Pose: phase I: opencivan: scoping and planning for an open-source ecosystem for collaborative and immersive visualization and analytics in a networked environment

George Mason University received a $320,000 Project Grant award dated September 1, 2025, from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (CFDA 47.084) for the POSE (Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems) Phase I project. The award funds scoping and planning activities for OpenCIVAN (Open-Source Ecosystem for Collaborative and Immersive Visualization and Analytics in a Networked Environment), a new open-source ecosystem designed to enable real-time, immersive visualization and analytics of high-dimensional data through interactive, networked tools. The initiative targets geographically distributed users requiring collaborative data exploration capabilities and addresses the challenge of extracting actionable insights from complex datasets across critical sectors including education, healthcare, manufacturing, and public policy.

As part of the project, sub-awardee Kitware Inc. will establish and maintain community infrastructure on GitLab and Discourse platforms, develop comprehensive training materials including tutorials and reference documentation for extended reality (XR) interfaces and Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) interaction plugins, conduct virtual hackathon participation, and provide community outreach and technical support. These efforts support the project's overarching objectives to advance U.S. leadership in immersive computing, establish a durable innovation model for collaborative data analysis, and democratize access to advanced visualization technologies for STEM education and professional decision-making across multiple sectors.

Abstract

This pathways to enable open-source ecosystems (POSE) project focuses on how complex data is analyzed, understood, shared, and utilized across critical sectors. The innovation enhances scientific and technological understanding by providing a new open-source ecosystem (OSE), opencivan (open-source ecosystem for collaborative and immersive visualization and analytics in a networked environment), that enables real-time, immersive visualization and analytics for high-dimensional data through interactive, networked tools. This project addresses the challenge of extracting valuable insights from intricate datasets, offering a robust value proposition for collaborative data exploration. Potential use cases include enriching classroom experiences by transforming abstract concepts into tangible visual experiences and empowering professionals in fields such as urban planning and product design to make informed, timely decisions. By increasing access to advanced technologies, opencivan supports interactive remote collaboration for effective problem-solving and helps to prepare a new generation for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. This open-source effort aims to: 1) boost the united states? Leadership in immersive computing; 2) create a durable innovation model for collaborative data analysis; and 3) extend the benefits of scientific and technological advances to sectors including education, healthcare, manufacturing, and public policy. This POSE project will scope and plan the development of opencivan, enabling geographically distributed users to collaborate within immersive, networked environments for interactive data visualization and analytics. The primary objective is to make complex, high-dimensional data more accessible and actionable through real-time, immersive visualization and analysis. By enabling multi-user engagement in rich, interactive environments, the project will foster a more intuitive exploration of scientific datasets, support collaborative problem-solving, and improve the efficiency of interdisciplinary research workflows. The ecosystem will introduce novel visualization techniques that enable users to navigate and interpret multi-modal datasets more effectively. To support real-time collaboration, the project will leverage advanced computing infrastructures, integrating cloud-based services and high-performance computing into a seamless, scalable architecture. The technical scope includes developing modular and interoperable software components for immersive data interaction, enabling flexibility across diverse research domains and platforms. Additionally, the project will establish sustainable governance models for opencivan to support community-driven development and long-term ecosystem health. Anticipated outcomes include robust tools for remote, immersive collaboration; reproducible workflows that promote scientific rigor; and an extensible open-source framework that supports innovation in multiple critical domains. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are planned for this award.