Geoinformatics Lab

Computer Servers:

The lab contains three HP ProLiant DL360p Gen8 Servers:

  • 2 CPUs with 12 cores each, 512GB RAM, it acts as the main processing server, with a high speed network connectivity, this server is managed by Linux and open source systems to do the processing job
  • 2 CPUs and 48 GB of RAM, this server is used to assist in processing data which doesn't need that high processing performance.
  • 1 CPU and 32GB of RAM, this server is used to serve data access and extraction.

 

Web Servers:

2 Dedicated servers located in Coriex UK data center, those two servers serve our portal, online distribution and public data access as follows:

  • Main server hosts our online portal and metadata repository.
  • Vegetation and landscape field survey server, this server is used by VLFSS in order to collect data and manage survey forms.

 

Data Repository:

Geo-Informatics lab infrastructure has been implemented using  HP StoreServ 7400 solution, the implementation will be done on two phases, phase 1 with 100TB of storage and phase 2 will add extra 150TB, phase 1 should be done by end of November - mid of December, and it consists of two main parts:

  1. Processing part, which has 36x600 GB of 10K SAS Drives.
  2. Storage part, which has 32x3TB 7.2K SAS Drives.

Phase 2 has been approved, this phase will add 250 TB of storage, constructed as follows:

  1. Processing part, with 90x900 GB 10K SAS Drives.
  2. Storage part, with 82x3 TB 7.2K SAS Drives.

 

Field and Laboratory instruments:

  1. Hyper-spectral and multi-spectral equipment
  • ASD HandHeld FieldSpec pro, Spectral Evolution Full range, with all necessary add-ons, the HandHeld 2 provides the ideal combination of performance, portability, and durability. The HandHeld 2 spectroradiometer employs a high sensitivity detector array, a low stray light grating, built-in shutter, DriftLock dark current compensation, and second-order filtering to produce high signal-to-noise spectra in under a second.
  1. Vegetation and landscape field survey equipment
  • Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 for electronic data collection.
  • LI-COR 2000 plant canopy analyzer.
  • Li-COR 2200 plant canopy analyzer.
  • Handheld GPS receivers.
  • GPS-digital cameras.
  • Green seeker.

 

Image processing and GIS software:

Unlimited licenses of IDL/ENVI and ESRI ArcGIS 10.0, statistics packages (R, Matlab), and Python

 

The data portal and web service:

Geo-Informatics portal is implemented using open source programming and database solutions, frontend part is done by using PHP and MySQL, The Geo-Store system which holds the metadata of all produced maps and a preview of each map, Geo-Informatics programming staff implemented the system using new programming patterns, we used DDD (Domain Driven Design) over MVC pattern (Model-View-Controller), this method allows us to expand the system easily and this expansion could be done on parallel by many partners when needed.

Backend part of the portal, which is responsible about data extraction and statistical calculation is done by using Python and GDAL library.

The next phase of the data portal will start soon, the aim of this phase is to complete the full solution by using OSGeo project, and we will use MapServer and OpenLayers solution.

 

Data Visual Output Instruments:

Making a high quality physical output is one of the most important factors in showing the research output and results, currently our instruments can output 2D maps, with a future vision to start using 3D printing instruments to make new types of Geo-Informatics visual output, current equipment are:

  • HP Designjet T2300 Postscript eMFP Printer, this multifunction plotter/scanner is used to generate high resolution maps, up to A0 size, also with A0 scanner in order to help in digitizing old maps which are available on papers only.
  • HP Color LaserJet CP5225n Printer, A4/A3 laserjet printer for printing map atlases.
  • HP Photosmart Q7161A B8850, inkjet super quality printer, for printing maps which needs super quality.

 

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