Geographic Information Systems (GIS) offer numerous possibilities for technical support in geoscience research projects. The suite of desktop, web, and mobile GIS tools enables the storage, management, analysis, and organization of large datasets (Esri, 2012). Advances in GIS provide fieldworkers with advantages such as precise location tracking, real-time data visualization, and rapid data acquisition and recording. Nearly three decades after their emergence, GIS use has become widespread in geosciences, primarily in office-based work. Although digital fieldwork is expanding in geosciences (Phantuwongraj et al., 2021), on-site GIS applications remain largely limited to data recording. However, next-generation GIS tools are also valuable for fieldwork, displaying pre-planning on various maps and allowing field-collected data to be recorded on the same cartographic base. New online GIS applications facilitate the simultaneous integration of georeferenced data into the project’s GIS system. With real-time internet connectivity, data can be integrated instantly.

Collaborative GIS (CGIS) has a long history (Balram & Dragicevic, 2006). CGIS system may possess a set of basic tools that permit shared view, control and object selection of geographical information; annotation and mark-up of geographic (map) features with multimedia data in the form of text, graphics, photos, and audio/video clips and interactive exploration of geographical data for spatial problems, as well as awareness of other collaborators and their outcomes. (Sun & Li, 2016).

Research on Peru’s tropical glaciers presents an opportunity to test new GIS technologies. Here, geographic information is essential not only for efficient data capture but also to enhance researcher safety, for example, by locating crevasses on glaciers, even when fully or partially snow-covered.

Glaciers are hostile environments with hazards like crevasses, ice avalanches, and rockfalls. Sudden weather changes often force reduced work hours or even campaign suspension if risks escalate. Additionally, glacier snouts in southern Peru lie at extreme altitudes (RGI Consortium, 2017), between 4,900 and 5,500 meters above sea level (hereafter m). The distance and elevation gain from vehicle or pack-animal access points are also critical, given the weight of research equipment, climbing gear, and water/food supplies. Consequently, developing online GIS applications for glaciological research is a worthwhile challenge. Glacier studies, like other Earth Sciences areas, increasingly rely on GIS for mapping, data collection and processing, as well as results dissemination.

Although field personnel require some prior training, this is usually minimal, as modern online GIS tools are highly accessible and designed for smartphones, streamlining infield learning (Wang et al., 2017). Moreover, advanced smartphones integrate GPS and cameras, reducing campaign costs without compromising data quality. Today’s smartphones achieve remarkable positioning accuracy, sufficient for many glacier studies. ArcGIS Online, a cloud-based platform with diverse functions, enables collaborative field-data georeferencing, making it valuable for both research and education (Esri, 2019a; Esri, 2019b).

This work presents results from a collaborative ArcGIS Online application in the Monitoring Tropical Ice in the Peruvian Mountains (MOTICE) project, funded by Spain’s Ministry of Science, during three campaign phases developed in 2022: i) fieldwork planning, ii) mobile data collection during fieldwork (integrated into the project’s CGIS), and iii) previous results dissemination to local authorities and stakeholders.

The 2022 MOTICE field campaign had the following general objectives:

Fieldwork was conducted over 31 days during July and August 2022 in the glacial and periglacial areas of Nevado Coropuna (15°32’S, 72°39’W; 6,377 m), located ~150 km northwest of Arequipa city and ~15 km northwest of Viraco village (Peru). Coropuna is a volcanic complex comprising several adjacent stratovolcanoes, with its summit area covered by the largest icecap in the tropics (Úbeda et al., 2018). By 2023, its total glacier surface area was ~41 km² (Úbeda, 2023). For this study, Coropuna was divided into four sectors: North-Cavalca, South-Unro, East-Quebrada Cospanja and West-Pallarcocha.

Coropuna lies in the arid tropical Andes, where glaciers depend to a greater extent on precipitation rather than on temperature (Sagredo & Lowell, 2012; Sagredo et al., 2014). Due to its extreme altitude, precipitation on Coropuna occurs exclusively as snow and is linked to the South American Summer Monsoon (SASM), which controls seasonal rainfall in tropical South America (Sylvestre, 2009; Nogués-Paegle et al., 2002; Vera et al., 2006; Zhou & Lau, 1998). The SASM includes several components: the South Atlantic Convergence Zone (SACZ), air convection over the Amazon Basin and the seasonal north/south shift of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) during the austral winter/summer.

