OE3D: Application Development
Front-end development of the OE3D application has been a challenge for CIMS. With the project continuously growing in scale and functionality, thorough planning and organization of the application's evolution has been a priority. Front-end development not only considers the construction of the application, but includes User Interface and User Experience design. Disregarding the appearance, ease-of-use and structural composition of the application can lead to a confusing and frustrating experience which will lead to disengaged users - despite any useful information or capabilities provided.
Iterative processes has been key to the team's success in handling these on-going changes and supporting the development of an appealing, user-friendly application. Building off each mockup/prototype and using software such as Adobe XD and ProtoPie to support the development of each design has been a reoccurring procedure, keeping the development team on-track with producing this large-scale, technical application.
Web development is becoming an increasingly complex and broad industry, meaning it is difficult to keep up to date with the latest tools and methodologies being implemented across applications. As CIMS is a research facility, we welcome the opportunity to learn new skills and have taken the chance with this project to understand and apply new web development practices.
OE3D relies on large amounts of data that is often updated and can therefore affect the display of information throughout the application. To enable OE3D to remain up to date and in sync with other components of the app, the development team are using React and Redux. These JavaScript libraries are widely used across the industry and have helped application come to life alongside OE3D's distinct user interface.
OE3D's main objective is to visualize data from Eastern Ontario in a web application. Enabling the application to visualize data means that the data needs to be stored in an easily accessible, secure and optimal system.
To date, the team has been focusing on Primary Producers data. In the future, the application will be hosting data for other industries including tourism and manufacturing. Data from municipalities will also grow in size as more information is collected and becomes available. With this in mind, the team chose to use PostgreSQL for the database management system to store complicated data and assets.
Privacy and security has been a concern throughout the development of the application due to the sensitivity of data we receive. Keeping this in mind, the development team have been using libraries such as Passport, Bcrypt and UUID to ensure that information stays secure and OE3D remains a reliable application.