1. © GEO Secretariat Ways to raise awareness and use of the GEOSS Data-CORE Michel SCHOUPPE & Jose Miguel RUBIO IGLESIAS DSWG face-to-face meeting Geneva, Switzerland, 4 May 2015

2. The GEOSS Data-CORE a strategic tool for data sharing till 2025 Draft GEO Strategic Plan 2016-2025 - ‘ADVOCATE’ section: GEO strives to implement the GEOSS Data Sharing Principles (…)" First principle of the revised Data Sharing Principles Post-2015: Data, metadata and products will be shared through GEOSS as Open Data by default, by making them available as part of the GEOSS Data Collection of Open Resources for Everyone (Data-CORE) without charge, without restrictions on reuse, subject to the conditions of registration and attribution when the data are reused.

3. The GEOSS Data Core The establishment of the GEOSS Data-CORE was approved at the Beijing GEO Summit in 2010 and started in 2011. Since October 2012, GEO Members and Participating Organisations that had pledged resources to the GEOSS Data-CORE have been contacted to make their open resources discoverable and accessible through the GCI. “GEOSS Data-CORE”: The GEOSS Data Collection of Open Resources for Everyone is a distributed pool of datasets with full, open and unrestricted access at no more than the cost of reproduction and distribution

4. Guideline document prepared by the DSWG: "Instructions for GEOSS Data Providers: How to place tags in the Metadata for GEOSS Data-CORE" GEOSS Data-CORE resources are identified on the GEOSS Web Portal (http://www.geoportal.org/ ) thanks to the GEOSS Data-CORE icon: A filtering mechanism allows GEOSS Data-CORE datasets to be listed on demand from the GEO Web Portal (Data access conditions). GEOSS Data-CORE Progress was slow in 2011-2012 but gathered considerable pace in 2013 and 2014. The GEOSS Data-CORE "tag"

5. GEOSS Data-CORE: Recent surveys & assessments Summative and Sixth Evaluation of GEOSS implementation (entire period of the first 10-Year Implementation Plan) – by the GEOSS Monitoring and Evaluation Group (based on interviews, web- based survey, and a variety of documents, from July 2014 till January 2015) Assessment report of progress against the GEOSS 2015 Strategic Targets – by the GEOSS Implementation Boards (based on input by the GEO Tasks, November 2014) GEOWOW surveys of the GEOSS community’s level of awareness about the GEOSS Data CORE, and willingness to contribute to it and use it – by the research consortium of the GEOWOW FP7 project (on-line surveys, May 2014 and July 2013)

6. Advancing open data principles is widely seen as one of GEOSS’s greatest achievements! GEOSS has fostered an environment for data sharing. GEOSS has facilitated the availability of open data. Increased visibility of GEOSS role of EO data provider Need to capitalize upon and further this achievement by assisting individual governments at national level to advance their open data policies. Need for continued advocacy and assistance at both global and regional levels. Open data sharing is especially viewed as important for the support it provides to developing countries that lack data generation and data access capabilities. Interim Report on the Sixth GEOSS Evaluation (EXCOM March 2015, Doc 6)

7. Architecture GEOSS Target: Resources discoverable and accessible via the GEOSS Common Infrastructure have grown significantly however very few people from the Societal Benefit Areas and related Tasks seem to be using them. A concerted effort is now needed not only to continue improving the infrastructure and available datasets in the GEOSS Data CORE, but above all in bridging the gap with the user. Data management Target: Whereas access to key environmental datasets is improving, harmonization is often lacking and gaps remain in historical data, model outputs and socio-economic data. Assessment of GEOSS Progress Targets and Tasks (GEO XI Nov. 2014, Doc 09)

8. The GEOSS data CORE concept has the potential to be one of the key success stories of GEOSS, distinguishing it from any other web-based infrastructure. Main GEOSS Data-CORE benefits to the user: –Reduced costs to obtain data; –Advances disciplinary research –Promotes interdisciplinary research –Facilitates the creation of new products and services. Main GEOSS Data-CORE benefits to the provider: –Increased visibility of my organisation; –Increased value of my organisations’ data –Enhanced collaboration and community-building Strengths of today's GEOSS Data-CORE (Source: GEOWOW surveys in 2013 & 2014)

