An intuitive “Scientific Workflow System” for spatial planning
Date
2016
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Publisher
AESOP
Abstract
Recent years have witnessed a sharp increase in complex spatial planning problems. Consequently, almost every research exercise has to face the rise of vast new bodies of information, which become increasingly difficult to handle. At the same time, big data expands rapidly through recurrent additions of new datasets.
In principle, such readily available data should pave the way for greater transparency in planning, research and decision-making. Unfortunately, the increased availability of data comes with a huge drawback: data is usually available in many flavours of varying quality. Therefore, one needs to clean, normalize and filter such data, prior to connecting it with other sets of already processed information. This is most certainly a necessary exercise. However, it subjects the researcher to the arduous task of cleaning and sorting data, which is normally a time consuming, repetitive and often boring task. Moreover, it represents just a fraction of the entire problem he or she aims to address.
In addition, these new kinds of research require an inter-disciplinary approach: statistics, mathematics, informatics, geography, economics and sociology, urban and regional planning, as well as law and politics, to name only a few. Any researcher involved in such activities therefore needs to work with different tools, each coming with its own files, formats and language. It quickly becomes very difficult to keep track of all the data within one’s workspace.
Description
Proceedings of the IV World Planning Schools Congress, July 3-8th, 2016 : Global crisis, planning and challenges to spatial justice in the north and in the south
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