the typical slope in the local landscape.
Slope Relief Classification	Slope relief landform pattern classification based on Speight (2009).
Aspect	Aspect measures the direction in which a land surface slope faces. The direction is expressed in degrees from north.
Relief 1000m Radius	The elevation range measures the full range of elevations within a 1000m circular radius and can be used as a representation of local relief.
Relief 300m Radius	The elevation range measures the full range of elevations within a 300m circular radius and can be used as a representation of local relief.
Topographic Wetness Index	TWI estimates the relative wetness within moist catchments, but is more commonly used as a measure of position on the slope with larger values indicating a lower slope position.
Topographic Position Index	Topographic Position Index (TPI) is a topographic position classification identifying upper, middle and lower parts of the landscape.
Partial Contributing Area	Contributing area in m2 computed using multiple flow directions on hillslopes and ANUDEM-derived flow directions in channels.
MrVBF	MrVBF is a topographic index designed to identify areas of deposited material at a range of scales based on the observations that valley bottoms are low and flat relative to their surroundings and that large valley bottoms are flatter than smaller ones.
Plan Curvature	Plan (or contour) curvature is the rate of change of aspect (across the slope) and represents topographic convergence or divergence.
Profile Curvature	Profile curvature is the rate of change of potential gradient down a flow line and represents the changes in flow velocity down a slope.
Prescott Index	The Prescott Index is a measure of water balance that is sensitive to regional climate and local topography and has proven to be a useful in soil mapping both to stratify study areas for sampling and as a quantitative predictor of soil properties.
SRAD Net Radiation January	Mean monthly solar radiation was modelled across Australia using topography from the 1 second resolution SRTM-derived DEM-S and climatic and land surface data.
SRAD Net Radiation July	Mean monthly solar radiation was modelled across Australia using topography from the 1 second resolution SRTM-derived DEM-S and climatic and land surface data.
SRAD Total Shortwave Sloping Surface January	Mean monthly solar radiation was modelled across Australia using topography from the 1 second resolution SRTM-derived DEM-S and climatic and land surface data.
SRAD Total Shortwave Sloping Surf July	Mean monthly solar radiation was modelled across Australia using topography from the 1 second resolution SRTM-derived DEM-S and climatic and land surface data.

Spatial Characteristics

All of the products in the Australian Soil and Landscape Grid conform to the spatial structure specified in the GlobalSoilMap Specifications. Below is a summary of the spatial characteristics of the Landscape Attribute prodcuts.

http://www.clw.csiro.au/aclep/soilandlandscapegrid/ProductDetails-LandscapeAttributes.html

Check list available for social science researchers; - assume it could also be used to identify relevant areas that should be addressed in a policy.

http://www.gesis.org/fileadmin/upload/trainingcenter/images__documents/Research_data_management_questions.pdf

Over 1,000 research data repositories indexed in re3data.org

in August 2012 re3data.org – the Registry of Research Data Repositories went online with 23 entries. Two years later the registry provides researchers, funding organisations, libraries and publishers with over 1,000 listed research data repositories from all over the world making it the largest and most comprehensive online catalog of research data repositories on the web. re3data.org provides detailed information about the research data repositories, and its distinctive icons help researchers easily identify relevant repositories for accessing and depositing data sets.

To more than 5,000 unique visitors per month re3data.org offers reliable orientation in the heterogeneous landscape of research data repositories. An average of 10 repositories are added to the registry every week. The latest indexed data infrastructure is the new CERN Open Data Portal: http://service.re3data.org/repository/r3d100011381

The project partners from the US and Germany are very happy about the steady growth and the success of the project.

re3data.org encourages funders, libraries and publishers to refer to re3data.org in their policies and guidelines as the primary source for identifying research data repositories.

Initial partners in re3data.org are the Berlin School of Library and Information Science at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the Library and Information Services department (LIS) of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, and the KIT Library at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

This march re3data.org started a process of merging with Databib (http://databib.org), a similar initative at the University Purdue (West Lafayette, Indiana, USA). The aim of this cooperation is to serve the research community with a single, sustainable registry of research data repositories that incorporates the best features of both initiatives.

All records from Databib are now integrated in re3data.org. The process of merging will be finalised in the next months. By the end of 2015, re3data.org will become an imprint of DataCite and be included in its suite of services.

