GEO Work Plan Symposium 2012

ID-04 – GEOSS-Wide Activities for a User-Driven GEOSS

Scope of Task ID-04• Scope is to enable increased user involvement, orientation,

and participation in all aspects of GEO in three components– C1 – GEOSS-Wide Activities for a User-Driven GEOSS– C2 – Outreach and Awareness Raising– C3 – Global Environment Information Platforms

Expected Achievements by 2015

Expected achievements include• Action Plan for User Engagement throughout GEO • User Requirements Registry completed and in use• Earthzine is one of several recognized sources of information

highlighting GEO activities and accomplishments• “Eye on Earth” platform becomes a key tool/portal to

access/visualize/mash GEOSS holdings• Increased understanding of Earth observation priorities through periodic

assessments

Recent Progress for 2012• 2nd Edition: Priority Earth Obs. Report• Includes priorities of Biodiversity Societal

Benefit Area • Has Cross-Societal Benefit Area priorities across all 9 Areas• Now available at: http://sbageotask.larc.nasa.gov

– Critical Earth Observation Priorities: Full Report (2nd Edition)– Critical Earth Observation Priorities: Summary Brochure (2nd Edit.)– Biodiversity Societal Benefit Area Priority Observations Report

• Development of a Primer on Analytic Techniques for Measuring Socioeconomic Benefits of Earth Observations

• Development of Socioeconomic Impact analyses for a few projects applying Earth observations in decision making

Recent Progress in 2012, cont’d

• Developing a 2012-2015 strategic plan for the entire Task (still in progress)

• Planning Stakeholder Workshop and Community of Practice Workshop collocated in Bonn, Germany August 27 – 31, 2012

• Addition of key contributors from developing country regions

• Earthzine’s 2012-2015 Strategic Plan is posted on http://www.earthzine.org/about/earthzine-strategic-plan-20122015/

Key Outputs for 2012

• Completed Action Plan for User Engagement throughout GEO

• Completed protocol for self-assessing user engagement per task

• Completed protocol for ongoing testing of the GEOSS Common Infrastructure

• In-depth analysis of specific Precipitation observations across Societal Benefit Areas (Precipitation is highest-ranked priority across the SBAs)

• Analysis of Current/Planned Availability of the Observation Priorities

Key Outputs for 2012, cont’d

• Publication of the Primer on Analytic Techniques for Measuring Socioeconomic Benefits expected by June

• 12-14.June.2012: Workshop on Socioeconomic Benefits of Earth Observations (Boulder, Colorado, USA)

– Workshop includes Tutorial on Analytic Techniques

– http://www.benefits2012.org

• User Requirements Registry results to include full implementation of the User Requirements Registry infrastructure, population of the Registry with more information, and implementation of interfaces to other GEOSS Common Infrastructure components (see URR document in meeting materials)

• Demonstration project linking “Eye on Earth” platform with EuroGEOSS brokers to display forest fire impact (for Rio +20)

• Development of milestone schedule through 2015• Development of indicators for user engagement

Relationship to, or Support of, 2015 GEOSS TargetsSupport of User Engagement Strategic Target• Earth observation priorities report provides a baseline for ‘critical user

information needs’ (Strategic Target). Baselines support the ‘establishment of an agreed core set of essential ... variables.’

• Follow-up reports indicate where Earth observations can serve the top-35 observation priorities and where gaps are, so GEO can take action to ensure the needs are met

• Earthzine makes users and potential users aware of GEO and its activities– Any and all tasks or components could be featured in articles, for

example• Eye on Earth links to EuroGEOSS increases use of geo-spatial data and

leverages input from citizen science and crowd sourcing

Relationship to, or Support of, 2015 GEOSS Targets, cont’d

Support of Other Strategic Targets• User Requirements Registry may contribute to the

Architecture target directly, and to all Societal Benefit targets indirectly

• Analyses of socioeconomic impacts for particular projects can provide specific demonstrations of the value of Earth obs. in specific Societal Benefit Areas (e.g., Agriculture, Health, Water)

• Additional support to Targets to be finalized at a face-to-face task team meeting in August

Suggestions for Assessing Progress against GEOSS Targets

• Start with the Strategic Target as the end point– Go to the ‘Demonstrated by….’ section and identify those as Outputs– Map each Output to the one or more Components

[This is the outline of your Task-level strategic plan]– Create the concrete, MEASURABLE activities and schedules required

to achieve each Component• Ideally one per year, but one MAJOR one that shows forward

progress– Adjust schedules to comply with reporting requirements for GEO– Put one person in charge of monitoring that per component

[This becomes your strategic implementation plan] • FOLLOW YOUR PLAN! [resist the temptation to adjust monthly by

resisting scope creep!]

