Spatial Data Infrastructures - trends and impacts on society. Max Craglia Joint Research Centre Digital Earth and Reference Data Unit

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1 Spatial Data Infrastructures - trends and impacts on society Max Craglia Joint Research Centre Digital Earth and Reference Data Unit

2 Outline Where we were 20 years ago Where we are now Where we are going OR From GIS to SDI to Digital Earth

3 Key research themes early 90s NSF-NCGIA initiatives in the USA onwards ESF GISDATA programme in Europe

4 From GIS to SDI Agenda of the late 80s and early 90s very GIS oriented with standard platform being the workstation GIS moves to PCs early 1990s WWW created at CERN in 1990, MOSAIC first real browser in 1993 opens up wide adoption NSDI launched 1994 in the US, discussion start in Europe on a European SDI in 1995 to become eventually INSPIRE in 2007.

5 First ideas about Digital Earth Imagine, for example, a young child going to a Digital Earth exhibit at a local museum. After donning a head-mounted display, she sees Earth as it appears from space. Using a data glove, she zooms in, using higher and higher levels of resolution... Having found an area of the planet she is interested in exploring, she takes the equivalent of a magic carpet ride through a 3-D visualization of the terrain. (Al Gore 31/1/1998)

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7 Since then At the time, this vision of Digital Earth seemed almost impossible to achieve given the requirements on access to computer processing, broadband internet, interoperability of systems, and above all data organization, storage, and retrieval. Today rapid advancements in graphics coprocessors, and techniques for data storage and progressive visualization, have made most of that vision available to us all.

8 Multiple developments Google Earth, Bing, etc. Spatial data Infrastructures at all levels Multiple EU developments: INSPIRE, GMES, SEIS, Digital Agenda, Research Infrastructures, Innovations Union, Horizon Global Earth Observation System of Systems Sensors and sensor web Social Networks everywhere

9 So where are we going?... by billion people: 6 billion tons of GHG and 60 million tons of urban pollutants. Resource- hungry: We will withdraw 30% of available fresh water. Risky living: 80% urban areas, 25% near earthquake faults, 2% in coast lines less than 1 m above sea level.

10 How can we manage change? Mitigation? Adaptation? International agreements? Public Participation, dialogue, shared understanding to build trust?

11 Earth system science needs to model the interactions between nature and society Nature: Physical equa;ons Describe processes Society: Decisions on how to Use Earth s resources

12 Key challenges for sustainability research Foster the multi-disciplinary research necessary to improve our understanding of the relationships environment-society; Develop the information infrastructures necessary for policy based on sound knowledge; Communicate science more effectively to decision makers and European citizens; Engage the public in the scientific process (e.g. help monitor the environment they live in).

13 Multi-disciplinary requirements Easy to find and access data fit for purpose from multiple disciplinary systems Have documentation not just of the data but also of how to use the data across different disciplines to address a problem. From metadata to description of process and ultimately executable workflows as geoprocessing services In the age of BIG data, move the processes to the data rather than the data to the processes.

14 Linking disciplines: example EuroGEOSS Three year project focusing on forestry, drought, biodiversity Three interoperability phases Two iterations: i) connecting and focusing on discovery and access to data, ii) moving to models and inclusion of social networks. I. I. Enable Enable thematic thematic interoperability interoperability & connections connections local local to to global global II. II. Enable Enable multi-disciplinary multi-disciplinary interoperability interoperability III. III. Extend Extend interoperability interoperability to to other other SBAs SBAs & systems systems WP3: WP3: Forestry Forestry WP4: WP4: Biodiversity Biodiversity WP5: WP5: Drought Drought WP6: WP6: Cost Cost benefit benefit analysis analysis WP2: WP2: Multi-disciplinary Multi-disciplinary interoperability interoperability GolbalSoilMap GolbalSoilMap AEGOS AEGOS WP7: WP7: Capacity Capacity building building

15 Connecting disciplinary service buses

16 Traditional approaches Heavy on providers Heavy on users

17 New approach: Brokering

18 Because there are many...many standards and protocols OGC WCS 1.0, 1.1, OGC WMS 1.1.1, OGC WFS 1.0.0, OGC WPS OGC SOS OGC CSW Core OGC CSW AP ISO 1.0 OGC CSW ebrim/cim OGC CSW ebrim/eo OGC CSW CWIC WAF Web Accessible Folders 1.0 THREDDS 1.0.1, THREDDS-NCISO 1.0.1, THREDDS-NCISO-PLUS 1.0.1, CDI (Common Data Index)1.04, 1.3, 1.4 GBIF GeoNetwork catalog service 2.2.0, 2.4.1, 2.6 Deegree (version 2.2) catalog service ArcGIS Geoportal (version 10) catalog service OpenSearch 1.1 with Geo and Time extensions OAI-PMH 2.0 (support to ISO19139 and dublin core formats) NetCDF-CF 1.4 NCML-CF 1.4 NCML-OD GeoRSS 2.0 GDACS DIF File system SITAD (Sistema Informativo Territoriale Ambientale Diffuso) INPE HYDRO (WaterML)

19 EuroGEOSS brokering framework

20 Benefits of brokering Allow a real Network of Networks (System of Systems) implementation (bottom-up not top-down) No need to push a common (federal) Service Bus specification! Lower entry barriers for Users and Data Producers Implements Multi-disciplinary interoperability Introduce new capabilities Data access, semantic discovery, service composition, quality, control, ranking, tagging Facilitate sustainability Accept and support heterogeneity (present and future)

21 Global Earth Observation System of Systems GEOSS is an intergovernmental initiative overseen by 81 nations and 56 international organizations: the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) GEOSS is a distributed system of systems built on current international cooperation among existing Earth observing and data management systems (in situ and remote sensors and systems).

