Tutorials
Learn to explore 6.7 million physical samples from scientific collections worldwide using modern browser-based tools.
1 Start Here
| Tutorial | What You’ll Learn |
|---|---|
| Interactive Explorer | Search and filter samples with faceted search, view on 3D globe |
| Deep-Dive Analysis | Comprehensive DuckDB-WASM analysis with Observable JS |
| 3D Globe Visualization | Cesium-based visualization of all iSamples data |
| Technical: Narrow vs Wide | Schema comparison and performance benchmarks |
2 Data Sources
All tutorials use geoparquet files - no server required:
- iSamples Full Dataset: ~280 MB wide format, 6.7M samples from SESAR, OpenContext, GEOME, Smithsonian
- Available via: Cloudflare R2 with HTTP range requests
3 Why Browser-Based?
Our approach using geoparquet + DuckDB-WASM provides:
- ✅ Universal access - No installation, works in any browser
- ✅ Fast analysis - 5-10x faster than downloading full datasets
- ✅ Memory efficient - Analyze 300MB using <100MB browser memory
- ✅ Minimal transfer - Only download the columns/rows you need