The work of re3data.org is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) in Germany and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in the United States.

URL of this announcement:
http://www.re3data.org/2014/11/over-1000-research-data-repositories-indexed-in-re3data-org

Further information:
Website: http://www.re3data.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/re3data

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heinz Pampel

Helmholtz Association
Helmholtz Open Science Coordination Office

re3data.org - Registry of Research Data Repositories

Helmholtz Centre Potsdam
GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences
Library of the Albert Einstein Science Park

Data citation videos

1. Persistent identifiers and data citation explained
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgqtiY7oZ6k - from Research Data Netherlands but in English (just under 5 mins)

Explains URLs, DOIs and data citation, links between data, pubs etc. and highlights advantages for researchers

2. Sharing data: good for science, good for you

From DANS, Netherlands

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJbo-OAaJ1I

4.10mins

Starting with the inspiring Neelie Kroes from the European Commission, covers why open data is important and how researchers can benefit (including getting cited). It’s a mix of English and Dutch with English subtitles

3. DCC: Managing Research Data

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JBQS0qKOBU (12 mins, but in presentation I have only showed to 5.10mins in)

A range of fast moving viewpoints highlighting various aspects of research data management including its benefit to institutional reputation, advancement of knowledge etc. Acknowledges researcher fears for sharing data.

4. Whose data is it anyway?

From Yale School of Medicine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzfWxI5Ap2I 

about 2 mins

Rsearchers need to share their data for the advancement of medicine

Data Curation Centre: New data appraisal checklist now online

A new DCC checklist entitled 'Five steps to decide what to keep' aims to help UK Higher Education Institutions support their researchers in making informed choices about what research data to keep, at the same time as helping them plan what to publish. The guide outlines factors to weigh up, including the compliance risks and potential value, as well as the data management costs, after first considering for what purposes the data may be reused. Print copies will be available soon.

Gates Foundation Open Access to publications and underlying data

from: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/General-Information/Open-Access-Policy 

----------------------------------------

"The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is committed to information sharing and transparency. We believe that published research resulting from our funding should be promptly and broadly disseminated. We have adopted an Open Access policy that enables the unrestricted access and reuse of all peer-reviewed published research funded, in whole or in part, by the foundation, including any underlying data sets.

"As of January 1, 2015 our Open Access policy will be effective for all new agreements. During a two-year transition period, publishers will be permitted to apply up to a 12 month embargo period on the accessibility of the publication and its underlying data sets. This embargo period will no longer be allowed after January 1, 2017.

"Our Open Access policy contains the following elements:

1. Publications Are Discoverable and Accessible Online.  Publications will be deposited in a specified repository(s) with proper tagging of metadata. 
2. Publication Will Be On “Open Access” Terms.  All publications shall be published under theCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC BY 4.0) or an equivalent license. This will permit all users of the publication to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and transform and build upon the material, including for any purpose (including commercial) without further permission or fees being required. 
3. Foundation Will Pay Necessary Fees.  The foundation would pay reasonable fees required by a publisher to effect publication on these terms. 
4. Publications Will Be Accessible and Open Immediately.  All publications shall be available immediately upon their publication, without any embargo period.   An embargo period is the period during which the publisher will require a subscription or the payment of a fee to gain access to the publication. We are, however, providing a transition period of up to two years from the effective date of the policy (or until January 1, 2017).  During the transition period, the foundation will allow publications in journals that provide up to a 12-month embargo period.
5. Data Underlying Published Research Results Will Be Accessible and Open Immediately.  The foundation will require that data underlying the published research results be immediately accessible and open.  This too is subject to the transition period and a 12-month embargo may be applied.

CKAN rap - open all that data!' song

http://www.linkdigital.com.au/news/2014/11/ckan-open-all-that-data/

Not sure it'll get to number #1 but it's pretty catchy and I may be singing a verse or two on the way home today:

"Data is all around, yes its everywhere
So set your sails high and lets get there.
Knowledge is power so we need to learn and grow
But open it up to let that power flow"

Natasha Simons!

CERN frees LHC data

November 20, 2014

Anyone can access collision data from the Large Hadron Collider through the new CERN Open Data Portal.  

Today CERN launched its Open Data Portal, which makes data from real collision events produced by LHC experiments available to the public for the first time.

