Best Practice Network for SDI in Nature Conservation

Transcription

1 Co-funded by the Community Programme econtentplus ECP-2007-GEO Best Practice Network for SDI in Nature Conservation Newsletter no. 3 - October 2010 Natura 2000 and the new EU approach for protected sites management has enforced the link between nature conservation and geo-information. This has generated the need for accessible, interoperable and harmonised datasets, also addressed by the INSPIRE Directive (2007/2/EC) that pursues an EU Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) to support environmental policies. The Nature-SDIplus Network started in October It aims to enable and improve the harmonisation of national and sectoral datasets on nature conservation, making them accessible and exploitable. Thus, it supports the implementation of the INSPIRE Directive in this field. Nature-SDIplus Newsletters are addressed to all the members of the network and all the stakeholders. Anyone interested in joining the network is invited to contact the Nature- SDIplus Project Office (see back cover). The Nature-SDIplus Newsletter no. 3 introduces the outcomes of the second project period, grounded on the definition of the NATURE-SDIplus metadata profile and data model and the definition of specifications for the NATURE-SDIplus Infrastructure/ Geoportal. Two significant articles included in this Newsletter are in fact dealing with the activity above, offering to the reader a complete overview of the work carried out. Moreover, results from two important NATURE-SDIplus events are reported as well. Inside this issue The NATURE-SDIplus Metadata and Data Model 2 The NATURE-SDIplus Infrastructure 3 News and Events INSPIRE and Nature Conservation: The NATURE- SDIplus Contribution NATURE-SDIplus Second Conference SDI for Nature Conservation Other recent highlights, Call for Good Practices, Join the NATURE-SDIplus Network NATURE-SDIplus Newsletter is a periodic free-of-charge publication, published by the NATURE-SDIplus Consortium. The views expressed herein are the author s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission. Neither the editor nor any person acting on its behalf is responsible for the use which might be made of the reported information.

2 NATURE-SDIplus Newsletter 3 Page 2 The NATURE-SDIplus Metadata and Data Model Written by Maria Cabello (TRACASA) and Diederik Tirry (KU Leuven) By the end of June 2010, we have accomplished 2 major milestones of the project: a complete proposal concerning a metadata profile and data exchange model for each of the four INSPIRE themes related to Nature Conservation. The metadata profile completes the data model specification to provide interoperable datasets for nature conservation themes. The metadata specification aims at several objectives within the project: providing a relevant and comprehensive description of NATURE-SDIplus datasets in full conformance with INSPIRE, to allow discovery and use of datasets in a multilingual context, to supply recommendations and guidelines on how to build a NATURE-SDIplus compliant metadata catalogue. In addition, of course, this activity has the goal of providing metadata and contributing to its definition within the framework of the INSPIRE Directive on the concerned data themes. To this end, it has been drafted with a view of being as close as possible to existing specifications, most notably by taking into account and incorporating the INSPIRE Implementing Rules for metadata and the Technical Guidelines based on EN ISO and EN ISO It also incorporates complementary metadata elements defined in the specifications of data of Annex 1, in particular those relating to protected sites. Different sources and reference material were used to analyze and design the specific metadata profile for each data theme. In the case of protected sites, the final published INSPIRE Data Specification that proposed additional metadata elements were included in the metadata profile for this theme. For the other three themes (BR, HB, SD) from Annex III, for which there were no INSPIRE Data Specifications, the material used to analyze the needs, have been mainly the result of previous activities carried out in the project under the tasks related to dataset analysis and data systematization. Finally five metadata profiles have been proposed; four corresponding to the four data themes and one generic profile for describing the spatial services such are WMS, WCS, CSW. One particular important aspect is that the current metadata standards were extended with additional metadata elements: For supporting multilingual and multicultural issues: related to the requirement of ensuring multilanguage support of the controlled vocabulary and of conveying richer information than that proposed by ISO and INSPIRE ISO extension Lineage for all themes Data quality for all themes Data Identification for Species distribution To identify described species To build a taxonomic catalogue The development of the data specifications that allow for the exchange of nature conservation data in a standardised way has followed a similar approach. Whereas the definition of necessary data attributes (the data model ) for Annex I protected sites was based on the INSPIRE data specification for that theme, the initial data models for the description of the Annex III INSPIRE themes are based on users requirements, as identified during the inventory (Task 2.3) and the user survey & user needs analysis (Task 2.1) phases of the project. Specifically towards the development of Annex III data models, the methodology proposed by the INSPIRE Data Specification Drafting Team was slightly modified altering the sequence of steps as proposed by the methodology in view of the execution of tasks defined in the NATURE-SDIplus project. The starting point was to define the project context from the point of view of stateof-the-art of user needs, datasets, data policies as well as data access. In particular, the analysis performed in the previous work packages already revealed crucial information on user needs and the status quo of environmental data sets. Despite the indispensable outcome of the analysis done, additional efforts were undertaken to complete this work by putting the focus as well on user needs and data requirements at European level. Subsequently, all available input was processed and compared against the overall scope, existing legal

