MEDIN’s Foundations

Data Archive Centre Network, Standards, Metadata, Portal, Reference Data

Marine Environmental Data and Information Network (MEDIN)

1. DAC Network: Framework of marine data archive centres.– To provide secure long-term management of priority marine data sets,

according to best practice standards.

2. Standards: Guidance for data and metadata.– An agreed set of common standards for metadata, data format and content

maintained and supported through implementation by partners.

3. Web Portal: Data search, other services and products– Improved access to authoritative marine data held in this network, through a

central (discovery) metadata search capability.

4. Resource and Application Development– Specify user requirements, identify and implement solutions

5. International Coordination– Links to global databases and initiatives

MEDIN Schematic

Fisheries Meteo water geophys marine bathymetry column / geology species

oceanog. & habitats

Discovery metadata

Users

Data search

DAC and data

specification standards

Metadata standards

Data in from partners and govt contracts

metadata in from external databases

tools

tools

Resources, Products and

servicesPortal

The MEDIN DAC Network

MEDIN is building a network of “accredited” marine Data Archive Centres, linked by the adoption of common standards and common descriptions of their data.

DAC Network Objective:• To provide secure long-term storage for marine data.

• To provide the capability to upload data into and to retrieve data from the DACs.

• Data contributors should have free access to their data managed within the DAC framework.

Required capabilities of DACs : • To ensure the secure, long term, curation of key marine data sets, according to best practice and to relevant national and international standards.• To make available clear, searchable information on their data holdings, by the generation and publication of metadata on the MEDIN portal.• To form the first point of call of expertise for the management of marine data.

Status of MEDIN DAC NetworkName Relevant

ExpertiseContact Information Web links MEDIN Status

British Geological Survey (BGS)

Geology, geophysics

Paul Henni (phoh@bgs.ac.uk)

www.bgs.ac.uk www.bgs.ac.uk/geoindex/home.html

Accredited

British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC)

Oceanographic Data

Polly Hadziabdic (enquiries@bodc.ac.uk

www.bodc.ac.ukwww.bodc.ac.uk/data/where_to_find_data

Accredited

Data Archive for Seabed Species and Habitats (DASSH)

Benthic flora, fauna and habitats

Dan Lear (dble @mba.ac.uk) www.dassh.ac.uk Accredited

UK Hydrographic Office

Bathymetry Data

Sam Harper www.ukho.gov.uk Accreditation approved, under development

MEDIN Fisheries DAC

Fisheries survey data

Marine Scotland ScienceCEFAS, AFBI

Accreditation in progress – expected by 04/12

Met Office Marine Meteorology

Nicola Scott www.metoffice.gov.uk Accreditation in progress, expected by 04/12

Historic Environment, Socio Economic Data

Possible scope and status under review

DAC Funding

The MEDIN Sponsors have accepted the following recommended approach for supporting the costs of running Data Archive Centres, and the archiving of data within the DACs:

• “Core” DAC capability is directly supported by individual organisations who have a strategic interest in supporting DACs for specific data themes. (> £2M/yr)

• The MEDIN Exec Team will review the situation each year and make recommendations to appropriate bodies

• Coordination costs of the MEDIN DAC network will be supported through MEDIN sponsor funds, and in-kind support from the DACs. (~£160k/yr)

• Data Archiving costs for new data are to be supported by the data providers. These should be factored into the project costs at the beginning. (~£1M/yr)

• Data Retrieval Costs: Data retrieval should be free, or only as necessary to cover handling and media costs

Standards, Guidelines and Tools for Metadata and Data Products

Establish and promote standards for metadata and data products - to allow users to locate and access the data sets they need, and also to provide guidelines and tools for the generation and preparation of metadata and data products.

• Discovery metadata standard and tools, available at:

http://www.oceannet.org/marine_data_standards/medin_disc_stnd.html

• Data guidelines: Data guidelines are sets of requirements that must be recorded when data of a certain theme is being collected. MEDIN is developing guidelines where partners indicate they are needed. MEDIN data guidelines available at:

http://www.oceannet.org/marine_data_standards/medin_data_guide.html

Data Guidelines

Data Guidelines are sets of requirements that must be recorded when data of a certain type is being collectedGuidelines developed and available

• Sediment Sampling by Grab or Core for benthos• Digital Photographs• Offshore Litter• Oceanographic vertical profiles• Cetacean sighting and identification• Fish and benthos by static pot, net or trap• Shellfish stock assessment• Fish and benthos by trawl or dredge• Moored oceanographic instruments• Oceanographic underway transect• Water sample for biology or chemistry• Video tow surveys for species or biotopes• Recreation and leisure• Underwater Noise

Guidelines under tender / planned• Seabed survey and mapping (Geophysics covering a number of techniques)• Particle size analysis

MEDIN Discovery Metadata (1)

Producing and Publishing Metadata.All MEDIN partners are encouraged to generate MEDIN format discovery metadata records, and to publish these metadata records to the MEDIN Discovery Portal.

