Version 0.9.1 (June 2022)




Introducing CyberGISX 0.9.1

We are pleased to announce the release version 0.9.1 of CyberGISX. CyberGISX (https://cybergisxhub.cigi.illinois.edu/) is an open online platform that provides streamlined and user-friendly access to advanced cyberinfrastructure and cyberGIS capabilities with an integrated software stack for computationally reproducible and data-intensive geospatial analytics. Users can register for free CyberGISX accounts using their institutional credentials to access the CyberGISX platform.

CyberGISX has been developed by a team led by Dr. Shaowen Wang within the CyberGIS Center for Advanced Digital and Spatial Studies (CyberGIS Center) & CyberInfrastructure and Geospatial Information Laboratory (CIGI Lab) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

CyberGISX is built on more than a decade of leading-edge research on cyberGIS supported in part by several U.S. federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation. It has been used in a variety of geospatial-related domains such as agriculture, geography and spatial sciences, hydrology and water resources, and public health. Users from more than 4,000 universities, research institutes, and academic organizations in the US and worldwide can quickly register and start using CyberGISX with their institutional credentials.

The release of CyberGISX 0.9.1 includes the following updates for its key components.


Key New Features

CyberGIS-Hub

  • OpenWith: All notebooks hosted on the Hub are now opened with JupyterLab by default. The updated “openwith” urls match the new Lab interface set on CyberGIS-Jupyter.
  • Containerization: The Hub service has been fully containerized and deployed with docker. This change helps improve availability and accessibility of the service and streamline its backup/recovery process.

CyberGIS-Jupyter

  • JupyterLab (v3.2.6) has been rolled out as the default interface with a variety of new Quality of Life (QOL) packages. We have also installed the incredible StickyLand extension which allows you to create customizable dashboards and linear notebooks.
  • Per-Kernel Pip Installations: We have restored the functionality so that each kernel has its own set of user-writable pip packages which do not persist upon restart.
  • New Kernel – Rpy Kernel: This kernel has Python and R packages as well as rpy2 which is a Python-R bridge.

CyberGIS-Compute

  • Improved Codebases and Documentation: We have been working hard to document and write test cases for the CyberGIS-Compute Python SDK and the CyberGIS-Compute Core. We have deployed a website with documentation for the Python SDK: https://cybergis.github.io/cybergis-compute-python-sdk, which features a demo notebook, and a gallery of jobs registered with CyberGIS-Compute.

CyberGIS-Vis 

  • Three major functions have been added to quantitative data visualization modules while visualizations are demonstrated i Adaptive_Chropleth_Mapper.ipynb.
    • Search function: Each map has a text box where a user can enter place names such as ‘California’, then the map automatically finds the place that the user enters and zooms in.
    • Logging function: Every time a user creates a visualization, CyberGIS-Vis it creates log.html which has creation date, time, and all input parameters that the user entered. This function enables users to easily search their visualizations  and conduct reproducible visualizations
    • The input parameter, ‘periods’ is now optional. If a user does not enter anything for this parameter, maps with all different time periods in the input attribute data will be created. This is useful when the user’s input data has many different periods.

How to report bugs or issues?

  • Option 1: Go to CyberGIS-Hub at https://cybergisxhub.cigi.illinois.edu/ –> Contact -> Problem Report.
  • Option 2: Click on the “Bug Report” button (upper right corner) in CyberGIS-Jupyter (will open the Problem Report page on CyberGIS-Hub as above).
  • Option 3: Email to help@cybergis.org.

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