3 NATURE-SDIplus Newsletter 3 Page 3 references and obligations, existing reference datasets and models, and against general accepted standards in the domain of biodiversity. At the same time, it was attempted to strive for simplicity in order to manage the models efficiently and apply them effectively within a broad community of nature conservation stakeholders. To propose new data exchange models the available input was further systemized following 3 consecutive steps Conceptual breakdown of raw input, Consolidation analysis based on attribute matrices, Fine-tuning and elimination of candidate entities. First, all raw input (available datasets, reference data, reference models) were conceptually broken down in meaningful entities (e.g. attributes or groups of attributes). Next, the attributes extracted from the survey results were compared by applying matrices to extract the most frequently used and correlated attributes that have the best fit with the scope and reference models. Finally, to keep the data models as simple as possible while still addressing the core information elements with regard to nature conservation, some candidate entities were removed during an elimination process. The final step was done in close collaboration with the NATURE-SDIplus partners that were closely involved in reviewing the different versions of the data models. The material developed within this stage has also been uploaded as reference material to support the development of data specifications by the official INSPIRE TWG (INSPIRE Thematic Working Group). Due to the nature of this project, the NATURE-SDIplus The NATURE-SDIplus Infrastructure Written by Carmelo Attardo (INGRIT) This article describes the NATURE-SDIplus infrastructure designed and setup in the frame of the project to access and exploit the harmonised information on Nature conservation put at disposal by the project partners and involved stakeholders. The main concepts, which have driven the design of this infrastructure, are the data, exposed and maintained by the data providers without moving them form their source location, the way to access and to exploit the information is to be compliant with the international standards and, overall, the INSPIRE rules. The NATURE-SDIplus infrastructure is a network of distributed entities which can be classified as follow: data providers put, at disposal of the community, their own data related to Nature conservation harmonised according to the NATURE-SDIplus models and exposed in standard format and through standard services, service providers are the technological partners which publish the national and central geoportals including the set of services and tools permitting to the users to discover, view and download the data distributed into the infrastructure. From the operational point of view, a network of servers is setup and managed by the infrastructure stakeholders (data and service providers) to publish data and services according to the INSPIRE rules and standards. The user can access the published services through the national and central geo-portal, which include the references to services published by the infrastructure stakeholders through a web client, while the data providers can exploit the infrastructure services by publishing and maintaining updated and published consistent information. The two use cases describing the main use of the infrastructure by data providers and users are the publication of data by the data providers the discovery, view and download of data by users Data providers are supported by the NATURE-SDIplus infrastructure to publish their data through a set of tools and services including: Data harmonisation tools, Metadata editor, Thesaurus framework services, Web services publication tools. The users can discover and exploit the data collected into the infrastructure by the central and national geo-portals permitting them to access and use the exposed web

