OneGeology-Europe is a large ambitious project to make geological spatial data further known and accessible. The OneGeology-Europe project develops an integrated system of data to create and make accessible for the first time through the internet the geological map of the whole of Europe. The architecture implemented by the project is web services oriented, based on the OGC standards: the geological map is not a centralized database but is composed by several web services, each of them hosted by a European country involved in the project.
Abstract Enabling storing, scenario design, documentation, access and execution of scientific computations for multirisks mapping is the aim of the VIGIRISKS web platform currently designed and developed by the BRGM (French Geological Survey). VIGIRISKS platform insures geohazards data management, reproducibility of risks calculations, allows information transparency and improving efficiency by easing collaborative work and sharing results and practices. The scientific scope is multirisk mapping, including cascading effects, in the domain of natural hazard (earthquake, landslide and submersion) from the phenomenon modelling to the impact evaluation on exposed elements such as buildings. VIGIRISKS web platform initially designed for BRGM experts aims to be in a long-term an open repository for national and international experts working on natural hazards management. Integration and deployment of new datasets and computational processes oriented towards risks mapping is as automatic as possible for the convenience of users.
The development of a European Geological Data Infrastructure (EGDI) is a high priority of EuroGeoSurveys (the Association of the European Geological Surveys) as one of the instruments for providing a European Geological Service through a joint effort of the national geological surveys. EGDI, which has been has been described in a scoping study, funded by the European Commission through the FP7 project EGDI-Scope (http://www.egdi-scope.eu/), is now becoming a reality. The first version of a web-portal has been launched in June, giving access to a number of pan-European geological data sets created during previous data harmonization projects as well as to a very large number of national data sets from the European Geological Surveys. This Infrastructure will enable European Geological Surveys to serve and maintain INSPIRE-compliant, interoperable geological data and information reflecting our understanding of the subsurface. This first implementation is a basic starting point comprising a number of key datasets, but over the time EGDI will develop to become the central junction for all relevant pan-European interoperable, harmonised geological information aimed at stakeholders from policy, industry and the general public. Subsequent extensions of the EGDI will be based on results from past, current and future EU-projects. EGDI will give access to data sets produced and maintained by geological surveys and other institutions that produce similar data. EGDI targets a wide range of public and private users who need reliable information about the subsurface at a European scale to address the major social and economic challenges that Europe is facing, such as reliable water, energy and mineral resources supply, mitigation of natural hazards, etc. EGDI will also be the gateway to provide geological data to EPOS (European Plate Observing System), thereby contributing to reinforcement of geoscientific knowledge for solid earth science research.
Rich geological data assets exist in the geological survey of each individual EC Member State, but they are difficult to discover and are not interoperable. For those outside the geological surveys they are not easy to obtain, to understand or to use. Geological spatial data is essential to the prediction and mitigation of landslides, subsidence, earthquakes, flooding and pollution. These issues are global in nature and their profile has also been raised by the OneGeology global initiative for the International Year of Planet Earth 2008.
Abstract Enabling storing, scenario design, documentation, access and execution of scientific computations for multirisks mapping is the aim of the VIGIRISKS web platform currently designed and developed by the BRGM (French Geological Survey). VIGIRISKS platform insures geohazards data management, reproducibility of risks calculations, allows information transparency and improving efficiency by easing collaborative work and sharing results and practices. The scientific scope is multirisk mapping, including cascading effects, in the domain of natural hazard (earthquake, landslide and submersion) from the phenomenon modelling to the impact evaluation on exposed elements such as buildings. VIGIRISKS web platform initially designed for BRGM experts aims to be in a long-term an open repository for national and international experts working on natural hazards management. Integration and deployment of new data sets and computational processes oriented towards risks mapping is as automatic as possible for the convenience of users.
Abstract The Geoscience Markup Language (GeoSciML) has been developed to enable the interchange of geoscience information, principally that portrayed on geological maps as well as boreholes. A GeoSciML testbed was developed both to test the implementation of the data model and its application in web services. The OneGeology-Europe project aims to use the GeoSciML data model, and build on the experience of the GeoSciML testbed, in implementing a geoportal for a harmonised geological map of Europe at 1:1 million scale. This involves the integration of web services from 20 participating organisations. An important objective of OneGeology-Europe is to contribute to Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE), both through the development of a geological data specification and the use of the INSPIRE technical architecture. GeoSciML and the OneGeology-Europe project are also steps towards incorporating geoscience data into a Digital Earth. Both the development of GeoSciML and the implementation of web services for GeoSciML and OneGeology-Europe, have followed a standards-based methodology. The technical architecture comprises a geoportal providing access to a Catalogue Service for the Web for metadata describing both the data and services available. OneGeology-Europe will provide both Web Map Services view and Web Feature Services download services, which aim to be compliant with the INSPIRE implementing rules.