Meltwaters from Coropuna’s glaciers supply tens of thousands of people in its watershed, located in one of the driest regions on Earth. Additionally, Coropuna is an active volcano (Bromley et al., 2019; Úbeda et al., 2018). If meltwater was suddenly and massively released as a lahar (e.g., due to a volcanic eruption), it would become a serious threat to downstream populations. From Coropuna’s summit to the Pacific coast, the elevation drops >6,000 m along a hyper-arid ramp where vegetation transitions from sparse to non-existent. Both this steep gradient and the lack of phyto-stabilization exacerbate hydrovolcanic hazards.

Below the glaciated area, permafrost has been detected in relation to topo-climatic factors like slope orientation and soil/substrate color (Yoshikawa et al., 2020) and it is currently being monitored. Monitoring methods include soil temperature measurements and geophysical profiling using electrical resistivity tomography (Úbeda et al., 2015). Permafrost is a significant feature, as it serves both as a reservoir of solid water and an impermeable layer. Its disappearance would alter the aquifers connecting frozen water reserves to the surrounding landscape.

To achieve the objectives of the 2022 field campaign, a cloud-based workflow was designed in ArcGIS Online, integrating the three phases of glacial research (Fig. 1): precampaign, fieldwork, and post-campaign. The project’s data ensemble combined aerial/satellite imagery, GIS layers previously created through office work and field collected data, all of them published in the cloud to enable map and application creation.

These are the results, organized by the type of product generated:

During fieldwork, more than 10 users (with and without GIS experience) recorded information at a total of 115 points of interest and generated ~20 km of tracks from their own smartphones. Additionally, the map downloaded on the devices served as a reference to check altitude and travelled distance, as well as to identify paths, trails, rocks and glacial crevasses, thanks to the high-resolution images of the base map. Likewise, the application also assisted in a) the identification of potential ground control points for differential GPS measurement (e.g., rocks), b) establish approach routes, c) prospect GPR transects and d) locate VES soundings in glacial and proglacial areas (Figure 9).

For each manually collected point, each device automatically recorded the X, Y, Z coordinates and GPS accuracy. Through reanalysis of the information in ArcGIS Pro, the points obtained in the field were classified into the following thematic fields:

The layers generated during the pre-campaign and the data collected during fieldwork allowed the creation of a series of products and tools adapted to the project’s needs, compiled in Table 2.

In the fieldwork-planning meetings (Figure 10), the viewer (Figure 11) was used to perform the following tasks for each of the four study areas defined on Nevado Coropuna (North, South, East, and West):

The set of maps and applications had received over 2,000 visits by the end of 2023. To disseminate the research results, the applications developed for this project can include further results from the various techniques conducted during the campaign (GPR, Schmidt hammer, GPS, VES). Additionally, in response to potential new needs suggested by the results, the set of maps and applications can be adapted to the project’s new requirements, such as increased functionality for users, growth in data volume, or changes in information management permissions.

The information has been shared on a data Hub (Figure 12), which summarizes the MOTICE project and provides access to information through this CGIS system products: data, maps, scenes and applications. Furthermore, the Hub includes a restricted internal section exclusively for project researchers, which allows viewing and downloading data that has not yet been published.

The use of this CGIS environment allowed the rapid presentation of results in meetings with local stakeholders and decision-makers, as well as in official press conferences in Arequipa just three days after field data collection. This capacity for immediate information sharing enabled effective dissemination and communication of the progress of our research project.

The fundamental purpose of this work has been to present the design of the GIS-MOTICE system, which supported all stages of a glacier research expedition (precampaign, campaign, and post-campaign). The innovation of GIS-MOTICE lies in not being limited exclusively to the post-campaign phase but integrating the CGIS as a working tool in the initial phases (pre-campaign and fieldwork). In this way, GIS-MOTICE functioned as a “system of systems,” interconnecting the set of GIS applications (ArcGIS Pro, Field Maps, Experience, Hub, among others...) to facilitate the creation of specific tools. GIS-MOTICE supported all expedition stages by integrating technologies and workflows under a common environment (ArcGIS Online). The design of a CGIS system like the one presented in this work can be extrapolated to digitize other field campaigns or projects which can benefit from the following advantages:

Some potential drawbacks must be mentioned. One issue we found was not having downloaded the relevant maps on all devices from the last high quality internet location in Arequipa city, since connectivity in towns around Nevado Coropuna was slow and unstable. Fortunately, this was resolved using local entities’ WiFi services, ultimately allowing proper map downloads on devices where the data was not available yet. However, this is an element to consider when implementing such systems. In this regard, a barrier or challenge associated with online GIS effectiveness arises from the need of a sufficient internet broadband for its use (Han, 2019). Likewise, another limitation when using field maps on mobile devices above 6000 meters is the need to remove gloves for data entry, which can be uncomfortable and even hazardous to users health in high-altitude environments. This drawback stems from smartphone touch interfaces requiring screen manipulation and is particularly accentuated when manually entering large data volumes. As alternatives, considering the importance of specific weather conditions when using mobile technologies at high altitudes, we propose creating pre-filled forms with selectable combos or voice/video input options instead of text fields. The use of smartphone-compatible touch pens could also be considered. Finally, the impact of low temperatures on batteries is something worth being considered here and common to any fieldwork campaign on glacial environments.

Despite the rapid growth in mobile mapping applications and increasing interest in them, the number of scientific articles containing information about them remains quite limited (Nowak et al., 2020). This article has demonstrated the functionality of the Field Maps mobile app for field data collection, even under extreme conditions at very high altitudes (4000-6377 m) and very cold temperatures (down to -20°C). Additionally, synchronizing mobile devices at the end of each field day enabled visualization of all acquired data in pre-configured viewers, helping assess objective achievement levels, allowing analysis and discussion of field outing results just hours after collection, and facilitating planning for subsequent days. Finally, the applications allowed nearly immediate dissemination of data to local communities and decision-makers with minimal post-processing. In this sense, we agree that mobile GIS systems are dramatically transforming fieldwork and solving or reducing many associated problems (Wagtendonk & De Jeu, 2005).

Teaching these CGIS applications to local community members around Nevado Coropuna—less familiar with new technologies but with deep environmental knowledge—all of them smartphone owners, proved very straightforward. They had the opportunity to learn and contribute data during the campaign from their own devices. This is one of the main benefits of such applications, as non-technical personnel can support data collection without needing to learn software or GPS device technical attributes (Randall et al., 2022). In fact, this infrastructure enables collaborative data gathering by local community residents (Panek & Netek, 2019) outside the project’s main fieldwork season.

Adopting GIS-based fieldwork allows geospatial perspectives to positively impact geographic knowledge, as Healy & Walshey (2020) also affirm in their research on student training in this field. It is important for those without prior GIS knowledge to understand that not everything is perfect and precise. Because maps, even in their most advanced digital formats, show limitations, omissions, and distortions, being aware of these deficiencies is crucial. Addressing these challenges requires familiarization with and reliance on multiple information layers, using this approach to more comprehensively model and understand any studied phenomena (Kerski, 2008).

On the other hand, the availability of high-resolution imagery (Esri basemaps) has facilitated high-mountain tasks by enabling interpretation of relief above 6000 m altitude, pre-planning and monitoring of activities/routes, locating landforms of interest for study, or identifying potential hazards like glacial crevasses. GIS use not only streamlined data analysis and processing but also enhanced result visualization and understanding, promoting timely information exchange among project stakeholders. This rapid feedback approach reinforces CGIS relevance and utility in optimizing quick and effective scientific communication for glacial research.

This article presents a method for developing a geographic information system for coordinating and managing a research campaign on a glacier. During July-August 2022, an expedition was conducted to the glaciers of Nevado Coropuna, totaling 31 fieldwork days. In these activities, CGIS maps became one of the most important logistical tools, facilitating the organization of field outings, data collection and dissemination of results to local communities. A set of applications was programmed to enable the automatic collection, editing and updating of data directly on the same layers previously shared in the published viewers.

Additionally, the workflows and apps demonstrate an innovative cloud-based CGIS architecture, specifically configured for managing, monitoring and disseminating a research campaign on a glacial environment. Using GIS data and its associated web services, as well as the development of web maps and applications, it has been possible to create an information space that allows other users to access our research planning, data collection and result construction. Even during periods without mobile coverage (approximately 80% of time in the field), it was possible to quickly access layers, get real time geolocation and take advantage of high-resolution base maps.

Furthermore, working on Esri’s cloud has been highly valuable for the project, as it has enabled synchronization of data, apps and offline devices, and has consistently provided nearly instantaneous response regardless of the number of connected users. It can be stated that this project is scalable and replicable to any other branch of geosciences requiring field mapping and collaborative fieldwork data collection.