4 NATURE-SDIplus Newsletter 3 Page 4 services, i.e. CSW, WMF, and download services. Tracasa GIS Converter ( WikiPages/TcGisConverter.aspx) Snowflake Go Publisher! ( gopublisher/index.htm) The following comparative table shows the main characteristics of available tools. Tools Characteristics HALE Intergraph Geomedia Tracasa GeoConv erter SnowFlake GoPublisher 1. Enumerate input formats * * * * 2. Enumerate output formats * * * * 3. Read input data Yes Yes Yes Yes When a new dataset is to be published into the infrastructure, the data provider has to: produce the metadata according to the project profile, remodel the dataset according to the common shared data model defined by INSPIRE and the NATURE-SDIplus data models, publish the metadata into the national or central catalogue by contacting the geo-portal administrator, publish the standard view service (WMS) to make available the map data to the community, publish on the download service the standard GML dataset (according to the data provider IPR rules). The catalogue services distributed into the infrastructure are federated and, starting the discovery process by the central NATURE-SDIplus geo-portal, it will be possible to extend the user s research to all the federated catalogues. If data providers do not have the possibility to expose the standard services, it will be possible to collect these data into the data storage of the available geo-portals (either national or the central geo-portal) and expose the related web services using the facilities provided by the geoportal itself. In the following paragraphs a brief description of the available services is detailed. Data Harmonisation Tools The data harmonisation tools permit remodelling of the data provider s data according to the common NATURE- SDIplus data models. The tools, put at disposal by technological project partners, are based on COTS and OSS products. The following list provides the available tools with reference links to the product web site for additional and more detailed information: HALE - HUMBOLDT Alignment editor ( Intergraph GeoMedia Fusion ( 4. Change Coordinate reference System - Yes Yes Yes 5. Allowing to define/ load specific target model 6. Allowing manual / semiautomatic / automatic mapping It is important to underline that the tools used to perform the remodelling process do not affect the final result of the provided output. Thesaurus framework Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 7. Allowing to save transformation process Yes Yes Yes Yes 8. Any transformation quality control No Yes No No 9. Allowing multilingualism No Yes No No 10. License LGPL * * * 11. System Requirements * * * * The Thesaurus Framework contains some of the wellknown existing knowledge organization systems for Nature Conservation. It is a dynamic environment where a new thesaurus can be added or further extended and two different thesauri may be interlinked. The outcome is a powerful tool satisfying the requirements of openness, modularity, linking, and exploitability. Linked data best practices combined with the thesaurus encoded in SKOS has allowed to meet these requirements. Moreover the adoption of linked data best practices enlarges the visibility of the Thesaurus Framework for Nature Conservation both within and outside of the NATURE- SDIplus consortium, pushing it as an example of best practice in the definition and reuse of GI thesauri. The framework is planned to be exploited in the geo-portal to support the management of two important multilingual/ multicultural issues in the use of GI data: data indexing and publication and data search and retrieval. A set of web services has been designed and developed in order to implement these two issues: the metadata web editor exploits the Thesaurus Framework web services to select and to validate the information in metadata keywords editing process, while the user interface of the catalogue client exploits these functionalities to facilitate the data search and retrieval by performing autocompilation proposing the search text during the user s

5 NATURE-SDIplus Newsletter 3 Page 5 free text digitizing. Metadata editor A web metadata editor has been customised and put at disposal by the NATURE-SDIplus stakeholders by IRD partner permitting the production of metadata related to the nature conservation datasets according to different standard profiles, i.e. INSPIRE profile and NATURE- SDIplus profile. This tool permits to generate a new metadata according to the selected profile. In addition, the editor exploits the thesaurus framework web services to edit the keywords to be included into the metadata. This has been performed to guarantee the correct use of keywords and to share a common dictionary between the NATURE-SDIplus stakeholders. The NATURE-SDIplus metadata profile has been designed to integrate the keywords coming from Thesaurus Framework and to be successively exploited by the project CSW web client. Metadata administration and validation Data providers can edit the metadata using the exposed metadata editor or can edit metadata using proper editing tools. In order to guarantee the correctness of the published metadata, a set of tools has been provided to the geo-portal administrators and to the users to validate the metadata and to load them into the project geo-portals. Two metadata administration tools are provided by IRD and Intergraph to manage the two catalogues, actually enclosed into the NATURE-SDIplus infrastructure: the French geo-portals and the central geo-portal. This administration tools are at disposal to the geo-portals administrators to perform the validation of the metadata according to the selected profiles and to insert them into the catalogues exposed by the national and central catalogue services. In addition, a web metadata validator is at disposal of the users to verify the compliancy of the metadata according to the selected profile. This tool is published into the NATURE-SDIplus geo-portal and represents a public tool. Web services publication system In the frame of the project, the data providers will publish the remodelled data through their own internal infrastructure or exploiting the technologies put at disposal by the partners. In this context, the main tools, used to publish WMS and WFS services, are: GeoNetworks Intergraph SDI Pro Snowflakes Go Publisher! MDWeb These services publication tools have been put at disposal by the project partners and a preliminary interoperability has been verified by connecting the different published services through the geo-portal clients. NATURE-SDIplus geo-portals The project infrastructure plans to have a set of geoportals at national levels and a central geo-portal. The national geo-portal represents the gate to address the information exposed by the data providers located in that country. The information are published and documented by the availability of the national catalogue, in which each data provider is able to publish its own information. The NATURE-SDIplus geo-portal is the European gate to which the national geo-portals are linked and provides the information on the central catalogue. The following picture shows the main interface of the NATURE-SDIplus geo-portal. Catalogue interface In the left side bar, the NATURE-SDIplus geo-portal exploits the catalogue functionalities in order to query and retrieve the information collected into the NATURE- SDIplus infrastructure. The search interface permits the user to retrieve metadata by searching a free text. Clicking on search button, the system queries the connected/federated catalogues and lists the set of found metadata. While user is digitizing the free text into the text box, the auto-compilation functionality, provided by the integration

