Update on Ecoinformatics Technical Working Group Activities Larry Fitzwater Computer Scientist US Environmental Protection Agency Rome, Italy – 17 May 2006

Interagency/International Collaboration on Ecoinformatics (I/ICE) Collaboration of:  European Environment Agency  US Environmental Protection Agency  EU’s Joint Research Centre  US Geological Survey’s Biological Resources Discipline  National Biological Information Infrastructure  UN Environment Programme  Global Biodiversity Information Facility and others Advance Ecoinformatics – the application of information science and information technology to the environment Provide policymakers and the public with information to take responsible actions that result in protection of the environment and health

I/ICE Structure Principals meet twice a year and provide general guidance  Meeting of the Principals in Washington DC, May 2005  Meeting of the Principals in Ispra, Italy, January 2006 Working groups produce relevant products  Environmental Indicators Working Group  Ecoinformatics Technical Working Group Ecoterm Interact with other national, international, non-profit and commercial groups on policies, technologies and standards

Projects Discussed Ecoterm USGS web services, Biocomplexity Thesaurus, etc. Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE) Water Information System for Europe Environmental Data Exchange Network for Inland Waters Semantic Prototypes In Research Ecoinformatics (SPIRE) Project eXtended Metadata Registries (XMDR) Air Quality and Health Test Bed

Environmental Data Exchange Network – Inland Waters One of first collaborative projects EEA used early work of EPA on Metadata Registries Project complete Book published

Semantic Prototypes in Research Ecoinformatics (SPIRE) Purpose  Evaluate the use of ontologies in supporting environmental issues Participants  University of Maryland Baltimore County  NSF funded  Using NBII Data Activities/Accomplishments  Focused on Invasive Species  A series of prototypes including the combination of various ontologies and authority files, including the Integrated Taxonomic Information System  Uses a semantic web search engine to identify relevant triples  Creates a triple shop for further selection of these triples to execute additional queries

ELVIS (The Ecosystem Location Visualization and Information System) ? ELVIS is a suite of tools motivated by the belief that food web structure plays a role in the success or failure of potential species invasions. Answer the question “what are likely prey and predator species of the invader in the new environment?”

What kind of pond-living or marsh-living fish do herons eat? Show known behavioral characteristics of those kinds of fish.

eXtended Metadata Registries (XMDR) Project System manuals Data dictionaries E E3 Terminologies, ontologies, etc. XML & related standards Semantic grids Semantics management for data Semantics services (SSOA) Complex semantics management Data engineering/XML Data Data Standards/Data Administration XMDR Project E2

Goal: Closer Integration of Semantics and Data Enhance Capabilities to Capture, Retrieve Semantics of Information Artifacts  Data Elements, Value Domains) in Metadata Registries Using Terminologies, Taxonomies, Ontologies, Etc. Improve Representation of Relationships Between Data and Concept Structures  Objects, Data Elements & Domains  Ontologies, Taxonomies, Thesauri, Terminologies, … Register Complex Semantic Metadata (Concept Structures, Terminologies) in More Formal, Systematic Ways

Ecoinformatics Test Bed Investigate metadata management techniques and usability with a practical experiment using metadata and semantic technologies for air quality (transportation) health effects Led by EPA and EEA Activities/Accomplishments  Initial focus on air quality and cardio-pulmonary data  Identified data elements  “Phase Project” in US and studies in two locations in EU Current plans  Register data elements – air and health effects  Obtain relevant concept system(s) to support semantics  Develop tools and utilities to help establish air effects on health, including a metadata toolkit

Ecoinformatics Major Threads Semantics and terminology  Organizations advancing systems development through use of semantics  System development and system conversion that incorporate the new capabilities that are based on semantics  Need semantics management and semantics life cycle management  Semantic Techniques, Technologies, Standards, Prototypes, Demonstrations Service oriented architectures, Web services Data exchange technologies (e.g. synchronizing)

Ecoinformatics R&D Develop a statement of R&D needs and priorities Work with government agencies (including DGs and NSF) to include the research needs in coordinated research programs Form coordinated proposals for research, development and demonstration projects Continue investigation of XMDR to manage semantics Extend Air Quality test bed to Water (including WISE)

Ecoterm Ecoterm is an important technical activity of the I/ICE Leverage the investment we already have:  Thesauri  Classification Schemes  Taxonomies  Other Concept Systems Approach the research into semantics from what we already know

Larry Fitzwater Data Standards Branch U.S. EPA