“Data from the LHC program are among the most precious assets of the LHC experiments, that today we start sharing openly with the world,” says CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. “We hope these open data will support and inspire the global research community, including students and citizen scientists.”

http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/november-2014/cern-frees-lhc-data

Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names Released as Linked Open Data

The Getty Research Institute has released the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN)® as Linked Open Data.
Following the release of the Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT)® in February, TGN is now the second of the four Getty vocabularies to be made entirely free to download, share, and modify. Both data sets are available for download at vocab.getty.edu under an Open Data Commons Attribution License (ODC BY 1.0).
The Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names is a resource of over 2,000,000 names of current and historical places, including cities, archaeological sites, nations, and physical features. It focuses mainly on places relevant to art, architecture, archaeology, art conservation, and related fields. 
See more at: http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/getty-thesaurus-of-geographic-names-released-as-linked-open-data/#sthash.ljxHoaeP.6fSfRfkI.dpuf

Five steps to decide what data to keep

New data appraisal checklist now online
A new DCC checklist entitled 'Five steps to decide what to keep' aims to help UK Higher Education Institutions support their researchers in making informed choices about what research data to keep, at the same time as helping them plan what to publish. The guide outlines factors to weigh up, including the compliance risks and potential value, as well as the data management costs, after first considering for what purposes the data may be reused. 

Preface

Introduction - what are your choices?

What data and for how long?

Step 1. Identify purposes that the data could fulfill

Step 2. Identify data that must be kept

Step 3. Identify data that should be kept

Step 4. Weigh up the costs

Step 5. Complete the data appraisal

Guidance on research data retention policies

Acknowlegements

- See more at: http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/how-guides/five-steps-decide-what-data-keep#sthash.bcbfL6oS.dpuf

Nevermind the Data, Where are the Protocols?

Reproducibility of published research results is increasingly coming into question. Efforts from funding agencies and publishers are calling for more and more transparency around research data, but so far, little attention seems to have been paid to a crucial aspect of experimental reproducibility: publication of detailed methodologies. A new NIH-led effort seems a first step in correcting this oversight.
Read more: http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2014/11/18/nevermind-the-data-where-are-the-protocols/

Data sharing behaviour: ideal vs practice

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute and the University of Munich studied of the data sharing behaviour of 488 randomly selected empirical researchers.

"We find empirical support for the hypotheses that voluntary data-sharing significantly increases with (a) academic tenure, (b) the quality of researchers, (c) the share of published articles subject to a mandatory data-disclosure policy of journals, and (d) personal attitudes towards “open science” principles. On the basis of our empirical evidence, we discuss a set of policy recommendations".

Highlights

• Data-sharing in economics is often professed but seldom practised.

• We find that 80.74% of researchers do not voluntarily share their data.

• We derive five testable hypotheses based on the literature on information-sharing.

• We find four significant predictors of voluntary data-sharing: tenure, author quality, extent of mandatory data-disclosure and personal attitudes.

Full article "Open access to data: An ideal professed but not practised" at: doi:10.1016/j.respol.2014.04.008

Australian Government Open Data Toolkit

"The Australian Government Open Data Toolkit has used the US Project Open Data as a starting point and has been established initially in collaboration with the Department of Communications, Department of Finance and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner to help agencies make their published information available in an open data format that supports reuse by others. Unlinked sections are in progress and will be added as the content is finalised".

An initial draft of the Open Data Toolkit is available at https://toolkit.data.gov.au/

Data stories from the DataONE project

The NSF-funded DataONE project has been collecting and releasing data stories. Headline stories include:

• Human error: the ultimate test
• The patience of the data hunter
• Data lockdown
• The long and winding road to public data
• and plenty more

Read them all at: https://notebooks.dataone.org/data-stories/ 

Dutch research on the barriers for local government releasing open data

Abstract: Due to expected benefits such as citizen participation and innovation, the release of Public Sector Information as open data is getting increased attention on various levels of government. However, currently data release by governments is still novel and there is little experience and knowledge thus far about its benefits, costs and barriers. This is compounded by a lack of understanding about how internal processes influence data release. Our aim in this paper is to get a better understanding of these processes and how they influence data release, i.e., to find determinants for the release of public sector information. For this purpose, we conducted workshops, interviews, questionnaires, desk research and practice based cases in the education program of our university, involving six local public sector organizations. We find that the way data is stored, the way data is obtained and the way data is used by a department are crucial indicators for open data release. We conclude with the lessons learned based on our research findings. These findings are: we should take a nuanced approach towards data release, avoid releasing data for its own sake, and take small incremental steps to explore data release.

