1 Technical Projects Workgroup Report to Plenary Ecoinformatics International Technical Collaboration April 10, 2008 Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA Bruce Bargmeyer Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California, Berkeley Tel:

Information Exchange We had an excellent exchange between the participants on information technology topics of mutual concern. We shared information about technology plans at both the R&D level and the operational implementation level. Topics included: u USGS initiatives, NBII Metadata Catalog, Gap Analysis Program - GAPServe u Consolidation of Water Information System for Europe, Shared Environmental Information System u EPA Terminology and registry work u SPIRE Update - Semantic Eco-blogging, Aquatic Invasive Prediction, Linked Data u Open Ontology Repository--possible interaction with GEO/GEOSS/GMES u Semantics and Ontologies in Biodiversity u From DNA Barcoding to the Encyclopedia of Life: Initiatives in Biodiversity Informatics u UNEP Plans 2

Collaborative Project Plans F Semantics demonstration for water information – Use of Metadata Registries (See Demo slides later) F Ecoterm activities u Ecoterm may provide input for GEMET advancements. Possible focus of next Ecoterm meeting u Econtent proposal – possible response u Next meeting: UNEP host? UBA has volunteered. FAO host? Need six months to plan. u Leverage FAO system development 3

GEMET Actions F GEMET will be built into web-based INSPIRE services F EEA will build a system around GEMET to link in other terminology systems and to service applications like INSPIRE metadata registration. F GEMET is available for the Wiki community on OmegaWiki. This is a capability for updating the terms. u USGS will add selected terms F EPA: The GEMET content that has already been loaded into the EPA terminology tool will serve as the starting point for some multi-lingual extensions. EPA is putting definitions into the EPA cataloging taxonomy. The vast majority of the definitions are coming from GEMET. 4

GEMET Actions F Possible translation of GEMET into ontology (China?) F EPA will give back to Stefan revised US English defintions. This would be kept as a second definition. Label with context. F Mike will add some terms using the wiki. F Tod to help link concepts to data. F Tod help us find water concepts that we may have missed. F EPA (Gail) explore extensions of GEMET. F Explore translation of GEMET to an Ontology. This might be done in the RDF version of GEMET. F Look at what Harold has done. SKOS. Know that they have worked with GEMET and biocomplexity. (Bruce) F For GEOSS, register the components (GEMET) and register the services. 5

Meetings and Conferences F Open Forum u May 19-22, 2008 in Sydney Australia 6

Collaborative R&D Funding F Agreed: We will develop a proposal to submit under the Implementing Arrangement -- Coordinated US – EU ecoinformatics research 7

Proposal F Proof of concept for collaborative ecosystem services indicator development through use of semantic technologies. F Show value added by semantic technologies and content. u Reasoning to fill gaps in data u Show interrelationships, e.g., fish caught, fishing licenses, fish sales u Food web (related to fish) u Possibly show non-traditional indicators, such as fishing licenses for ecosystem services 8

Proposal 9 F Show how we can use these new technologies to produce indicators for ecosystem services F Semantic approach open for comment and dialogue – Time reduction in development. (Efficiency)

Proposal F Demonstrate emerging semantic technologies and the value added by the technologies. F Enable multi-dimensional indicators F Ecosystem services approach F Water/biodiversity interactions F diversity/land use F Can we use the indicators to show the level of ecosystem services 10

Proposal 11 F Can we use the emerging technologies to produce better indicators? F Can we use the emerging technologies to measure the delivery of environmental services?

Proposal F Partners u JRC u Danish National Environmental Research Institute (NERI) u Hannu Saarenmaa, Donald Hobern (GBIF revisited) u UMBC u IIA u +2 F Ecoinformatics Technical Projects USER Steering Group under the Implementing Arrangement u EEA u EPA u USGS u FAO 12

Proposal F Funding u EPA/EEA? u NSF u DG INFSO/RTD – FP7 u Submit simultaneously in US & EU under Implementing Arrangement u 3yr, $1m/yr on US side and equivalent on EU side. F Plan u Make Demo u Make Proposal (Draft end of June, final in July?) 13

Demo F A map of u Eurowaternet stations (coded red, yellow, green according to some status) u US water stations F Overlaid by a map of biodiversity data F Use the demo results as part of the proposal 14

Demo F Distribute the water data file from EEA (Palle) F Find a good dataset about fish biodiversity observations (Joel, Gail, ??) F Expand GEMET with the needed 5-10 concepts (Larry, Bruce) F Get it into XMDR (Bruce ) F Make the link between the data and the indicator (Palle ). F Produce one set of output (Resources ??). 15