9. Further effort is needed to increase awareness/use of the GEOSS Data-CORE –Too many members of the GEOSS community are not yet aware of / not yet using GEOSS Data-CORE datasets; –Users don’t know where to access GEOSS Data-CORE data; –Using the GEO Web Portal, “it's hard to find what you need”; the user interface is judged difficult to be used; –Some thematic areas still poorly represented amongst the GEOSS Data-CORE; –Spatial extent and temporal resolution of available GEOSS Data-Core datasets often do not fit users’ needs. Weaknesses of today's GEOSS Data-CORE (Source: GEOWOW surveys in 2013 & 2014)

10. Further effort is needed to expand and maintain GEOSS Data CORE datasets of better quality –There is no system to encourage and reward GEOSS Data- CORE contributors; –Data owners do not know how to make their data available as GEOSS Data CORE resources; registration of GEOSS Data CORE is not optimal. There is still a wide gap in GEOSS between infrastructure and data providers, and the communities of users. Weaknesses of today's GEOSS Data-CORE (continued) (Source: GEOWOW surveys in 2013 & 2014)

11. What assistance / practical recommendations to GEO Members? Stimulate the uptake of the GEO Data Sharing Principles at national, regional and international levels. Continued effort by the GEO Members to align data policies with the GEOSS Data Sharing Principles Establish national coordinating mechanisms to promote and monitor engagement with the implementation of the GEOSS Data Sharing Principles and provide feedback to GEO Identify successful data sharing approaches to promote the benefits of full and open access and sensitize data providers. Raise awareness of the use of the GEOSS Data-CORE nationally and regionally, including in developing countries. Ensure adequate representation in GEO data sharing Tasks and Groups from developing countries, from the Middle East, South America, and Asia-Pacific regions. Recommendations (for brainstorming)

12. What support to the GEOSS Data-CORE users? Priorities must now shift towards narrowing the gap with the user community and providing practical demonstrations of what is already available as GEOSS Data CORE data sets and their use. More effort is needed to bring data users from the Societal Benefit Areas (the demand side) together with data providers via the GCI and Data-CORE. Initiatives like Appathon, AIP-7, AIP-8 and MyGEOSS move in this direction but more needs to be done to exploit GEOSS to the full. Sustain the operations and evolution of the GEOSS Common Infrastructure (key for any engagement by the private sector) Recommendations (continued)

13. What assistance to the GEOSS Data-CORE providers? Data providers should also be encouraged to further improve the quality of the data sets made accessible through GEOSS, and to respond to related prioritized user requests. What rewarding model? Encourage data providers to provide open access through the GEOSS Common Infrastructure to historical datasets, outcomes of modelling and forecasting activities for future scenario analysis, in situ data from research data infrastructures and new emerging data sources (e.g. citizen-contributed information) Engage with socio-economic information producers (e.g. OECD, UN, national statistics agencies) Sustain the operations and evolution of the GEOSS Common Infrastructure Recommendations (continued)

14. What kind of functions for a permanent GEOSS Helpdesk? Need to provide “first aid” assistance to GEOSS Data-CORE providers and users Check the list of GEOSS Data-CORE pledges, contact relevant data providers; solicit new pledges… Need to systematically monitor and maintain the available GEOSS Data-CORE Use of agreed demonstrated metrics, check of duplicate records, assess and report on real accessibility and effective use of the GEOSS resources; Need for updated, maintained, simple registration Guidelines for Data Providers and manuals for GEOSS users Link with the GCI components' providers Recommendations (continued)

15. Thank you for your attention! The DSWG has produced collectively some important materials for GEO since 2011 and in fact has brought GEO closer to its target of free and open data sharing. Still, a lot remains to be done to "Provide a shared, easily accessible, timely, sustained stream of comprehensive data of documented quality, as well as metadata and information products, for informed decision-making". Towards a new Action Plan?