Citizen Science and Smart Cities

The report summarizes the presentations, discussions, and conclusions of the Citizen Science and Smart Cities Summit organised by the European Commission Joint Research Centre on 5-7th February 2014. In the context of the Summit, the label Citizen Science was used to include both citizen science projects, and others that are about user-generated content, not necessarily addressing a scientific process or issues. The evidence presented by 27 different projects shows the vitality and diversity of the field but also a number of critical points: • Citizen science project are more than collecting data: they are about raising awareness, building capacity, and strengthening communities. • Likewise, smart cities are not only about ICT, energy and transport infrastructures: Smart cities are about smart citizens, who participate in their city’s daily governance, are concerned about increasing the quality of life of their fellow-citizens, and about protecting their environment. Technology may facilitate, but is no solution per se. • Unfortunately to date there seems to be little synergy between citizen science and smart cities initiatives, and there is little interoperability and reusability of the data, apps, and services developed in each project. • It is difficult to compare the results among citizen science, and smart cities projects or translate from one context to another. • The ephemeral nature of much of the data, which disappear short after the end of the projects, means lack of reproducibility of results and longitudinal analysis of time series challenging, if not impossible. • There are also new challenges with respect to the analytical methods needed to integrate quantitative and qualitative data from heterogeneous sources that need further research. • Building and maintaining trust are key points of any citizen science or smart city project. There is a need to work with the community and not just for, or on, the community. It is critical not just to take (data, information, knowledge) but to give back something that is valued by the community itself. The development of citizen science associations in Europe and the US are important developments that may address some of the points above. There are also actions through which the European Commission Joint Research Centre can make an important contribution: • Map citizen science and smart cities projects, and generate a semantic network of concepts between the projects to facilitate search of related activities, and community building. • Provide a repository for citizen science and smart cities data (anonymised and aggregated), software, services, and applications so that they are maintained beyond the life of the projects they originate from, and made shareable and reusable. • Develop regional test beds for the analysis and integration of social and environmental data from heterogeneous sources, with a focus on quality of life and well-being. • Undertake comparative studies, and analyse issues related to scaling up to the European dimension. • Support citizen science and smart cities projects with the JRC knowledge on semantic interoperability, data models, and interoperability arrangements. • Partner with the European Citizen Science Association, and contribute to its interoperability activities. • Work towards making the JRC, and the European Commission, a champion of citizen participation in European science.JRC.H.6-Digital Earth and Reference Dat

Socio-Economic Benefits from the Use of Earth Observations

This report summarizes the outcomes of the discussion of the workshop on Socioeconomic Benefit from the use of Earth Observation workshop held at JRC from 11 to 13 July 2011.JRC.H.6-Spatial data infrastructure

The Use of Spatial Data for the Preparation of Environmental Reports in Europe

This report presents the findings of an online survey on the use of spatial data to produce environmental reports conducted by the European Commission Joint Research Centre in 2009. The objectives of the survey were twofold: on the one hand, to understand how easy it is for practitioners to obtain the spatial data they need to carry out Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and/or Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEAs) and on the other hand, to provide information to the European Commission (EC) on the developments made in the use of spatial data to undertake EIAs and SEAs. The 2009 survey represents, in fact, an update of a similar survey conducted in 2002 by DG Environment and provides where relevant a comparison of results. A significant increase in the number of respondents was registered since the original survey, however it should be noted that the sample does not represent all practitioners that carry out EIA/SEA reports in Europe. Nevertheless, the results give an indication of the trends and problems in the market of EIA and/or SEA. The main outcome of the survey is that practitioners still face problems in using spatial data for the preparation of environmental reports. Issues mainly relate to finding and accessing data of the quality needed for the purpose. As a consequence, there is an increase in cost and time to produce environmental reports. The estimate of such additional burden is quantified as well as potential savings that could be achieved if problems connected with the use of spatial data were removed.JRC.DDG.H.6-Spatial data infrastructure

Estimating population density distribution from network-based mobile phone data

In this study we address the problem of leveraging mobile phone network-based data for the task of estimating population density distribution at pan-European level. The primary goal is to develop a methodological framework for the collection and processing of network-based data that can be plausibly applied across multiple MNOs. The proposed method exploits more extensive network topology information than is considered in most state-of-the-art literature, i.e., (approximate) knowledge of cell coverage areas is assumed instead of merely cell tower locations. A distinguishing feature of the proposed methodology is the capability of taking in input a combination of cell-level and Location Area-level data, thus enabling the integration of data from Call Detail Records (CDR) with other network-based data sources, e.g., Visitor Location Register (VLR). Different scenarios are considered in terms of input data availability at individual MNOs (CDR only, VLR only, combinations of CDR and VLR) and for multi-MNO data fusion, and the relevant tradeoff dimensions are discussed. At the core of the proposed method lies a novel formulation of the population distribution estimation as a Maximum Likelihood estimation problem. The proposed estimation method is validated for consistency with synthetically generated data in a simplified simulation scenario.JRC.H.6-Digital Earth and Reference Dat

