Developing and Evaluating In Situ Visualization Algorithms using Containers

Fundamental research into in situ visualization and analysis techniques is difficult to access for visualization researchers due to the overwhelming complexity and effort of constructing and managing in situ software stacks that allow reproducible evaluation of novel in situ visualization and analysis techniques. To address this problem, we describe EZ-ISAV, a work-in-progress towards a framework for easy construction of customizable in situ pipelines in container images. Designed for portability and ease of use, these images are intended to serve as proof-of-concept cases for in situ visualization and analysis research. Furthermore, we describe the EZ-ISAV repository, an open repository of turn-key, ready-made container images that can strongly reduce the overhead of developing and evaluating in situ techniques and provide improved reproducibility and portability of in situ visualization research.