WeObserve improved coordination between existing environmental COs and relevant activities at regional, European and international levels (Impact 1) through Communities of Practice, WeObserve events and conferences (CO4EO workshops, INSPIRE hackathon challenges, WeObserve Roadshows, WeObserve Conference) and other coordination activities (MOOC, Toolkit, Cookbook, Open Data Challenge, links with OGC, GEO and Copernicus, etc). Overall, the project had high public visibility presenting activities, insights and results at 40+ events (conferences, webinars and other high-level fora).
The Interop-CoP linked with OGC, and data communities; the SDGs-CoP established a working network at global level, produced scientific papers with demonstrated policy impact; the Co-design/Engage and Impact CoPs consolidated insights from COs and CS projects internationally.
WeObserve greatly expanded the geographical coverage and use of environmental CO (Impact 2) through the WeObserve MOOC (2100+ learners from 107 countries, 1000+ downloads tools), WeObserve CoPs (240+ participants in 40+ countries), the Open Data Challenge (44 registrations, 22+ countries across the globe), the CS challenges of the INSPIRE Hackathon (35 participants, 22 countries), amongst others.
The expanded use of outputs was further supported via communication channels (April 2021): 14 journal publications with 31.5k+ article accesses, 115+ citations; WeObserve Toolkit and Cookbook; 25+ policy documents, conference papers and posters, technical and other reports etc: 1,100+ unique views and 700+ downloads (WeObserve Zenodo page); WeObserve toolkit: 1000+ downloads.
Activities from the Interop-CoP and OGC Citizen Science Domain Working Group supported the wider dissemination and uptake of data management and preservation strategies (Impact 3). The 1st OGC Citizen Science Interoperability Experiment and report on the use of standards and best practices for CS data provided interoperability standards that were adopted by the Earth Challenge 2020. A 2nd report describes the adoption of standard formats and data models for improved CS dataset sharing and usability.
To increase opportunities for SMEs and business (Impact 4), WeObserve organised activities and an online marketplace. More than 80 SMEs were involved in CS challenges of the INSPIRE Hackathon, the Open Data Challenge, Copernicus pilot, the WeObserve Roadshows, CO4EO workshops and webinars. The Open Data Challenge facilitated the investigation and use of CO datasets to develop prototypes for services and downstream applications. The Copernicus pilots identified opportunities for SMEs and businesses to contribute to the Copernicus Land Use monitoring service.
WeObserve Roadshow events in Italy, Slovenia, Spain and Scotland (150+ participants) improved awareness and use of COs by environmental risk and emergency managers (Impact 5). They built on the local flooding context and showcased the effective use of a CO in flood risk management of the Brenta-Bacchiglione river basin.
Continuous attendance in GEO(SS) and OGC meetings and other activities promoted the value added of the adoption of CS into EO initiatives (Impact 6). The adoption of CS data as a requirement is under discussion for next tenders for the Copernicus Land Service.
Finally, WeObserve strengthened the leading role for Europe in the integration and uptake of CS in GEOSS and implementing the SDGs (Impact 7) via the EuroGEO 2019 Citizen Science roadmap "The Lisbon Declaration''. It provides a roadmap for the European contribution of CS and COs in GEOSS, which was highlighted in the statement of the EC to the GEO plenary for the GEO week 2020. Furthermore, WeObserve supported key activities in the field of CS through the SDGs-CoP and the creation of seminal publications on CS and the SDGs, which have reached 31k+ article accesses, 115+ citations (April 2021). Results of the SDGs-CoP mapping study were presented during the UN-SPBF 2021 and included in the official forum summary report, which informed UNEA-5, the world’s highest level decision-making body on the environment. The same results underpin efforts in Ghana to implement CS with SDG monitoring in a pilot project and SDG-CoP members contributed to the methodology development for the SDG marine litter indicator (14.1.1b) which now recommends CS as primary data source for marine litter monitoring.
