Author: Paolo Mazzetti

WP description

WP 1 is dedicated to the design and development of Knowledge Management services aiming at facilitating information and knowledge generation from Earth Observation data. In particular, this WP will implement a Knowledge Platform providing discovery, access and use of relevant knowledge bodies (e.g. business processes, workflows, ontologies, best practices, etc.) for generating Essential Variables (EVs) from Earth Observation data. The services provided by WP1 will be fundamental pieces where the dashboard elaborated in WP7 will stand. The Knowledge Platform will publish the models and workflows identified in other WPs.

Innovations within the Work package

The scientific business processes for the generation of EVs and related indicators can be formalized in workflows specifying the necessary logical steps. Several notations can be adopted to represent such workflows, including the well-known Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN). As high-level representations of scientific business processes, such workflow descriptions are extremely valuable artifacts to be stored in a knowledge base for communicating a knowledge generation process. However, they are not directly usable for the concrete generation of information. The transformation of the conceptual workflow into an executable workflow requires adding the necessary low-level technical details, such as the software code implementing the required algorithms, or for data transformation and adaptation. To this aim, GEOEssential will develop a GEOEssential Virtual Laboratory (GVL) whose main objective is to generate executable workflows from conceptual workflows stored in a dedicated knowledge base.

Figure 1 The GEOEssential Virtual Laboratory as a Knowledge management and generation platform

The implementation of the GVL will leverage the outcomes of previous European research and innovation project, with enhancements and customization dedicated to the generation of EVs and indicators for monitoring and assessing targets of Sustainable Development Goals. This includes the development of a dedicated ontology for the representation of knowledge for the transition from EO and in-situ data/products to policy targets (UN SDG Goals).

The GVL will be connected to the GEOSS Platform and it will be proposed as a general approach for the generation of knowledge from GEOSS resources.

 

Figure 2 Interoperability between the GEOEssential VLAB and the GEOSS Platform

Progress so far in the WP

In the first months of project, WP1 has started activities along several directions:

  1. a dedicated instance of the GVL (based on the ECOPOTENTIAL Virtual Laboratory) has been deployed for test and demonstration.
  2. a preliminary analysis for porting a workflow for the generation of a SDG indicator (Indicator 15.1.2: Proportion of important sites for terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity that are covered by protected areas, by ecosystem) has been carried out.
  3. The design of a GEOEssential ontology has started and a draft of the abstract level including high-level concepts has been provided. An analysis of potential existing ontologies to be connected has been carried out.