Destination Earth: Use Cases Analysis

Destination Earth (DestinE) is an initiative initiated and coordinated by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CNECT) in support of the European Green Deal1 and as contribution to the establishment of the Green Deal Data Space, one of several data spaces envisaged in the European Strategy for Data (COM2020 66 final). The overall objective of DestinE is to develop a service infrastructure that: - serves specific EU needs based on clearly identified EU policy priorities and user needs in relation to e.g. the Green Deal, and - is at the same time firmly based on European values, such as commitment to quality and transparency in order to build trust in evidence-based policy-making among all stakeholders. DestinE will include a shared horizontal layer including computer processing, data, software, and infrastructure and some vertical applications, Digital Twins (DTs), in selected thematic areas responding to priority policy use cases. To identify these priorities, the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (JRC) has been tasked by DG CNECT to collect a number of potential use cases for DestinE representing needs of policy DGs in the Commission. This document presents 30 use cases received from six policy DGs, the JRC and 5 relevant European stakeholders. The use cases were preliminarily evaluated and clustered according to their assumed maturity level in terms of policy, scientific and anticipatory potential. Following a series of interactions with all stakeholders consulted, JRC identified two initial DTs on: - Extreme Earth issues (disaster risk management in relation to extreme weather-induced natural disasters); - Climate change adaptation issues (primarily food and water supply security). Another DT on digital oceans (around food and energy issues) was introduced as a suggestion to DG CNECT to be possibly developed in the second phase of DestinE’s implementation. Although this report is certainly neither exhaustive nor fully descriptive e.g. in relation to the assumed maturity levels of the mentioned use cases, it served nevertheless as a useful input to DG CNECT’s final definition of the scope of DTs whose development would be prioritized in the course of the DestinE implementation.JRC.B.6-Digital Econom

Integrative Research: The EuroGEOSS Experience

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The Brokering Approach for Multidisciplinary Interoperability: A Position Paper

Global sustainability research requires an integrated multi-disciplinary effort underpinned by a cyber infrastructure able to harness big data and heterogeneous information systems across disciplines. Two approaches are possible to achieve the interoperability desired across such systems and data: federating, and brokering. This position paper argues that the former is appropriate to single discipline or domain environments, but that brokering is more scalable and effective in complex multi-disciplinary domains. The paper identifies the principles of brokering, and gives examples of practical implementation relating to data discovery, semantic searching, and data access achieved in the EuroGEOSS project. The value of the EuroGEOSS brokering approach has been demonstrated in extending the data resources available through the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) from a few hundred to over 28 million in a matter of 3 months. Brokering offers therefore a real chance to facilitate truly multi-disciplinary big data science and address the scientific challenges of our time

Destination Earth: Survey on “Digital Twins” technologies and activities, in the Green Deal area

Digital Twins have been around for decades, especially in industrial processes. However, with the recent advent of transformative digital technologies (i.e. IoT, AI, ML, Big Data analytics, and ubiquitous connectivity) Digital Twins are changing most of the society sectors, providing the most advance pattern to make the physical and the digital worlds interact. Naturally, this is also true for the scientific sector, and in particular those disciplines that are engaged in understanding and addressing the Global Change effects. Thanks to the Digital Twins growing development, for the first time, it is possible to envision a digital replica of important natural and social phenomena and processes, trying to anticipate their behaviour. There exist diverse definitions of Digital Twins, reflecting the diverse concerns of the industrial, scientific, and standardization sectors (in particular IEEE and ISO/IEC), which have been working on their description and realization. The main interaction features characterizing a Digital Twin are: - Interoperability; - Information Model; - Data Exchange; - Administration; - Synchronization; - Push mode (Publish Subscribe). According the scientific research, there is still the need to address the following challenges to push Digital Twins implementation and effective use: - Unify data and model standards; - Share data and models; - Innovate on services; - Establish forums. In industry, Digital Twins are well used in “vertical” sectors/application areas, including: manufacturing, energy, smart cities, farming, building, healthcare. For the applied scientific and research areas, this preliminary study recognized several areas.JRC.B.6-Digital Econom

Next Generation Air Quality Platform: Openness and Interoperability for the Internet of Things

The widespread diffusion of sensors, mobile devices, social media, and open data are reconfiguring the way data underpinning policy and science are being produced and consumed. This in turn is creating both opportunities and challenges for policy-making and science. There can be major benefits from the deployment of the IoT in smart cities and environmental monitoring, but to realize such benefits, and reduce potential risks, there is an urgent need to address current limitations including the interoperability of sensors, data quality, security of access, and new methods for spatio-temporal analysis. Within this context, the manuscript provides an overview of the AirSensEUR project, which establishes an affordable open software/hardware multi-sensor platform, which is nonetheless able to monitor air pollution at low concentration levels. AirSensEUR is described from the perspective of interoperable data management with emphasis on possible use case scenarios, where reliable and timely air quality data would be essential.JRC.H.6-Digital Earth and Reference Dat