Read and/or download the full article at doi:10.1016/j.giq.2014.01.003

DataCite and CrossRef

The DataCite Board has agreed to work together with CrossRef to:

- Enhance the interoperability of our respective systems in order to make it easier for publishers, data centres, libraries and third parties to integrate with the scholarly DOI ecosystem.
- Provide comprehensive support for interlinking between articles and data.
- Develop open APIs and open source tools to surface citations and other relationships between publications and data sets.
- Integrate into their services other existing scholarly communications initiatives such as ORCID and FundRef.
- Develop systems, workflows and best practices for using DOIs to reference large, highly granular and dynamic data.

More details on the DataCite website:  http://www.datacite.org/CrossRefDataCiteinitiative

Data Access and Research Transparency (DA-RT): A Joint Statement by Political Science Journal Editors

Data Access and Research Transparency (DA-RT): A Joint Statement by Political Science Journal Editors 
From the “Workshop on Data Access and Research Transparency (DA-RT) in Political Science.” Convened by the American Political Science Association (APSA) and hosted by the Inter-university Consortium for  Political and Social Research (ICPSR), with support from Syracuse University’s Center for Qualitative and  Multi-Method Inquiry (CQMI), and the University of Michigan’s Center for Political Studies (CPS).

In this joint statement, journal editors commit their respective journals to the principles of data access and research transparency, and to implementing policies requiring authors to make as accessible as
possible the empirical foundation and logic of inquiry of evidence-based research.

A Commitment to Data Access and Research Transparency
Transparency requires making visible both the empirical foundation and the logic of inquiry of research.
We agree that by January 15, 2016 we will:

1. Require authors to ensure that cited data are available at the time of publication through a
trusted digital repository.iii Journals may specify which trusted digital repository shall be used
(for example if they have their own dataverse).
• If cited data are restricted (e.g., classified, require confidentiality protections, were
obtained under a non-disclosure agreement, or have inherent logistical constraints),
authors must notify the editor at the time of submission. The editor shall have full
discretion to follow their journal’s policy on restricted data, including declining to review
the manuscript or granting an exemption with or without conditions. The editor shall
inform the author of that decision prior to review.

2. Require authors to delineate clearly the analytic procedures upon which their published claims
rely, and where possible to provide access to all relevant analytic materials. If such materials are
not published with the article, they must be shared to the greatest extent possible through a
trusted digital repository.

3. Maintain a consistent data citation policy to increase the credit that data creators and suppliers
receive for their work. These policies include using data citation practices that identify a
dataset’s author(s), title, date, version, and a persistent identifier. In sum, we will require authors
who base their claims on data created by others to reference and cite those data as an
intellectual product of value.

4. Ensure that journal style guides, codes of ethics, publication manuals, and other forms of
guidance are updated and expanded to include improved data access and research transparency
requirements.

Read the whole statement:  http://media.wix.com/ugd/fa8393_da017d3fed824cf587932534c860ea25.pdf

The Role of Open Data in Choosing Neighborhood

To what extent is it important to get familiar with our environment?

If we think about how the world surrounding us has changed throughout the years, it is not so unreasonable that, while walking to work, we might encounter some new little shops, restaurants, or gas stations we had never noticed before. Likewise, how many times did we wander about for hours just to find green spaces for a run? And the only one we noticed was even more polluted than other urban areas!

Citizens are not always properly informed about the evolution of the places they live in. And that is why it would be crucial for people to be constantly up-to-date with accurate information of the neighborhood they have chosen or are going to choose.

