Layer 3 · Observations & Indicators
Community-sourced data the backbone alone cannot provide.
The spatial backbone provides structure, but two external pathways add data that authoritative agency datasets alone cannot provide: field observations from community researchers, and sub-county statistical indicators that refine federal baselines. Both are spatially resolved to the backbone — neither modifies it.
Federal + local
Baseline Source
Open review
Contribution Path
Observations: the Research Commons
Geocoded environmental samples — water quality, soil tests, species surveys — are contributed through the Research Commons, a public GitHub repository with an open review workflow.
1
Fork & add data
A contributor forks the research repository and adds a dataset (CSV or GeoJSON) with a metadata file describing the contribution type, topic, and spatial extent.
2
Open a pull request
The pull request triggers automated validation — schema checks, coordinate verification, and metadata completeness.
3
Merge & ingest
On merge, the ingestion pipeline adds the contribution and its records, links them to the appropriate SDG goals, and resolves each record to the backbone.
The only structured SDG measurement pathway.When a research record says it measures SDG 6 (Clean Water), that claim is grounded in a provenance chain — the contribution, the records it contains, the environment sites those records observed, and the moku districts those sites belong to — rather than an editorial label.
Three contribution types
The contribution type a researcher declares gates which metadata sections are required and how the record is interpreted.
Observation
Field-collected environmental samples
Example: Water quality at Keehi Lagoon
Indicator
Statistical measures at sub-county resolution
Example: Food access by moku district
Spatial overlay
Boundary or classification layers
Example: Monitoring site network
Topic areas:Land & environmentWaterBiodiversityAgricultureCoastalClimateForestryFood safetyInfrastructureDemographicsCommunity wellbeing
Indicators: refining federal baselines
Island baseline statistics sourced from federal data — demographics, employment, food access, energy, and other measures organized by SDG pillar — provide useful context but are limited to county resolution, which in Hawai'i means island-level at best.
From county resolution to moku resolution
Indicator contributions through the Research Commons link community-collected sub-county data to the corresponding federal variables. This bridges the gap between county resolution and moku district resolution, giving subscribers a more granular picture of conditions in their area.
How both pathways resolve to the backbone
Neither observations nor indicators modify the backbone. Both follow the same spatial resolution process — the researcher provides coordinates; the backbone provides context.
1
Convert coordinates
Each record's coordinates are converted to a grid cell index.
2
Match to backbone
The grid cell is matched to a backbone cell.
3
Inherit context
The backbone cell links the record to its containing moku district and all overlapping zones.
A water quality sample taken at a specific GPS coordinate automatically inherits the full spatial context — which moku it belongs to, whether it falls within a conservation reserve or agricultural land, and which schools or infrastructure are nearby.
The SDG measurement chain
Observation records link to environment sites — specific monitoring locations such as water sampling points, soil test stations, and air quality monitors. These sites group into community-managed monitoring networks, and the measurement chain runs through them.
SDG Goal→Research Contribution→Research Record→Environment Site→Grid Cell→Moku
From any SDG goal, you can trace which contributions measure it, which records they contain, where those records were observed, and which moku district contains those observation sites.
The Research Commons contribution workflow is open to anyone with data to share. Field observations and sub-county indicators both strengthen the picture for a moku without ever rewriting its authoritative foundation.