Frequently Asked Questions

InLab, CoFI, Espresso - I am confused how are they related to each other?

  • InLab is a multisided geodata inference research centre whose activities include creating an open source example based geoscience inference ecosystem. CoFI and Espresso are two activities it hosts, supports and actively contributes to.
  • CoFI is an example driven commom framework for inference it seeks to provide access to a wide range of inference methods.
  • Espresso is a community-driven project to assemble a suite of geoscience forward problems, and associated datasets.

I want to use CoFI do I need to install Espresso?

  • CoFI can make use of problems defined in Espresso but there is no requirement to use Espresso to use CoFI. See here for an example where CoFI uses a problem defined in Espresso and here for an example that does not rely on Espresso.

I want to use Espresso do I need to install CoFI?

  • Espresso does not rely on CoFI. Espresso is focused on capturing the forward problem and associated datasets and thus does not need access to inference methods.

I want to contribute my forward problem to InLab’s open source example based geoscience inference ecosystem but don’t know where to start

  • The recommend way is to contribute it to Espresso and then follow the example here

I want to start solving my inverse problem using this ecosystem you are building but I don’t know where to start.

  • We recommend to first make an Espresso contribution and then use CoFI to solve the Espresso problem.

I have a function that returns the Jacobian and the value of the objective function, where do I go next?

  • This means that you have all that is needed to directly use CoFI. See here for an example.

I have a function that returns the posterior probability (up to a multiplicative constant), where do I go next?

  • This means that you have all that is needed to directly use CoFI. See here for an example.

I would like to use CoFI to solve my trans-d problem

  • Watch this space. 👀

What is the license for CoFI and Espresso

  • InLab is commited to FAIR Research software. CoFI and Espresso are released under a BSD 2-Clause “Simplified” License.