(Image source: London Evening Standard)

- See more at: http://blog.okfn.org/2014/11/14/the-role-of-open-data-in-choosing-neighborhood/#sthash.Mu7lX6sn.dpuf

Data management stories: good and bad

Dorothea Salo (http://www.slis.wisc.edu/faculty-salo.htm) compiles good and bad examples here:

Good: http://pinboard.in/u:dsalo/t:668/t:successstory

Bad: http://pinboard.in/u:dsalo/t:668/t:horrorstories

Nature article: Scientists and the social network

Giant academic social networks have taken off to a degree that no one expected even a few years ago.  A Nature survey explores why.

http://www.nature.com/news/online-collaboration-scientists-and-the-social-network-1.15711

Research and Markets: Dynamic Open Data Report 2014

October 30, 2014 12:17 PM Eastern Daylight Time

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/6jrnmw/dynamic_open_data) has announced the addition of the "Dynamic Open Data " report to their offering.

In the connected age, the flow of data through cities is becoming a key contributor to global competitiveness. European cities are taking advantage of public funds to experiment with open access to data and to assess the monetization potential for selected sources. Although estimating the full value of data in the public sector is difficult, government studies suggest tens of billions of euros could be realized.

It is believed that the world's leading cities will combine ICT infrastructure with digital self-knowledge.' Here, real-time cities are discussed as those that pursue policy goals through the exploitation of public and private data, sensor networks for monitoring, and control and platforms for collaboration in services.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Key Messages

2. Background

3. Definitions

4. The Tidal Flow of Open Data

5. Harnessing the Power of Open Data

6. Valuing Open Data

7. ICT Opportunities in Dynamic Open Data

8. Technology Drivers behind Adoption of Real-time City Data Applications

9. Barriers to Flow of Open Data

10. Last Word

11. Legal Disclaimer

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/6jrnmw/dynamic_open_data

From: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20141030006201/en/Research-Markets-Dynamic-Open-Data-Report-2014#.VGRBLTSUenM

Free urban data -- what's it good for?

		IMAGE: Big Data, published quarterly in print and online, facilitates and supports the efforts of researchers, analysts, statisticians, business leaders, and policymakers to improve operations, profitability, and communications within... Click here for more information.

New Rochelle, October 29, 2014 –Cities around the world are increasingly making urban data freely available to the public. But is the content or structure of these vast data sets easy to access and of value? A new study of more than 9,000 data sets from 20 cities presents encouraging results on the quality and volume of the available data and describes the challenges and benefits of analyzing and integrating these expanding data sets, as described in an article in Big Data, the highly innovative, peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The Open Access article is available free on the Big Data website.

In the article "Structured Open Urban Data: Understanding the Landscape," Luciano Barbosa and Marcos Vieira, IBM Research, Brazil, and Kien Pham, Claudio Silva, and Juliana Freire, New York University School of Engineering and NYU Center for Urban Science and Progress, NY, present several promising findings. These include a steadily increasing volume of open urban data, the ability to integrate different data sets, and the finding that much of the available data is published in standard types of formats. The authors also discuss the main challenges that make it difficult to take full advantage of these data sources.

"Big urban data is a powerful new phenomenon that has the potential to transform everyday lives of hundreds of millions of people quickly via personal devices that integrate, filter, and create useful personalized information. This paper documents the sources and value of these data," saysBig Data Editor-in-Chief Vasant Dhar, Co-Director, Center for Business Analytics, Stern School of Business, New York University.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-10/mali-fud102914.php

CrossRef and DataCite announce new initiative to accelerate the adoption of DOIs for data publication and citati

Published by Sergio Ruiz on 10 November 2014 - 10:56am

In 2014 DataCite celebrates its fifth year of operation and CrossRef its fifteenth. Together we have registered almost 75 million DOIs. Today the two organisations are committing to accelerate the adoption of DOIs for data publication and citation.

Data are essential building blocks of scholarship and research in the sciences, medicine, technology, social sciences, and humanities. DataCite and CrossRef will work together to ensure that researchers can seamlessly navigate among all research results including articles and data and to make data a first class, identifiable, referenceable, and citable element in the scholarly record.

DataCite and CrossRef have agreed to collaborate to:

• Enhance the interoperability of their respective systems in order to make it easier for publishers, data centres, libraries and third parties to integrate with the scholarly DOI ecosystem.
• Provide comprehensive support for interlinking between articles and data.
• Develop open APIs and open source tools to surface citations and other relationships between publications and data sets.
• Integrate into their services other existing scholarly communications initiatives such as ORCID and FundRef.
• Develop systems, workflows and best practices for using DOIs to reference large, highly granular and dynamic data.