GRADE

Scoping a Geospatial Repository for Academic Deposit and Extraction

The GRADE Project is now closed. This site will no longer be maintained, and may contain broken links.

Welcome to the GRADE Repository Demonstrator Second User Survey

The aim of this second User Survey is to get feedback on the technical advancements made to the GRADE Repository (The new map version demonstrator was released Mon 12th Feb 2007).

A number of new features and add-ons have been made to the GRADE demonstrator and include:

  1. Map-Based Search: Overriding feedback from the first demonstrator described a desire for map-geographic searching to discover GIS data. As a result the Google maps API was brought in to provide a map searching ability. Its functionality is simple, and will not meet complex/all GIS needs. However as the most up-to-date, free and open source, easy plug-in map interface it was deemed the most fitting.
  2. By Subject Browse: DSpace was updated to the new Version 1.4, adding in the new Subjects quick ‘find’ tool. This uses a Subject-keyword search.
  3. Upload Validation: The upload now contains a validation code. It checks GIS files types permitted, and that they have the full workable components, file location is within the UK (and populates coordinate metadata), and that file size is within the 1GB limit.
  4. Licensing/rights metadata box: Added legal advice to help with filling this in (to be added soon).

The Survey questions have been designed in order of navigation through the repository. Thank you for your feedback and direction.

Start/Registration

1. The GRADE Demonstrator uses Athens/Digimap authentication. We have received feedback that this has been problematic for some users.

Has using your Athens/Digimap login presented problems for you?

 

 

2. The demonstrator has generated interest from academic audiences (and other non-academic organisations) outwith the UK.

Beginning and the front page

3.

  1. Does the entry page fully explain what the GRADE geospatial repository is?

     

     

  2. Does the entry page fully explain how to start using the repository?

     

     

  3. What needs to be displayed on the front page, to make the repository the most useful tool it can be? Tick as many as you would like to see from the list below.

     

     

     

     

     

     

The left menu tools

4. The left menu buttons were created so that in a session at any point you always have quick and full access to all tools during a session.

  1.  

     

  2.  

     



Map-Based geospatial search (New)

5. The geospatial search has the following functions: you can draw a box to locate an area of interest on a map and search to find out what datasets lie within or intersects that area. You can zoom and pan.

6. To assist you at locating yourself to draw a correct search box on the map what extra geographies would you need?

Choose as many as you wish from the list below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Browsing records by keyword

8. The demonstrator is using a new version of DSpace that offers the user to search repository items by browsing.

Is this list a useful browse tool?

 

 

9.

 

 

The Search results display

10. Currently there are no rules for what information the title field must contain. Would you prefer:

a)
OR
b)

If you answered option (b) should the title always contain (choose as many as you wish, and indicate order of preference: 1 = top, most wanted)

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

11. On the display we have added icons to illustrate what GIS file type the dataset is for quick reference.

 

 

Dataset Metadata

12. When a user clicks on a dataset the metadata now contains bounding lat/long coordinates.

  1. Is this useful?

     

     

  2. Would it be more useful if this was displayed as a box on a map?

     

     

13.

14. Feedback has suggested a peer-reviewed star/quality rating like Amazon would be useful. Do you agree?

 

 

and

New upload process

15. For security there needs to be a small amount of file validation.

  1. The demonstrator now validates files during upload. Did you notice this had happened?

     

     

  2. Did it slow or frustrate your upload experience?

     

     

  3. The file validation automatically populates metadata fields with coordinate information. Did it enhance your upload experience?

     

     

16. At the moment only UK datasets can be uploaded. We do have a vision that international datasets could be accepted in the future.

17. A depositor may have project related datasets that need to exist together. Currently the demonstrator only allows individual dataset upload.

Would you wish to upload data as a package?

 

 

Conceptual ideas about a Geospatial Repository for Academic Deposit & Extraction

OPTIONAL ONLY EXTRA QUESTIONS

18. Is this, Geospatial Repository for Academic Deposit & Extraction, a gap resource?

19.

For example, would you want it to link to other paper prints or Journals, etc.

Your Details

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Thank you enormously for completing the final GRADE questionnaire, and for all your participation in the project.

Kind regards,
The GRADE Team