Spatio-Temporal Extension and Analysis Framework (STEAF)

Analyzing problems with complex spatio-temporal relationships and strong network components such as disease progression, social network analysis, and population sentiment is a difficult challenge. Although the data for this type of analysis is available, it comes from disparate sources that provide different, overlapping and perhaps contradictory information. Moreover, the analysis still relies on the knowledge and skills of experts and although a number of commercial off the shelf (COTS) systems are available for geospatial computation, visualization and analysis, the set of robust tools with true spatio-temporal analysis capabilities is limited. The Spatio-Temporal Extension and Analysis Framework (STEAF) will address these challenges by making existing and cutting edge spatio-temporal analysis capabilities available within existing and emerging COTS GIS tools. STEAF will apply advanced spatio-temporal analysis techniques, combine information from different, heterogeneous data sources, fill in missing data on relationships in that data, tolerate data errors and inconsistencies, and adjust to the data's progression over time. Phase II will develop a prototype for evaluation by Navy personnel. The end goal is for STEAF to provide visualization and analysis tools that make advanced spatio-temporal processing methods widely available.