Topology of the European Network of Earth Observation Networks and the need for an European Network of Networks

Research programe: Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM)ConnectinGEO (Coordinating an Observation Network of Networks EnCompassing saTellite and IN-situ to fill the Gaps in European Observations" is an H2020 Coordination and Support Action with the primary goal of linking existing Earth Observation networks with science and technology (S&T) communities, the industry sector, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), and Copernicus. The project will end in February 2017. ConnectinGEO will initiate a European Network of Earth Observation Networks (ENEON) that will encompass space-based, airborne and in-situ observations networks. ENEON will be composed of project partners representing thematic observation networks along with the GEOSS Science and Technology Stakeholder Network, GEO Communities of Practices, Copernicus services, Sentinel missions and in-situ support data representatives, representatives of the European space-based, airborne and in-situ observations networks. This communication presents the complex panorama of Earth Observations Networks in Europe. The list of networks is classified by discipline, variables, geospatial scope, etc. We also capture the membership and relations with other networks and umbrella organizations like GEO. The result is a complex interrelation between networks that can not be clearly expressed in a flat list. Technically the networks can be represented as nodes with relations between them as lines connecting the nodes in a graph. We have chosen RDF as a language and an AllegroGraph 3.3 triple store that is visualized in several ways using for example Gruff 5.7. Our final aim is to identify gaps in the EO Networks and justify the need for a more structured coordination between them

El nuevo estándar internacional OGC-WMTS. Oportunidades de aplicación y rendimiento versus OGC-WMS

El uso masivo de servicios Web Map Service (WMS) y la sencillez del estándar ha comportado algunos problemas debido a que la mayor parte de implementaciones tratan las peticiones de manera independiente sin aprovechar las respuestas anteriores para despachar las nuevas rápidamente. Algunos fabricantes vieron estas ineficiencias y aparecieron diversas estrategias que discretizan el espacio. En 2007, el Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) inició un estudio para estandarizar y unificar todos estos productos que se concretó, en 2010, en el nuevo estándar Web Map Tile Service (WMTS). El OGC-WMTS describe una geometría de malla regular de teselas para un conjunto de escalas conocidas; introduciendo la capacidad de obtener una tesela de manera compatible con el uso de los mecanismos de caché en Internet. Sin embargo, el WMTS podría no ser adecuado para todas las situaciones. Esta comunicación describe las principales características de WMTS y ahonda en las estrategias para soportar con éxito situaciones como el prerenderizado, los clusters de servidores de balanceo de carga de red y los servicios de mapas frecuentemente actualizados. También se discuten las posibles estrategias de mejora de rendimiento aprovechando los mecanismos de caducidad del HTTP y de notificaciones de actualización de contenido.The massive use of Web Map Service (WMS) and the simplicity of this standard has resulted in some problems due to the fact that most implementations deal with requests independently without taking advantage of previous responses to dispatch the new ones faster. Some manufacturers saw these inefficiencies and various strategies based on a discretized space were applied. In 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) started a process to standardize and unify all these products that, in 2010, crystallized in the new Web Map Tile Service (WMTS) standard. OGC-WMTS describes a regular grid of tiles geometry for a known set of scales; introducing the ability to get a tile compatible with Internet caching mechanisms. However, WMTS may not be suitable for all situations. This paper describes the main features of WMTS and emphasizing in strategies to successfully withstand conditions such as pre-rendered, network load balanced services clusters and services with frequently updated maps. We also discuss possible strategies for performance improvement by taking advantage of HTTP expiration mechanisms and content update notifications

El sistema de información de la ocupación del suelo en España (SIOSE) en Cataluña: características y pasarela para su obtención a partir del mapa de cubiertas del suelo (MCSC)