6 NATURE-SDIplus Newsletter 3 Page 6 of the Thesaurus Framework web service, suggests to the users the possible keywords to use for data retrieval. Add services to the map The geo-portal client permits to link the web services into the geo-portal interface. The different icons permit to: see the linked data source add a new data source remove an attached data source The following figure displays the Tool bar for data source management. The following figure displays the interface Add a new data source. In addition there are the following functionalities to manage the map content. Visibility scale: this tools permits to select the range of scale in which each feature will be displayed. This saves the system from overloading the server with data displayed in the map, Context: it is possible for the user to save a context of the map (i.e. a list of services, an extent of the map, etc.), it can be reloaded in the next session, Print: a simple printing facility permitting to print the displayed map, Transparency: for each layer, it is possible to define the level of transparency in order to show background layers in the map. Multilingual interface The geo-portal interface supports the multilingualism. The language used to display the terms included into the interface is recovered by the setup of the used browser. Changing the language of the browser, the interface terms are changed in the related language. Actually, the following languages are available: UK, FR, PT, ES, DE, IT, PL, CZ. In addition, there will be made available the translation of the metadata files, as showed in the figures below - Metadata fields displayed in different languages. This interface allows to link the following type of web services into the geoportal site: CSW Catalogue service, WMS Web Map Service, WFS Web Feature Service, WFS-G Gazetteer service, Google Maps service to include Google Maps into the client map, Virtual Earth service to integrate Virtual Earth into the client map. In the figure above, the interface shows already linked services of the same type. Map navigation functionalities The right side of the top side bar enclose the standard functionalities to navigate the map. This includes: Zoomin, Zoom-out, Zoom by rectangle, Zoom full extent, Previous/next zoom.

