Showcase AuthorsAuthor(s): Paolo Mazzetti E-mail: paolo.mazzetti@cnr.it Affiliations: CNR Member Country/Participating Organization: ITALY/ISPRA (Institute for Environmental Protection and Research); ITALY/CNR-DTA (National Research Council of Italy - Department of Earth and Environment) Showcase DescriptionShowcase Title: An Italian S&T infrastructure for contributing to the GEOSS Showcase Description: The showcase demonstrates the results of a (re-)engineering process applied to existing national infrastructures, in order to build a national system of systems (SoS) conceived for a coordinated and sustainable contribution to the GEOSS. In Italy, as in many other countries, there exist several national initiatives involving S&T and user communities which provide or might provide significant contribution to GEO/GEOSS. They are carried out in the context of national, European and international projects and programs. However, the existing differences in the national/regional contexts, initiatives, objectives, application domains, interoperability solutions, and the lack of a common multi-disciplinary approach, may limit the effective use of allocated resources to contribute to the GEO SoS implementation, and to contribute to the sustainability of results. The National Environmental Information System Network (SINAnet) managed by ISPRA (Institute for Environmental Protection and Research) is responsible of the development and operation of, a nationwide cooperating network among the main national and regional institutions with competences on environmental data acquisition and management with the scope of: providing policy makers, researchers and institution having competences on environmental management with high quality, relevant and timely data/information on state of environment and trends; ensuring public access to data/information; promoting integration of environmental concern into policy cycle. The Department of Earth and Environment of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR-DTA) coordinates the GIIDA inter-departmental project aiming to the design and development a multidisciplinary infrastructure for the management, processing and evaluation of Earth and environmental data. The GIIDA mission is the implementation of the Spatial Information Infrastructure (SII) of CNR for Environmental and Earth Observation data, in the context of the main European and international initiatives (GEO/GEOSS, INSPIRE , GMES). ISPRA-SINAnet and CNR-DTA, as part of a coordination effort, underwent a re-engineering of their systems GIIDA and SINAnet in order to build a common infrastructure based on the following principles:
Showcase Team: ITALY/ISPRA-SINAnet, ITALY/ CNR-DTA URL: http://www.isprambiente.it/site/en-GB/default.html Showcase JustificationAdd value of GEO in general: geo-added-value=The showcase demonstrates how existing national observing systems can be integrated in the GEOSS according to the GEOSS principle: "GEOSS will be a 'system of systems' with components consisting of existing and future Earth observation systems across the processing cycle from primary observation to information production. The Earth observing systems that participate in GEOSS retain their existing mandates and governance arrangements, supplemented by their involvement in GEOSS." [GEOSS 10-Year Implementation Plan Reference Document]. It will address many aspects in the following Tasks/Subtasks of the GEOSS Work Plan 2009-2011, at the national level: Added Value of UIC: The showcase demonstrates how several topics of the GEO STC Roadmap can be addressed at the national level with a strong potential for cross border cooperation in neighboring regions . More specifically the showcase touches the following points:
Summit Themes and Focus: The Italian S&T Infrastructure is a relevant example of how nation work, on which the success of GEOSS is based, can contribute to progress towards the GEO 10-Year Implementation Plan , focusing on the critical role data interoperability, capacity building and S&T/ User cooperation. Cape Town Declaration: The showcase demonstrates how the following recommendations and commitments can be addressed working at the national level: The sustained operation of terrestrial, ocean, air-borne, and space-based observations networks is critical for informed decision making; Data interoperability is critical for the improvement and expansion of observational, modeling, data assimilation, and prediction capabilities; Coordination, at national, regional and global levels, continued investments, scientific and technological advances and innovative approaches to financing will be vital for upgrading and expanding Earth observations and building the capacity of individuals, institutions and systems, particularly in developing countries; To explore ways and means for the sustained operations of the shared architectural GEOSS components and related information infrastructure; Working together to improve the interoperability of and access to observation and associated prediction and information systems towards the continued strengthening of GEOSS and the full implementation of the 10-Year Implementation Plan [Cape Town Declaration] Global goals and assessments: The medium-long term impact of the proposed SoS targets the interaction between national and international programs and projects, fulfilling the requirements imposed by EU regulations (e.g. INSPIRE Directive), global initiatives (e.g. GEOSS DSP) and International standards (e.g. OGC). Taking advantage from the European Network partnership on sharing data, information and services, and considering INSPIRE Directive already forces public administration into sharing through internet spatial data sets and services, it is intended to adopt a common infrastructure to ensure a massive interaction between different public bodies (Research Institutes, Environmental Agencies, Universities, etc.) to enforce the linkage between investigation, territorial monitoring and education activity. European initiative (GMES, GEOLAND, GNU, etc.) will take advantage from the research activities conduced in the GIIDA context, nowadays providing high quality research at small-medium scale, once the national SoS will interoperate into a wider geographic context. Filling gaps, ...: The showcase is a valuable example of how existing systems can be integrated between them and with the GEOSS. In particular the achieving benefits are the coordination between key national environmental information systems, allowing costs reduction with a more efficient mobilization and allocation of resources, thus attracting new end users. Strong future GEOSS: The system of systems approach applied at the national level and cutting across SBAs , provides for a test case within GEOSS, with a strong replication value on the integration of data, information and services while maintaining the single systems autonomous. The interaction between GIIDA and SINAnet will provide a replicable architecture. The component used for the common based architecture accomplish from data management to publication. The system implementation, finalized to the re-engineering product delivery, intend to aggregate data and information coming from different sources. In this way, GEOSS partners will benefit both from a free of charge and customizable applications, respectful of the most recognized international standards, and from data and information completeness as bases for the better natural phenomena understanding, environmental management and risk prevention. Link to high-profile issues: The current worldwide status of interoperability does not permit to developing countries to have an early warning system to face predictable natural disasters, as inundation, tsunami, hydrological and natural risk in general, to define scenarios for risk mitigation and climate change adaption. The defined SoS will contribute to enforce the unification and divulgation of information, through GEOSS, for a wider natural environment management and prevention activity of predictable events. Cross-cutting nature: As a SoS (re-)engineering effort, the Showcase addresses infrastructure capacity building. It is a typically transverse activity. Moreover the integration and coordination of the SINAnet and the GIIDA infrastructure in a system of systems approach provides Earth and environment data, information and service addressing all the nine GEOSS SBAs. Capacity building: The Showcase, coordinating the activities of existing national organizations in their contribution to the GEOSS, is specifically focused on capacity building in terms of individuals, institutions and infrastructures. It demonstrates how the GEOSS capacity building can be addressed at the national level, in order to achieve sustainability, while the experience can be replicated in other interested countries. |