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Introduction

Polly Hudson edited this page Jul 15, 2024 · 4 revisions

Introduction, purpose and 'write' access to the Manual

The CCRP Technical Manual is designed for research software engineers (RSEs) setting up and managing Colouring Cities Platforms, for CCRP Principal Investigators, and for anyone interested in the CCRP's technical operation. Write access is provided to Colouring platform RSEs by PIs representing CCRP academic partners.

The Manual is designed to:

  • Support CCRP Platform set up by RSE
  • Provide an area within GitHub in which RSEs can openly ask questions, share knowledge-and tip sharing to supplement documentation held within the code base
  • Help PIs to understand the CCRP's technical system
  • Provide technical information for the public

Its pages provide information on areas such as setting up development environments, CCRP Technical and Security Protocols, use of CCRP free domain names and CCRP Open Licences.

The CCRP is managed by the Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s National Institute of Data Science and AI. The Technical manual is overseen by the Alan Turing Institute and Concordia University who have Admin rights, and is co-edited by the CCRP International Research Software Engineering Group, members of which have 'write' access. More general information on the CCRP can be found on the CCRP GitHub introductory page and in the CCRP Manual/Wiki.

Our international academic network operates without formal agreements, with platforms independently managed by collaborating institutions working on common interfaces towards common goals.

However we do ask that you kindly read and agree to the CCRP’s academic protocols, codes of conduct and ethical framework provided in our open manual at https://github.com/colouring-cities/manual/wiki/F1.-ETHICAL-FRAMEWORK-and-ethics-policies , and at https://github.com/colouring-cities/manual/wiki/F2.-PROTOCOLS-&-CODES-OF-CONDUCT.


Initial PI and RSE set-up steps**

If there are any issues we can chat about these when we meet. We then just ask you to drop us a line at Turing confirming that you are happy to agree to the above, and request a link confirming the university’s status as a registered research institution. The Turing programme is only open to academic institutions, though platforms are designed to support co-creation of databases on stocks within each country and co-working between academia, government, industry, the third sector and citizens.

The overall aim is to create a global network of permanent open data platforms on stocks, a global open database, and an international network of researchers working on diverse aspects of building stocks to support UN SDGs. We use the word permanent to mean a platform that is resilient and sustainable and that adapts in line with future technological advances and research needs but constantly builds on and enriches its core database and supports standardised data sharing across countries. Comprehensive microspatial data on building stocks will of course always be in demand in terms of the design, construction, planning, management, conservation, taxation etc of domestic and non-domestic buildings, and the need to help drive energy reduction in buildings, and improve resilience to climate change. Also to better understand stocks as dynamic systems, using AI and ML.

General CCRP platform set up steps are normally as follows:

Academic Partner PI to read CCRP protocols, ethical framework and common goals

Initial c1 hour introductory meeting between PI and Polly Hudson/Turing.

If academic partner wishes to proceed they then are asked to email Polly Hudson, CCRP Programme Lead at Turing, confirming agreement of protocols and ethical framework, and sending a link to demonstrate they are a registered academic institution.

PI to sign up to GitHub and send GitHub username to Polly Hudson/Turing

PI fill in academic dept/Institution/team details page on GitHub Academic Partner Info Pages (I’m just redoing these pages now)

Turing to create a new Colouring Platform Repository for the academic partner which contains a fork of our core code at https://github.com/colouring-cities . This allows you to start work on your demo platform for Istanbul or other cities/towns in Turkey, at any time. You can then also grant access to any colleagues and engineers to join your Colouring Turkey team in future.

The next step is to access building footprints for Turkey. We strongly recommend uploading building footprints for the whole country all at once, as this improves efficiency and means you can expand quickly organically, and immediately work with national partners managing relevant open datasets.These are the core components of CCRP platforms along with CCRP code. Our partners secure these from many different sources but hopefully you will be able to access them from your national mapping agency. All footprints must be kept behind a firewall at the moment for security reasons.

Normally the PI will initially focus on a specific city or town well known to them to demonstrate to potential collaborators what the platform and network has the power to do.

PI to identify their CCRP engineer. Unless you already have a good research software engineer we recommend finding an interested, friendly computer science group within your university or another University you are perhaps already working with. We suggest also encouraging PhDs to help set up platforms to keep learning with the academic system and help get a demo up without having to apply for any significant internal or other grant. PhDs will benefit by being able to work on a unique national platform and with software engineers around the word on CCRP development. Advice on the technical Job spec and appointment tips can be found here https://github.com/colouring-cities/ccrp-technical-manual/wiki/RSE-job-spec-&-tips-for-creating-sustainable-teams

PI to get agreement from their university to provide storage for the Colouring Turkey database – please see technical manual above for spec.

PI to give engineer access on GitHub to the Colouring Platform repository and to the server

Engineer to link CCRP core and footprints to create the ready to use interface to allow data collection top begin

Turing to provide access for engineer and PI to CCRP international software engineering group, and for the PI to Global Hub meetings, workshops etc.

PI to begin to develop an informal multi-disciplinary interest group within the university and to tap into existing academic , government, third sector and community networks for voluntary help with uploading data.

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