Geo UP4

Geo UP4 is the name of the project developed within the framework of the UP4 alliance, an interactive map that facilitates open access to the full texts of articles, final projects, theses, and dissertations produced in the four technical universities in Spain.
 
The initiative was presented in February 2018 and, at that time, it was already possible to access a Pilot Portal which contained almost 3,000 geo-located references. It is estimated that in the medium term, the Portal will contain 20,000 reviews of theses, dissertations, final and master PROJECTS, books, and articles.
 
“Geo UP4 responds to the commitment of technical universities to transfer the knowledge they generate to society. “With this tool, we want to offer our researchers and students’ daily work and careers to the world, making the RESULTS they have obtained known and accessible to citizens, institutions, companies and public entities from any country in the world”, said Francisco Mora, rector of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV).
 

How does it work?
 
The application shows an interactive world map similar to Open Street Map, with a vast quantity of points indicated in all the five continents. Each gesture opens a window with the basic information on the study that has been carried out in that location. For example, clicking on the Central American city of El Salvador, it is possible to access the study "Entrepreneurship in El Salvador: Citizen Insecurity as a barrier" by Pablo Pinazo (member of UPV) in 2016. In turn, the file links to the details of the publication in the repository of each university, with the PDF document, use rights, downloading statistics …
 
“Pools in Vardo "(Norway) is, at the moment, the study located in the most northern point the planet. This is the master’s thesis written by Enrique Soriano, from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in 2006, which analyzes the fishing crisis in the area and proposes new recreational uses for old port facilities considering tourists and global nomads. This work can be fully accessed and it is available under "creative commons" conditions.
 
As in case of these two examples, you can look up thousands of references distributed throughout the five continents. The interactive map, which originated with the GeoCommons project, initiated by the UPC in 2016, also allows users to filter references by university and by knowledge area. You can see the impact of technical universities in specific fieldsat a glance, by accessing Engineering and Architecture PROJECTS by professors, students and researchers related to specific places.
 
Access to Geo UP4 Portal