Desde hace más de 10 años, Cataluña dispone de cartografía temática digital sobre cubiertas del suelo, el Mapa de Cubiertas del Suelo (MCSC, objeto de otra comunicación en este congreso). Sin embargo, para el conjunto de España, no ha existido una cartografía de este tipo hasta la realización del Sistema de Información de la Ocupación del Suelo en España (SIOSE). El MCSC ha sido la base sobre la que el CREAF ha realizado la producción de SIOSE en Cataluña. Por este motivo, la producción de SIOSE en Cataluña presenta unas características propias, distintas a lo que se podría denominar “producción estándar”. El paso de MCSC a SIOSE no ha sido fácil, ya que ambas bases presentan notables diferencias: en la superficie mínima de captura de la información; la leyenda temática de ambas bases no es directamente compatible; no coinciden plenamente en la fecha en que se tomaron las respectivas imágenes base; y la escala de referencia respectiva. Para salvar la distancia entre ambos productos, se desarrolló una pasarela de MCSC a SIOSE, objeto de esta comunicación. La mayor parte del esfuerzo se centró en salvar las diferencias relativas a superficies mínimas. El mecanismo que permitió su superación se basó en la generalización automática de la información gráfica del MCSC.The land cover information system of spain (SIOSE) in catalonia: features and gateway for its obtaining from the land cover map of catalonia (MCSC) For over 10 years, Catalonia has digital thematic cartography of land cover, the Land Cover Map (MCSC, the subject of another communication in this conference). However, for the whole of Spain, there hasn’t been any cartography like this, until the completion of the Land Cover Information System of Spain (SIOSE). The MCSC has been the basis on which the CREAF made SIOSE production in Catalonia. For this reason, the production of SIOSE in Catalonia has its own features. These features are different from the "standard production”. The conversion from MCSC to SIOSE has not been easy, because both bases have notable differences: the minimum size of capture of the information; the thematic legends of both bases are not directly compatible between them; they do not fully agree in the date of their reference images; and their respective scale of reference.To bridge the gap between the two products, we developed a gateway from MCSC to SIOSE, subject of this communication. Most of the effort was focused on bridging the differences on minimal surfaces. The mechanism that allowed its overcoming was based on the automatic generalization of the MCSC graphic information

GEO Label Web Services for Dynamic and Effective Communication of Geospatial Metadata Quality

We present demonstrations of the GEO label Web services and their integration into a prototype extension of the GEOSS portal (http://scgeoviqua.sapienzaconsulting.com/web/guest/geo_home), the GMU portal (http://gis.csiss.gmu.edu/GADMFS/) and a GeoNetwork catalog application (http://uncertdata.aston.ac.uk:8080/geonetwork/srv/eng/main.home). The GEO label is designed to communicate, and facilitate interrogation of, geospatial quality information with a view to supporting efficient and effective dataset selection on the basis of quality, trustworthiness and fitness for use. The GEO label which we propose was developed and evaluated according to a user-centred design (UCD) approach in order to maximise the likelihood of user acceptance once deployed. The resulting label is dynamically generated from producer metadata in ISO or FDGC format, and incorporates user feedback on dataset usage, ratings and discovered issues, in order to supply a highly informative summary of metadata completeness and quality. The label was easily incorporated into a community portal as part of the GEO Architecture Implementation Programme (AIP-6) and has been successfully integrated into a prototype extension of the GEOSS portal, as well as the popular metadata catalog and editor, GeoNetwork. The design of the GEO label was based on 4 user studies conducted to: (1) elicit initial user requirements; (2) investigate initial user views on the concept of a GEO label and its potential role; (3) evaluate prototype label visualizations; and (4) evaluate and validate physical GEO label prototypes. The results of these studies indicated that users and producers support the concept of a label with drill-down interrogation facility, combining eight geospatial data informational aspects, namely: producer profile, producer comments, lineage information, standards compliance, quality information, user feedback, expert reviews, and citations information. These are delivered as eight facets of a wheel-like label, which are coloured according to metadata availability and are clickable to allow a user to engage with the original metadata and explore specific aspects in more detail. To support this graphical representation and allow for wider deployment architectures we have implemented two Web services, a PHP and a Java implementation, that generate GEO label representations by combining producer metadata (from standard catalogues or other published locations) with structured user feedback. Both services accept encoded URLs of publicly available metadata documents or metadata XML files as HTTP POST and GET requests and apply XPath and XSLT mappings to transform producer and feedback XML documents into clickable SVG GEO label representations. The label and services are underpinned by two XML-based quality models. The first is a producer model that extends ISO 19115 and 19157 to allow fuller citation of reference data, presentation of pixel- and dataset- level statistical quality information, and encoding of 'traceability' information on the lineage of an actual quality assessment. The second is a user quality model (realised as a feedback server and client) which allows reporting and query of ratings, usage reports, citations, comments and other domain knowledge. Both services are Open Source and are available on GitHub at https://github.com/lushv/geolabel-service and https://github.com/52North/GEO-label-java. The functionality of these services can be tested using our GEO label generation demos, available online at http://www.geolabel.net/demo.html and http://geoviqua.dev.52north.org/glbservice/index.jsf

