{"id":10945,"date":"2025-11-05T18:05:41","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T17:05:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eurocc.nscc.sk\/?p=10945"},"modified":"2026-01-14T12:15:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T11:15:09","slug":"success-story-buducnost-pody-ukryta-v-datach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eurocc.nscc.sk\/en\/success-story-buducnost-pody-ukryta-v-datach\/","title":{"rendered":"Bud\u00facnos\u0165 p\u00f4dy ukryt\u00e1 v\u202fd\u00e1tach\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Success story: The Future of Soil Hidden in Data<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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High-Performance Computing (HPC) offers researchers the ability to process enormous volumes of data and uncover connections that would otherwise remain hidden. Today, it is no longer just a tool for technical disciplines \u2013 it is increasingly valuable in social and environmental research as well. A great example is a project that harnessed the power of HPC to gain deeper insight into the relationship between humans, soil, and the landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Challenge<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soil represents one of the most valuable resources we have \u2014 not only as a space for cultivation and economic activity, but also as a foundation of cultural identity, social relations, and quality of life. The way we use land is changing faster than ever before. The pressures of climate change, infrastructure development, housing demands, and renewable energy expansion are creating new tensions between economic interests, landscape protection, and the public good. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The foundation of fair and sustainable decision-making is participation \u2014 involving people in the processes that shape the land and environment they live in. However, if such processes are not well designed, they can lead to distrust, conflicts, and short-sighted solutions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research team from the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra therefore sought a way to capture, analyse, and connect these diverse perspectives. Their goal was to understand soil as a form of social and cultural capital \u2014 a space that brings together economic, environmental, and human values. To achieve this, they needed to process extensive datasets reflecting public discussions, attitudes, and values related to land and soil across the European context. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solution<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To better understand how different stakeholders perceive soil and its value, the team combined data analytics with participatory approaches. During the testing phase, they processed extensive textual data, expert documents, media outputs, and public statements that reflect societal attitudes toward soil and the landscape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team applied text mining methods to process the data, enabling the identification of recurring themes, linguistic patterns, and emotional attitudes related to land use. This approach opens the door to new insights, allowing researchers to derive from data how opinions are formed, where tensions arise, and what values people associate with the landscapes they inhabit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal of the research is not merely to collect information, but to transform it into actionable insights that help build consensus among the public, experts, and policymakers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use of HPC Infrastructure<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The analysis of such extensive textual data required computational power beyond the capabilities of standard workstations. Therefore, the research team used the computing infrastructure provided by NSCC Slovakia to carry out the data processing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the testing phase, the computations were performed on a supercomputer using 128 core*h in an R environment, enabling parallel processing of large datasets within a short time. This approach significantly reduced the analysis time while allowing the application of complex methodological frameworks typical for social and environmental data \u2014 such as modelling relationships between actors, tracking the occurrence of key concepts, and visualizing linguistic patterns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to HPC computing, it was possible to: <\/p>\n\n\n\n