Open data for environmental markets
European public data are available to the public through the INSPIRE directive. However, a new policy, the European Open Data Strategy, requires that public data be released inexpensively, in common formats and with licences enabling reuse. One of the purposes of new strategies is to create a market for new services. The EU-funded MELODIES (Maximising the exploitation of linked open data in enterprise and science) project was intended to demonstrate that the Strategy stimulates growth and that the newly developed services have a social benefit. Hence, the team developed new services aimed at the environmental sector, based on open data. All services also depend on a cloud computing platform, designed to handle and process large amounts of satellite data. MELODIES developed eight new services, several of which became operational during the project. All involve linked data, meaning a set of best practices for releasing data in formats that allow linkage with other data sources. The Emissions Inventory Service provides information on land cover and soil moisture. The information is to be used for estimating United Kingdom greenhouse gas emissions. The Urban Accounting Service combines information about urban environments to support urban planning and management. The service also includes visualisation and analysis tools. A Land Management Service uses satellite data to optimise farming’s ecological and economic benefits. The Ocean Status Assessment Service yields information about the environmental status of oceans and seas. The information complies with the Water Framework Directive. A Desertification Indicators Service uses relevant satellite data to provide indicators of desertification and land condition. The information supports monitoring required by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. The Crisis Mapping Service involves a mapping application for disaster response. The service includes a database of European historic floods, for use by members of the insurance industry. The final two services are a Marine Transport Service and Groundwater Modelling Service. The former improves predictions of ship arrival times, and the latter models citizen observations to interpret and manage groundwater. Project results contribute to the development of a profitable market for data products and services. The work also helped improve cloud computing platforms, reducing processing costs.
Keywords
Open data, environmental sector, MELODIES, science, cloud computing