Advanced HF Communications for Remote Sensors in Antarctica

The Antarctica is a continent mainly devoted to science with a big amount of sensors located in remote places for biological and geophysical purposes. The data from these sensors need to be sent either to the Antarctic stations or directly to the home country. For the last 15 years, La Salle has been working in the application of HF communications (3–30 MHz) with ionospheric reflection for data collection of remote sensors in Antarctica. We have developed and tested the several types of modulations, the frame structure, the radio-modem, and the antennas for two different scenarios. First, a long-range transequatorial (approximately 12,800 km) and low-power communication system is used as an alternative to satellites, which are often not visible from the poles. This distance is covered with a minimum of four hops with oblique incidence in the ionosphere. Second, a low-power system using near vertical incidence skywave (NVIS) communications provides coverage in a surface of approximately 200–250 km radius, a coverage much longer than any other systems operating in either the VHF or UHF band without the need of line of sight

Interoperable Exchange Of Surface Solar Irradiance Observations: A Challenge

International audienceWe present how implementations of the Sensor Web Enablement framework of the Open Geospatial Consortium are integrated into an existing spatial data infrastructure. The result is registered as a community portal for professionals in solar energy in the GEOSS Common Infrastructure, demonstrating the benefits of interoperable exchange of in-situ time-series observations of surface solar irradiation. Easy access to, and sharing of data improves the information base for planning and monitoring of solar power resources. Providing users with visualization and download functionality for in-situ measurements is a key aspect for engaging the energy community to share, release and integrate in-situ measurements

Homenatge a Josep Marull Gou

Meeting in remembrance of a founder of the Catalan Economics Society whose work in the public sector revolutionised the traditional bureaucratic approach of supply side management to modern demand based objectives, where public institutions operate with the same principles of accounting as any large private firm. His companions, teachers and the mayor of Barcelona pay homage to the former manager of Barcelona Town Hall

Aligning citizen science and remote sensing phenology observations to characterize climate change impact on vegetation

Phenology observations are essential indicators to characterize the local effects of climate change. Citizen participation in the collection of phenological observations is a potential approach to provide data at both high temporal scale and fine grain resolution. Traditional observation practices of citizen science (CS), although precise at the species scale, are limited to few observations often closely located to an observer's residence. These limitations hinder coverage of the great variability of vegetation phenology across biomes and improvement of the knowledge of vegetation changes due to climate change impacts. This study presents a new approach to overcome these limitations by improving CS guidance and feedback as well as expanding phenology report sites and observations across different habitats and periods to contribute to monitoring climate change. This approach includes: (a) a new methodology focused on harmonizing remote sensing phenology products with traditional CS phenology observations to direct volunteers to active phenology regions and, (b) a new protocol for citizen scientists providing tools to guide them to specific regions to identify, collect and share species phenological observations and their phenophases. This approach was successfully tested, implemented and evaluated in Catalonia with more than 5000 new phenologically interesting regions identified and more than 200 observations collected and Sentinel-2 derived phenometrics were demonstrated as of good quality.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Geospatial User Feedback: how to raise users’ voice and collectively build knowledge at the same time

Geospatial data is used not only to contemplate reality but also, in combination with analytical tools, to generate new information that requires interpretation. In this process data users gain knowledge about the data and its limitations (the user side of data quality) as well as knowledge on the status and evolutions of the studied phenomena. Knowledge can be annotations on top of the data, responses to questions, a careful description of the processes applied, a piece of software code or scripts applied to the data, usage reports or a complete scientific paper. This paper proposes an extension of the current Open Geospatial Consortium standard for Geospatial User Feedback to include the required knowledge elements, and a practical implementation. The system can incrementally collect, store, and communicate knowledge elements created by users of the data and keep them linked to the original data by means of permanent data identifiers. The system implements a Web API to manage feedback items as a frontend to a database. The paper demonstrates how a JavaScript widget accessing this API as a client can be easily integrated into existing data catalogues, such as the ECOPotential web service or the GEOEssential data catalogue, to collectively collect and share knowledge