Metadata records are harvested onto a central MEDIN metadata catalogue, which is managed and hosted for MEDIN by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), and searched through the MEDIN portal on the oceannet web page.

MEDIN will publish metadata to data.gov (through STFC) as requested by the data owner.

Metadata Support – Is available through the MEDIN metadata helpline (01752 633291) or medin.metadata@mba.ac.uk

Please let us know if you have any difficulties

MEDIN Discovery Metadata (2)

Discovery Metadata StandardThe MEDIN standard is compliant with key international conventions (INSPIRE, ISO19115), and conforms to the GEMINI2 profile adopted by UKLP. Using this standard will help MEDIN partners to meet their obligations (for metadata) under INSPIRE.

Controlled Vocabularies – The use of controlled vocabularies is strongly recommended so all can be sure that consistent terms are being used for the same parameters / species/

Tools- All MEDIN partners are encouraged to adopt the MEDIN standard, a number of tools have been developed to support this:

• An online tool to create and export a metadata record in xml• A downloadable desktop metadata generation (“metadata maestro”)• A downloadable metadata xml validation tool (A “Schematron”)• A downloadable tool to generate metadata records from ESRI produced GIS data layers

We are also developing a “batch” tool to support the production of large volumes of MEDIN standard metadata from other formats.

http://www.oceannet.org/marine_data_standards/medin_disc_stnd.html

Network Services - MEDIN Discovery Portal

The Marine Discovery Portal was developed for MEDIN in 2010, with the aim of providing a single central site to search for UK marine data

It offers geographic and keyword searching, and specific “Regional” views. Coverage will increase as partners publish metadata on their holdings.

It locates and provides details of data sets that meet users’ specifications and provides information on how to access these data.

http://portal.oceannet.org/search/full

Reference Data LayersBase reference data layers are those required by most users which provide the context for many analyses. e.g:

In addition there are a number of application specific datasets of general interest including: habitats and biotopes, species distributions, shipping and fishing activity intensity

Coastline (MHW(S), MLW(S), LAT Elevation (Bathymetry)

Tidal Surfaces (e.g. Mean Sea Level)

Coastal and seabed geology

Offshore Infrastructure Shipwrecks

Shoreline Constructions National and Fisheries Limits

Managed & Protected Areas Marine Gazetteer (incl Sea areas)

Reference Data LayersThere is a need to improve availability and quality of these reference data layers, problems include:

• Lack of single authoritative source.• Duplicate, sometimes conflicting, sources of some information.• No process for management, maintenance or update.• Licencing arrangements which restrict sharing or re-use.• MEDIN plans to work with DEFRA, MMO, Marine Scotland, The Crown Estate, and others to strengthen and improve reference data sets.

So, MEDIN has implemented a “Reference Data Layer Action Plan” -workshop was held on 6th October at IMAREST.

Reference Data Layer Action PlanObjective

Deliver a set of well-managed marine reference datasets that can be discovered and accessed via the MEDIN Portal

Progress so Far

Marine Gazetteer (V1.0) completed and published (on website and to external services)

Improved wreck information held at English Heritage, reviewof conflicts between different sources of infrastructure data

Engaged with data holders to establish roles in publishing Reference Data

Identified work packages to strengthen /publish Reference Data

Next StepsAgree and initiate specific actions to improve priority reference data layers.

Establish Reference Data page on MEDIN website.

Identify and address legacy issues

MASTS Annual Science Meeting22-24 August 2011

Data Flows – Key StepsFirst• Identify DAC where data will be archived • Agree where metadata and data will be published by MEDIN

(e.g. to UKLP, INSPIRE) • Define access and licence conditions• Agree format requirements and archiving costs

Collect Data • Generate a unique resource identifier code• Generate, validate and publish metadata record• Prepare data according to appropriate guidelines• Apply Quality Control • Archive data at DAC• Provide data updates as agreed with DAC