7 NATURE-SDIplus Newsletter 3 Page 7 News and Events INSPIRE and Nature Conservation: The NATURE-SDIplus Contribution Workshop held within the INSPIRE 2010 Conference in Krakow (Poland) on 22 June 2010 Workshop Description and Goals The first phase of NATURE-SDIplus was dedicated to the survey and the analysis of user needs, data availability and accessibility and to the development of a NATURE- SDIplus Thesaurus and preliminary activities towards the NATURE-SDIplus metadata profile and data model and the NATURE-SDIplus portal. The aim of the workshop was to present and discuss with participating stakeholders and target audience the achieved results from the first NATURE-SDIplus project period and the ongoing activities to support the INSPIRE implementation in the nature conservation domain. The workshop also presented the open NATURE-SDIplus Network and the possibility for contributions by the interested stakeholders, with the final aim to constitute a Community acting as a reference INSPIRE project for nature conservation issues. Workshop presentations (on-line: at Conferences/Workshops in the main menu): Introduction to NATURE-SDIplus The speech aimed to introduce the Conference and NATURE-SDIplus project to the participants external to the Consortium. INSPIRE data specifications and NATURE-SDIplus It was presented and highlighted how the contribution of NATURE-SDIplus to the Annex I Protected Sites Data Specification has been considered and processed. In addition, looking at the next future, the process to draft the Data Specifications also for Annex III considered data themes and the importance of the participation of experts from the NATURE-SDIplus Consortium was presented. The results of the Users needs and data analysis The user needs analysis in NATURE-SDIplus has been carried out in different steps. First, a questionnaire on user needs circulated among stakeholders, then a data analysis related to the compliance of datasets with INSPIRE and a phase to calibrate and refine the outcomes. This brought to draw some important conclusions, that are: Different levels of target users, and different expertise from them, implying a simplification of the systems and the needs for training. Nature conservation datasets are continuously updated, and the application of standards and functionalities is well seen. NATURE-SDIplus is working to create a user centred SDI for nature conservation themes, thus implying also the need for awareness and training towards the stakeholders. Moreover, results from the data analysis have been communicated to INSPIRE offering a comprehensive overview of the status of data (and metadata ) and related compliance. The NATURE-SDIplus Common Thesaurus Framework on Nature Conservation The speech illustrated the activity related to multilingual and multicultural issues in the use of GI aiming at identifying a good practice for a simpler and standardized access to spatial data. A Common Thesaurus Framework for Nature Conservation has been realized where different well known knowledge organization systems dealing with the data themes on nature conservation are shared and assembled. The NATURE-SDIplus metadata and data model The speech dealt with the activities and the procedures implemented and followed to obtain the metadata profile and data model for the INSPIRE data themes on nature conservation considered by the project. The NATURE-SDIplus approach to Data Transformation The great issue of transforming available NATURE- SDIplus datasets according to the INSPIRE compliant data model has been investigated together with available tools. The speech illustrated also the preliminary solutions proposed by NATURE-SDIplus. The NATURE-SDIplus Portal A presentation of the architecture of the NATURE-SDIplus and of its entrance door (i.e. the NATURE-SDIplus Portal) was provided (see article page 3 for details). The NATURE-SDIplus network development and the Training Framework Training actions dealing with NATURE-SDIplus are planned to help the participation of the Consortium in the project activities and foster the recruiting of new members allowing them to understand the NATURE-SDIplus problems and context. The Training in NATURE-SDIplus is on-line provided (mainly e-learning facilities) and accessible through a dedicated portal, here presented, containing information on the covered topics and courses metadata.

8 NATURE-SDIplus Newsletter 3 Page 8 NATURE-SDIplus Second Conference SDI for Nature Conservation jointly organized with VESTA-GIS Final Conference A Training Framework for ESDI NATURE-SDIplus Conference took place on 29 th September 2010 in Lisbon, Portugal, hosted by the Instituto Geográfico Português (IGP). The conference was organised by the consortium of the NATURE-SDIplus project in the framework of the VESTA-GIS Final Conference. The NATURE-SDIplus Conference was addressed to foster the development of Community on SDI for nature conservation and the involvement of new members in the NATURE-SDIplus Network. The Conference presented the main NATURE-SDIplus results such as the data model and metadata profile for nature conservation INSPIRE data themes, the Geoportal and related transformation services. This, with the aim to involve in the final project phase and in the validation of these outcomes stakeholders from the specific sector. The aim of the workshop was achieved through training actions aimed at transferring to the project partners and actual or potential members the needed know-how to actively participate in the project activities. The intended audience for this conference are the stakeholders dealing with geo-information for nature conservation. They are: INSPIRE Community and INSPIRE Data Specifications experts, Public Administrations, Basic education, Higher education & research, Research, Commercial users, Nature Conservation authorities, technology providers, NGOs. Conference presentations are accessible from the project web site ( at Conferences/ Workshops in the main menu. The conference agenda: Welcome Address General Director, IGP Introduction to the NATURE-SDIplus Network Giorgio Saio, GISIG INSPIRE data specifications and NATURE-SDIplus Giorgio Saio on behalf of Vanda Lima, EC representative NATURE-SDIplus User Needs: INSPIRE Needs for Nature Conservation Community Gudrun Wallentin, OEAW NATURE-SDIplus Metadata Profile: final version Dorian Ginane, IRD NATURE-SDIplus Data Models Diederik Tirry, K.U. Leuven NATURE-SDIplus Solution for Data Harmonisation Maria Cabello, TRACASA, Giacomo Martirano, EPSILON NATURE-SDIplus Geoportal in Action Giacomo Martirano on behalf of Carmelo Attardo, Intergraph NATURE-SDIplus Network Action Plan Giorgio Saio, GISIG A Training Framework for the NATURE-SDIplus Community Creation of Training Paths: The VESTA-GIS Learning Path Builder Alessandra Marchese, GISIG Increasing GI awareness in local authorities in Poland - experiences from the INSPIRE Academy training programme Maria Andrzejewska, Monika Rusztecka, UNEP/GRID - Warsaw Centre The Portuguese Experience in Nature Conservation: SIPNAT - The Portugese Experience Ines Trigo, Henrique Marinho, Maria Joao Cabral, Maria joao Ramos, Sandra Carreira, INCB Transboundary Case Study: PN Douro International and PN Arribes del Duero Alexandra Fonseca, Ana Luisa Gomes, Danilo Furtado, IGP Biodiversity Information Systems: examples of data management Gustavo Palminha, Hugo Costa, Miguel Mascarenhas, Bio3 The BioDiversity4All Project - connecting people in the Web 2.0 to increase biodiversity knowledge Patricia tiago, Luis Ferreira, Filipe Ribeiro e Marcel Dix, BioDiversity4All Structural Soil Erosion Model for the Portuguese National Ecological Preserve Nuno Neves, University de Evora

