Haynes, David; Ray, Suprio; Manson, Steven 2017. Terra Populus: Challenges and Opportunities with Heterogeneous Big Spatial Data.

Big geospatial data have unique challenges not associated with the greater big data community, namely, that raster and vector analytical approaches have evolved along two separate paths. Terra Populus is a next-generation spatial database repository that focuses on the integration of heterogeneous big data. When accessing Terra Populus through a web interface, users are able to transform microdata, vector, and raster datasets into user-requested formats for analysis. By providing this framework, Terra Populus lowers the barriers for researchers examining human-environment interactions.