Issues (key impediments to progress) and Gaps

• Identified from the User Engagement Workshop in Sydney, Australia, April 2011; issues still exist. – There may be potentially large undiscovered user groups.– There is diversity in terminology – Licensing of GEOSS products could be a turn-away. – Multiple registrations are a problem for GEOSS users. – Delays in outreach activities are detrimental. – Games promoting Earth observations need to be web-based. – Users want products, not just information where products could be found. – Surveys of web usage could provide clues on Earth Observation users. – Separation between users and providers increasingly more diffuse.

Issues (key impediments to progress) and Gaps, cont’d

• Component 3 is still doing technical feasibility testing between Eye on Earth and EuroGEOSS, and loading mash-ups

• Understanding the nature and needs of users in developing countries– Requires continued and increased participation

• Potential gaps include– The types of Communities of Practice within GEO– Cyberinfrastructure necessary to enable capacity building

• Some gap analyses may be best performed post-2015– Need to ensure that activities done between now and 2015

enable a functioning GEOSS

Opportunities for Collaboration Across Tasks

• ID-03 is conducting outreach to users in S&T area– Opportunity to incorporate that user group

• User Requirements Registry has been populated in Health, Coastal, and Geohazards area, and will include Water and Weather– Opportunity for links with Societal Benefit tasks– Opportunity for links with Infrastructure task(s) and Infrastructure

Implementation Board• Develop protocol for evaluating other tasks’ user engagement efforts

– All other tasks have users– Assessing the growth of the user community, or of gaps in

communities

Recommendations / Ideas for Accelerating

Work Plan Implementation

• This task holds regular telecons across components– Enables exchange of ideas– Discovers expertise gaps– Enables comprehensive strategy development

• Conducting annual Community of Practice meetings collocated with other workshops/GEO meetings increases task interaction and user understanding– Discuss this recommendation with Societal Benefit Board

• User Requirements Registry may be used for gap analyses for all tasks• Focused, clear, supportive, non-duplicative interaction with

Implementation Board(s)

Options for Better Connecting Existing Systems (observing, modeling, information) and/or the Outputs of those Systems (data, products, information)

• Improve availability of data access, analysis, and interpretation tools through cyber infrastructure:– globally available and scalable to meet regional needs;– web-based sharing of data, tools, and best practices;– utilizing of cloud computing;– linkage and support for regional and local end users with emphasis

on interoperability with other geospatial platforms/Geoportals;– augmented through regional and local data/expertise, e.g., using

crowd sourcing;– include work flows and best practices for capacity building,

particularly in developing countries.

But wait! There’s more! For only two payments of 19.95

(chose your currency…), you get……

Potential Benefits from a Systematic User Requirements Review

• Motivate users to consider what EOs and GEOSS can do for them, and engage them in this way;

• Involve (and engage) users in publishing their needs in the URR;• Enable users to guide the development of GEOSS;• Collect a database in support of prioritization of observational

requirements across the SBAs;• Create the basis for a gap analysis through comparison of what is

available to what is needed (as requested in the 10YIP);• Help build larger task participation and build GEOSS as a user-driven

system.

Current Role of Communities of Practice and Options for Strengthening this Role

• Critical participation in Societal Benefit tasks and Board• Important user communities for evaluation, input, data,

applications, and more• Could strengthen by convening an annual collocated

symposium, which could include (not and exhaustive list)– Research results– New applications– Capacity building efforts– User viewpoints

Ways of Extending Task Participation to Wider (representative) Communities

• Active outreach of Task Component leads to relevant CoPs;• Identification of gaps in terms of CoPs and underrepresented regions

(on Task component basis);• Outreach to relevant user groups not represented through CoPs;• Involvement of users in reviews of user needs on Task or Task

component basis;• Demonstration of GEOSS capabilities to relevant groups;• Where appropriate, development of community-based scalable

cyberinfrastructure

Summary of 2nd Edition • Overall set of 152

parameters• 30 highest-ranked

parameters are a priority to 3+ SBAs

• 2 Changes in 30 highest-ranked obs:

– Desertification & fPAR moved in– Lake Area & Cloud Cover out

• Highest-ranked: Precipitation, Soil Moisture, Surface Air Temperature, Land Cover, and Surface Wind Speed.

See Notes

Section