environmental informatics

founded in the '90s; processing information for monitoring, analysis, and prediction related to natural sciences

data

observations, raw values, facts, figures, or information that can be collected, measured, analyzed, and used to draw conclusions or make decisions

metadata

data that describes data; describes content and quality of the data

big data examples

NSA database

challenges of big data

high energy consumption; 10% of all electricity for datasets

good metadata includes:

author name, dataset title, publication information, terminology, format for spatial location and date/time, units of measurement, measurement and processing technique and instruments, spatial and temporal extent and resolution

4 Cs of data quality

completeness

coherency

correctness

aCcountability

examples of environmental databases

iNatrualist, statcan, our world in data, IPCC data distribution centre, UNEP environmental data explorer

graphing guidelines

Understandable trend, independent of text, sources referenced. Not overcrowded, appealing color/font scheme

misleading graphing manipulations

ommiting the baseline, making y axis disproportionate, cherry picking (disproportionate x axis), using the wrong graph

GIS

geographic information system