9 NATURE-SDIplus Newsletter 3 Page 9 Other Recent Highlights 5th Project Meeting (4th Technical meeting, and Network General Committee and Steering Committee Meeting) took place in Lisbon, Portugal (30 September - 01 October, 2010). The meeting concluded extensive work on NATURE-SDIplus metadata profiles and data models and the validation phase of the project. The most important part of the meeting was addressed to the procedures for the Taken and provided by Evgenia Gurova, 2010 metadata and data remodelling / harmonisation tasks with fruitful active discussion with the data providers (given their status and feedback on the tasks). The two days meeting was followed by the field trip visiting the The Arrabida Natural Park. The next project meeting will be held at URSIT Ltd. & Vitosha National Park Directorate in Sofia, Bulgaria, March Next meeting presentation can be found in the last project meeting proceedings (Lisbon) in the Restricted Area of the project web site. The NATURE-SDIplus project has been extended by additional 4 months (the project will end in July 2011). This will allow the Consortium to properly participate, within the newly established duration of the project, to the test and validation of the Annex III data themes, planned in spring Such participation is a very important step in order to complete the overall proactive process for providing a standard data model across Europe for the nature conservation data themes, which is the ultimate and main output of the project. Call for Good Practices Good Practices are intended as cases/experiences, technical, organisational and of data sharing: they represent good approach (existing, effective, friendly,...) to assess how to regulate the flow of geo-data in nature conservation. The challenge is to collect (organizing in an on-line database) a series of practices, grounded on the input received by targeted stakeholders, referring to both technical solutions and data sharing/organisation. If you wish to contribute, please, contact the NATURE-SDIplus project Office ( office@nature-sdi.eu). Join the NATURE-SDIplus Network The network is open to all the interested stakeholders operating in nature conservation data management in a European perspective. The interested organisations are very welcome. Please, contact the project Office ( office@nature-sdi.eu). Selected Upcoming Events in 2011 Symposium GIS Ostrava 2011, January 2011, Ostrava, Czech Republic 31st EARSeL Annual Symposium "Remote Sensing and Geoinformation not only for Scientific Cooperation", 30 May - 2 June 2011, Prague, Czech Republic 5th INSPIRE Conference, 27 June - 1 July 2011, Edinburgh, Scotland. (Conference details and the call for papers and workshops will be posted on the conference site on the 15th January 2011)

10 NATURE-SDIplus Project Office / Newsletter Editor GISIG - Geographical Information Systems International Group Via Piacenza, Genova (Italy) Tel: Fax: office@nature-sdi.eu URL: