eEnvPlus was selected as the winner for its continuous efforts to apply GI-standards from CEN/TC 287, ISO 211 and OGC to support the implementation of INSPIRE components in the environmental field.
Aalborg (DK), 16-20 June 2014
Workshop: “A clustering approach to eENVironmental Services for advanced applications and capacity building within INSPIRE and SEIS”
Announcement:
The eENVplus project, now running its second year of activity, organizes this 2-slots workshop with the aim to focus on the interoperability with other projects carried out at EU level and the possibility to exploit eENVplus outcomes in different contents and environments.
eENVplus aim is to unlock huge amounts of environmental data, managed by the involved national/regional environment agencies and other public and private environmental stakeholders, through the integration and harmonisation of existing services. Data are collected to both answer EU reporting obligations on the environmental status and to support national and local policies and actions.
To get its goal, eENVplus implements ten pilots (in the context of different environmental scenarios related to air quality, water, nature conservation, geology and land-use, some of them cross border) with the scope to integrate existing infrastructures and services, coming from previous European experiences, into an operational framework able to overcome cross-border and languages barriers.
eENVplus offers an interoperable ICT infrastructure including:
- a comprehensive, open and scalable infrastructure able to integrate existing infrastructures according to the INSPIRE requirements, open standards and interoperable innovative services;
- a common Environment Thesaurus Framework, supporting the integration of existing thesauri relevant for the environmental sector via Linked Data and providing added-value services for its integration and exploitation in pilot applications;
- a comprehensive tool-kit with procedures for data harmonisation and validation supporting Members States during INSPIRE implementation with guidelines and examples;
- a set of innovative on-line added value interoperable services aiming to facilitate the development of innovative environmental applications.
eENVplus has been conceived as an open infrastructure able to host new pilot applications and the services needed to run them.
This is what is happening with LIFE+IMAGINE project, which will exploit the eENVplus infrastructure to implement two scenarios on integrated coastal zone management based upon environmental analysis and risk assessment methodologies.
The workshop wants also to show a preliminary solution on how the eENVplus infrastructure can be profitably exploited in the ICT-PSP GeoSmartCity Project, started on the 1st of March. The project establishes a re-usable cross-platform and an open hub able to publish open geographic information and to provide specialized services based on open standards. eENVplus provides not only the ICT infrastructure but also the description and the support to make this infrastructure operational and profitable through the provision of an organisational model and a tutored training framework. A Training Framework, in fact, supports, with eLearning tools, the development of the necessary capacities and knowledge to implement INSPIRE and to develop a SEIS and to keep this new adapted infrastructure operational.
The connection with the LINKVIT project “Leveraging INspire Knowledge into Vocational Innovative Training” contributes to enhance the training offer by eENVplus through an organization of the vocational training about GI & INSPIRE in public and private sector, also as regards an easy access to (standardized and validated at EU level) training.
Proceedings:
A major achievement of the Clustering Workshop has been the demonstration of the real value of effective and strategic liaisons between EU funded projects leading to efficient synergies specially for the reuse of software components, service oriented architectures and other outcomes such as training material and technical knowhow.