What this is

A web port of the 2014 C++/Qt DataRanking desktop tool, written by Jason Jorgenson as a co-author on Kersebaum et al. 2015 and dormant since June 2014. The shipped Windows binary is still distributed by ZALF and the framework is still cited — ~140 papers on Semantic Scholar, ~167 on OpenAlex — but no published “v2” existed. This web port is the start of one.

What it does, more concretely

A researcher pastes (or uploads) an agricultural field dataset and the tool returns a verdict: an overall tier (Platinum / Gold / Silver / Copper) and per-block tiers across the eight categories defined in the 2015 paper. The scoring engine is a pure-Python port that reproduces the original C++ RankPointGenerator to the byte; the regression test suite pins us against Christian Kersebaum’s own ranking of the Müncheberg crop-rotation dataset (shipped with the 2014 binary).

What it’s for

• Modellers selecting datasets for calibration and validation work — before they sink weeks into a dataset, see what its expected fidelity tier is.
• Experimentalists designing campaigns — which extra measurement would lift a Silver block to Gold, and is the experimental cost worth it?
• Data archivists at climate / crop modelling consortia (AgMIP, MACSUR) tagging contributions to a shared data base.

What it’s not

Not a generic data-quality tool. Not an ETL service. Not a replacement for the published paper — if you’re using this in a scientific context, read it (the link is in the footer of every page). The tool is the framework made executable, nothing more.

How to cite

Cite the paper that defined the framework:

Kersebaum, K.C., K.J. Boote, J.S. Jorgenson, C. Nendel, M. Bindi, C. Frühauf, T. Gaiser, G. Hoogenboom, C. Kollas, J.E. Olesen, R.P. Rötter, F. Ruget, P.J. Thorburn, M. Trnka & M. Wegehenkel (2015). Analysis and classification of data sets for calibration and validation of agro-ecosystem models. Environmental Modelling & Software 72: 402–417. doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2015.05.009 .

If you want to acknowledge the web port specifically, link to dataranking.arkygeek.com.

Related artefacts

• Original 2014 C++ source — Jason Jorgenson’s thesis-era implementation; dormant, and the algorithm reference for this port.
• Original shipped Windows binary — distributed by ZALF at ZALF software downloads . Contact: Dr. Kurt Christian Kersebaum.