22 From GEOSS to Digital Earth GEOSS developing a framework for sharing data at the global level Other platforms in the private sector exist and are very successful (e.g. Google, Microsoft, ESRI) Need for a new reflection and vision Vespucci Initiative for the advancement of GI Science ( and International Society for Digital Earth sponsored such a reflection. Position paper in 2012 in IJDE.

23 A (revised) vision of Digital Earth 3, 4, n-d: from the global to local (inside buildings, and under ground and under water) and everywhere on Earth. Visualize change through historical data and integrated models. Contribute to a multi-disciplinary shared understanding of how the Earth system works and impact of human activity. Dynamic, interactive, participative: synthesis of heterogeneous data from people, sensors, statistics, models. People providing data but also making sense of the science and having a say on options and ways forward. Ubiquitous, open and accessible for people and things on line at all times. Easy to use and fun!

24 Our contribution to realizing it Spatial data infrastructures Multi-disciplinary interoperability Citizen science and social networks

25 INSPIRE = SDI for Europe and European contribution to GEOSS Established through a European legal act (Directive) in 2007 to support environmental policies, and policies that affect the environment The environment is one of the policy areas for which the 27 Member States of the European Union agreed to share competences as environmental phenomena do not stop at national boundaries. INSPIRE is a decentralized infrastructure based on the infrastructures for spatial information established and operated by the (27) Member States (and 22 languages). Implementation (and beyond) JRC is responsible for overall technical coordination of INSPIRE

26 From data to processes Major contribution of INSPIRE is developing a shared understanding of data models across disciplines Beyond Search and Access, we need also to develop a shared understanding of what do you do with the data? How do you frame a problem and possible solution according to different disciplinary approaches. This quest requires to describe not just concepts but also processes or workflows, leading to new executable web services that are understood across disciplines.

27 Business Process Modelling Notation Provides a notation that is readily understandable by the stakeholders of different disciplines. Allows to elicit what experts do to answer a question: what processes, models, data, etc. Creates a standardized bridge for the gap between the business process design and process implementation. Can be serialized into XML languages designed for the execution of business processes, such as BPEL and XPDL, to executing and sharing the workflows between different stakeholders.

28 Example: how to make a forest map

29 Workflows described in BPMN Executable workflows and models can then be integrated by the EuroGEOSS broker and interfaced with other web services.

30 Moving towards integrated modelling

31 Citizens as Producers of Voluntary Geographic and Environmental Data

32 VGI and Forest Fires Build on work at JRC on European Forest Fires Information System (EFFIS) EFFIS VGI SDIs Exploratory research on added value of VGI in different stages of first fires (communicating fire risk, alert of fire, monitoring of spread, assessing damage) Twitter and Flickr main data sources Integration

33 Citizens + Sensor Web = Observation Web Whilst citizens provide new opportunities for collaborative and participative science, the development of new sensors and their webenablement make it possible to move from a static representation of the Earth to one that is dynamic and interactive. New ENVIRO-Future Internet project JRC + key industrial partners in sensor web Applications in Biodiversity, Air, Marine

34 Bringing all together To understand the complex relationships between the physical environment and human activity, we need a holistic, global and integrated perspective. Effective cross-thematic integrated assessment requires the development of an integrated modeling framework across themes and disciplines. This in turn needs a coherent framework for sharing information across thematic models, in a European and global context. Digital Earth provides such open and shared framework to help communicate science more effectively.

35 Digital Earth Digital Earth needs to build on observations coming from heterogeneous networks of sensors, including citizens, that contribute together to measuring the state and response of the environment. Using these dynamic observations improves our modelling and forecasting capabilities. At the same time, opening the results to the public helps to build trust in science, and address key societal challenges

36 Key research areas Information integration (multi source and heterogeneous, multidisciplinary, multi-temporal, multi-resolution, and multi-lingual) Space-time analysis and modelling (i.e. universal elements and language for dynamic modelling, algebra of space-time change) Visualization of abstract concepts in space (e.g. low income, quality of life) Computational infrastructures to implement vision (architecture, data structures, indexing, interfaces) Trust, reputation and quality models for contributed information and services understandable to humans and machines alike (for service chaining) Governance and ethics in a world where everyone and everything is on line at all times.

37 Conclusions It is inconceivable to build spatial data infrastructures or a global earth observing system without the contribution of the billons of people who inhabit it. For this we need to move beyond the current paradigm, work together towards a new shared vision of Digital Earth, and build the bridges between communities (public and private sector, citizens) so that each can add value for the benefit of all. The technologies to do so are already available. Gathering the will to open our mind is the challenge.

38 "We went to explore the Moon, and in fact discovered the Earth." Eugene Cernan

39 Thank you for your attention