8–9 Sept 2026
Europe/Berlin timezone

From NetCDF to Web Maps: Building an Open-Source Web GIS for Biodiversity Data Cubes

Not scheduled
20m
Talk Transdisciplinarity for biodiversity science and governance

Speaker

Mr Christian Langer (iDiv / Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg)

Description

Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) provide a standardized framework for monitoring global changes in biodiversity. While the EBV Data Portal enables discovery and cataloging of geospatial EBV datasets, users often require tools to interactively explore the underlying spatiotemporal dimensions for research, monitoring, and evidence-based policy support.

In this presentation we introduce the EBV Visualizer, a lightweight open-source web application for visualizing global biodiversity raster datasets. The visualizer is built entirely with open-source technologies, using vanilla JavaScript, Leaflet.js for map rendering, and Chart.js for interactive time-series visualization.
The backend infrastructure relies on THREDDS Data Server serving NetCDF datasets through ncWMS for efficient tile caching and scalable delivery of multidimensional raster data. This architecture allows users to dynamically explore multi-temporal biodiversity datasets directly in the browser.

The EBV Visualizer complements the EBV Data Portal by enabling interactive exploration of EBV cubes. Users can browse biodiversity variables across spatial, temporal and entity scale, and inspect temporal trends by countries or protected areas etc. This presentation demonstrates how a lightweight open-source stack can provide powerful visualization capabilities for large scientific datasets, lowering technical barriers for accessing biodiversity information and supporting open science in global biodiversity monitoring.

Status Group Other
FOR TALKS: Poster Presentation Option No, I prefer to present only as a talk.

Author

Mr Christian Langer (iDiv / Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg)

Co-authors

Mr Emmanuel Oceguera (iDiv / Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg) Mr Néstor Fernández (iDiv / Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg) Mrs Lina M. Estupinan-Suarez (iDiv / Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg) Mr Andrés Mármol-Guijarro (iDiv / Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg) Prof. Henrique M. Pereira (iDiv / Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg)

Presentation materials

There are no materials yet.