European EO science joins global network
Across the world, policymakers and emergency services need access to reliable and user friendly information about weather and climate, health, ecosystems and biodiversity, water and agriculture, disasters and energy. As such, a global 'system of systems' is being developed to make EO data from instruments all over the planet available through a single access point. The EU-funded project 'Coordinating Earth and environmental cross-disciplinary projects to promote GEOSS' (EGIDA) has already made progress in bringing together European science and technology (S&T) communities for the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). EGIDA started a successful Stakeholder Network which will continue beyond the EGIDA project as the GEOSS Stakeholder Network. The consortium has organised a number of workshops on implementing GEOSS, and it has set up collaborations with other relevant Seventh Framework Programme (FP7)-funded projects. These collaborations will assist with delivery of the EGIDA methodology, which will improve on research infrastructure and the mobilisation of resources. In addition, EGIDA has started outreach programmes through newsletters, a LinkedIn group and journal articles. They have also presented the project at relevant conferences and other workshops. Ultimately, EGIDA will become embedded in a large network of EO researchers, institutions and programmes across many scientific disciplines.
