WP1 Project Management & coordination

 

The main aim of WP1 is to ensure that all aspects of the project are well integrated and partners' activities are coordinated, that outputs (deliverables) are delivered on time according to the project plan, and that the objectives of the project are fulfilled as it progresses. The specific objectives are to:

• Provide administrative and financial management of the whole project.

• Provide strong management and monitoring of all work carried out during the project.

• Ensure that all the work carried out by the project partners is of a high and consistent standard and quality, taking into account the main requirements of the stakeholders.

• Provide liaison with the European Commission (EC) on behalf of the Project Consortium.

 

WP2 State of the art in R&D, projects & technologies

 

There currently exist many initiatives related to open data and geographic information that have produced various results and new technologies. An inventory of these results is essential for the efficient implementation of the Virtual Hub (VH) concept at the heart of the ENERGIC OD project. WP2 comprises four tasks with the objectives to:

• Provide a state-of-the-art study in R&D in the domains addressed by the rest of the WPs, emphasizing the technological aspects. These domains may include but are not limited to:

• Open data, standardization

• Data interoperability, harmonization, merging and platforms (OGC, etc.)

• INSPIRE, Spatial Data Infrastructures

• GNSS, Copernicus, and Galileo platforms

• System of systems, brokered architectures

• Visibility of open data, discovery, reuse, models, metadata

• Economics and business models

• Real time geographic information

• Volunteered geographic information

• Make an inventory of R&D projects (in particular European projects in progress or already completed) in the aforementioned domains.

• Evaluate the strengths, weaknesses and convergences of the inventoried R&D projects.

 

WP3 Open Data Survey

 

In order to assess the technical requirements for Virtual Hub development and application in other workpackages, and to assess the extent to which other (open) geoinformation resources and platforms exist, WP 3 comprises five tasks with the following main activities and outputs:

• Define a methodology and criteria for the assessment of existing operational platforms offering open geographic information (GI).

• Rresearch and structure existing GI operational platforms and initiatives, priority given first to the partners' consortium countries and then extended to a wider survey of stakeholders in other EU countries.

• Provide an exhaustive catalogue of best practices and concrete examples for the availability of open GI to enable comparison between different platforms and open GI initiatives

 

WP4 Requirements and Specifications: SDI, Data Harmonisation and Applications Addressing User Needs

 

System and user requirements analysis are key to development of the VH concept and architecture. Thus, WP4 is a key Workpackage in the project and the five tasks in this WP focus on the following objectives:

• To define technical and scientific requirements in order to facilitate the use of open GI from different data sources to enable the creation of innovative applications and services, including alignment with the EU INSPIRE Directive and other regional and national SDI initiatives

• To develop technical specifications and methodologies (for example to combine multi-source spatial datasets) in order to overcome accessibility and use gaps, barriers and bottlenecks found in the State of the Art and Open Data Survey work of WP2 and WP3.

• To identify the main fields of interest and user needs, beginning with the 10 applications areas for which pilot VH applications will be developed in WP6.

• The specifications to be developed will focus on easier discoverability and use of GI to be enabled by the Virtual Hun architecture to be designed in WP5 and innovative ways to make use of data integration and mobile i-device applications.

 

WP5 Virtual Hubs: Architecture and Implementation

 

WP5 comprises eight main tasks. The main goal of WP5 is to define the architecture of the Virtual Hubs (VH) to ensure their bility to interoperate with existing geoinformation infrastructures, for both regional and central (European) VHs.

The project team will then implement the proposed architecture through the adoption, extension and re-engineering of existing technologies that were identified in WP2 (State of the Art study), This will involve analysing the maturity level of the proposed technologies nd to identify gaps, then to extend and potentially re-engineer the proposed technologies to enable the proposed VH architecture, and finally to develop the required implementation components and perform integration.
The final stage of WP5 is to deploy the VH implementation in the planned sites, then test the VH implementations and deployments, and operate the VHs and support the implementation of innovative applications using VHs.

 

WP6 Development of New Innovative Applications

 

WP6 comprises six tasks with the main focus on developing new applications using the VH concept and architecture.

The main goals are:

• Using the architecture and tools developed in WP5, build new innovative applications with the Virtual Hubs in order to show the usefulness of the new architecture and infrastructure, and the simplification the VH concept provides in opening up wider access and use/re-use for open GI.

• To identify and clarify legal constraints with respect to data accessibility and use, and to identify potential risks when combining open data and proprietary data in a new product or service.

• To support end users by identifying and including typical User Groups in a validation and support process that includes developing suitable user documentation and wide dissemination of information (in WP7) which demonstrates easy access to and the added value of (open) GI.

 

WP7 Dissemination of the project results

 

WP7 comprises seven tasks and is responsible for all information dissemination activities of the project, both internally and externally. Internal communications tools and activities will ensureeffective communication between partners involved in the project (and with the European Commission). Public communication tools and actions will disseminate information on the activities carried out within the project and the results obtained to project partners, other key stakeholders, User Group communities and the general public with the additional goal to extend the network of beneficiaries and raise awareness of the existence of the VH technology and its benefits.

The tools to be used in information dissemination are the traditional ones of a comprehensive and frequently updated project website, creation of social media groups, topic specific mail lists, publication of periodic newsletters and articles about the project, plus attendance at and participation in meetings and conferences related to open GI and its use.
The final task is to specify the measures to be taken to ensure the effective dissemination of project results after project completion especially in regard to the sustainability business plan to be developed in WP8.

 

WP8 Proof of concept, exploitation, business plans and networking

 

In order to provide the most benefit to the user communities of the work carried out in the previous workpackages, it is necessary to look at the longer term sustainability of the VH architecture and tools. Thus, WP8 has five tasks that focus on:

Evaluating long term benefits of new Virtual Hubs (VH) in providing value added services for geospatial data users and providers.

• Researching and designing business models that will enable sustainability of Virtual Hubs and the VH concepts for users and third-parties, by also identifying new market opportunities for VH implementations.

• Identifying and clarifying legal constraints with respect to data accessibility, sharing, use and re-use, and identifying potential (legal) risks when using open data and proprietary data together in new applications, products or services.

• Iinvolving end users via the identified User Groups in a validation and support process.

• Demonstrating easy access to, and the added value of, open GI for the identified User Groups, including holding a VH application contest open to the public to stimulate interest in the VH concept and architecture.