The Architecture of an Intuitive Scientific Workflow System for Spatial Planning

Abstract

In recent years, the quantity of open data has multiplied dramatically. This newly found wealth of data has raised a number of issues for any research exercise within the field of spatial planning: underpowered traditional tools and methods, difficulties in tracking data, transparency issues, sharing difficulties and, above all, an erratic workflow. Some new research tools to counter this irksome tendency do exist at the moment, but, unfortunately, we feel that there is still ample room for improvement. We have therefore commenced the development of our own research instrument, based on the Scientific Workflow System concept. This paper lays the foundation for its architecture. Once completed, both the instrument and the resulting data shall be freely available, truthful to the spirit of the open source and open data tradition. We strongly believe that spatial planning professionals and researchers might find it interesting and worthwhile for increasing the quality and speed of their work.

Keywords

• scientific workflow system
• spatial planning
• data science