1. How is the oceanographic data management in The Netherlands being organized (with a National Oceanographic Data Committee instead of a Centre) and how we have implemented the SeaDataNet infrastructure in The Netherlands
Taco de Bruin
Chair - National Oceanographic Data Committee (NODC)
NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research
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2. The Netherlands National Oceanographic Data Committee
Going Dutch:
The Netherlands National Oceanographic Data Committee
Taco de Bruin
Chair - National Oceanographic Data Committee (NODC)
NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research
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3. Why a NODC – History of the NL-NODC
Conclusions from a workshop on oceanographic data management in The Netherlands in 1995:
Well organized at government agencies (RIKZ, Hydrographic Service, etc)
Complete lack of data management in academic community (research institutes, universities)
Largely dispersed within The Netherlands
No national policy or vision
No distinct representation towards outside world (national or international)
Lack of quarantees for preservation of data
No uniform data exchange format
Solutions:
Foundation of Data Management Group (DMG) at NIOZ in (to serve the academic community)
Foundation of NODC in 1997
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4. National Oceanographic Data Committee (NODC)
Committee – not a centre
Based on Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) ( ) (2009 -
Fully distributed structure
Currently 7 Partners:
Rijkswaterstaat - Directorate General for Public Works and Water Management
Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) (Academic community)
TNO B&O – Built Environment and Geosciences (Geological Survey)
Hydrographic Service (KM-HYD)
Centre for Estuarine and Marine Ecology (NIOO-CEME)
Wageningen IMARES
Deltares : Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI)
Advisor: Marine Information Services (MARIS)
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5. National Oceanographic Data Committee (NODC)
Very interesting mix of government agencies (2), research institutes (2) and privatized, former government agencies (3)
Government agencies have specific tasks, limited to territory and EEZ of the Kingdom of The Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.
Other NODC Partners may operate all over the world
Data from all disciplines: Coastal research, bathymetry, geology, biology, ecology, physical oceanography, marine meteorology, etc, etc.
Many different data types
Broad expertise among Partner institutes
Flexible, efficient
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6. NODC Objectives (from MoU):
1) to further data management and the delivery of quality data to a broad user group
2) to lower thresholds and barriers (organizational, technical, financial) for data exchange
- obligation to conduct data management at institutional level
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7. NODC Structure (from MoU):
- 4 Meetings/year
- One official representative per partner
- One vote per partner - Chair and Executive Secretary - Annual membership fee of 3630 Euro per partner - Large pool of experts
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8. Early achievements and the role as national platform
NODC website with national overviews of:
- Datasets (in international EDMED format)
- Projects (in international EDMERP format) - Planned research cruises - ‘Grey’ literature - Individual measurements in Common Data Index (CDI) format (from EU-SeaSearch project)
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9. The NL-NODC is the national platform for oceano-graphic data management
Representing The Netherlands in international organizations and projects: - IODE - ICES (WGMDM and WGDIM) - EU-projects and initiatives as Sea-Search, SeaDataNet, EMODNET
The Dutch approach has been noticed internationally: - Australia: AODC-JF - United Kingdom - Italy - Portugal - France - Poland - Norway
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10. NODC Data Policy (18 May 2000):
“5. Exchange and availability of data.
All oceanographic data such as defined in section 4 are in principle available and accessible for use and this free of charge.
In this connection a number of restrictions are to be complied with:
5.1 The data supplier is to be the rightful owner of the data.
5.2 The data supplier keeps the copy rights and remains owner of the data
5.3 The data supplier accepts no liability for the (consequences) of the use of the data supplied.
5.4 When data are used, e.g. for publication in any form, sources are to be quoted.”
5.5. Etc.
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11. NODC Data Policy: “5. Exchange and availability of data.
All oceanographic data such as defined in section 4 are in principle available and accessible for use and this free of charge.
In this connection a number of restrictions are to be complied with:
5.1 The data supplier is to be the rightful owner of the data.
5.2 The data supplier keeps the copy rights and remains owner of the data
5.3 The data supplier accepts no liability for the (consequences) of the use of the data supplied.
5.4 When data are used, e.g. for publication in any form, sources are to be quoted.”
Internal (i.e. between partners only) data exchange
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12. No uniform DATA ACCESS: Data access should be key activity!!!!!!
NODC: Organizational structure for data exchange:
MoU
Data Policy
No uniform DATA ACCESS:
Data access should be key activity!!!!!!
No technical infrastructure for data exchange:
Different RDBMS
Different formats
Some databases online, others are not
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13. Situation of data exchange within NL-NODC a couple of years ago:
Online accessibility and availability of data
Waterbase (RIKZ)
CODIS (NIOZ)
KODAC (KNMI)
Watermarkt (RIKZ, veel andere instituten)
HYDRA (KNMI)
COREBASE (NIOZ)
DINO (TNO- B&O)
Getij.nl (RIKZ)
Waterstat.nl (RIKZ)
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14. Situation of data exchange within NL-NODC a couple of years ago:
Online accessibility and availability of data
Waterbase (RIKZ)
CODIS (NIOZ)
KODAC (KNMI)
Watermarkt (RIKZ, veel andere instituten)
HYDRA (KNMI)
COREBASE (NIOZ)
DINO (TNO- B&O)
Getij.nl (RIKZ)
Waterstat.nl (RIKZ)
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15. Situation of data exchange within NL-NODC a couple of years ago:
Online accessibility and availability of data
Waterbase (RIKZ)
CODIS (NIOZ)
KODAC (KNMI)
Watermarkt (RIKZ + many other partner institutes)
HYDRA (KNMI)
COREBASE (NIOZ)
DINO (TNO- B&O)
Getij.nl (RIKZ)
Waterstat.nl (RIKZ)
many more …..
- user had no overview of data availability - user had to do all format conversions and syntheses
- user had to spend at least 50% of time on finding data and data conversion, instead of doing science
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16. National infrastructure for access to oceanographic and marine data and information:
NODC-i
Objectives of the project:
central index of all data in the partner databases
transparent access via Internet to the partner databases (fully distributed system)
Project:
February 2005 – December 2008 ( 2 phases)
1 M Euro (500k from Bsik – Ruimte voor Geo-Informatie (RGI))
SeaDataNet technology
        
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17. SeaDataNet, consortium of national oceanographic data centres:
35 countries
IOC/IODE
ICES
JRC
Total 49 partners, links with JCOMM, WDC, DMAC, MMI, EDIOS, EU-MarBEF (NoE), EU-Seased, ESEAS, Esonet, EuroGeoSurveys, POGO, etc.
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18. SeaDataNet System SeaDataNet Portal Search & shop
Data download, in uniform format
SeaDataNet
Portal
Data centre
Data centre
Data centre
Data centre
Metadata + transaction data
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19. The NODC web site is the Dutch node in the SeaDataNet network, linking the Dutch partner databases directly to the SeaDataNet infrastructure
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20. Common Data Index (CDI)
CDI is a fine-grained index to individual data measurements (such as a CTD cast or moored instrument record).
CDI: ‘common’ metadata of individual measurements (location, time, parameter, availability, owner, etc.)
CDI records from >29 countries
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21. Request Status Manager
SeaDataNet system
User
interface
CDI
Central
User
Register
Shopping basket
Request Status Manager
Download
Manager
Download
Manager
Download
Manager
data
data
data
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22. Go to http://www.nodc.nl Link: Data access
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23. Go to http://www.nodc.nl Link: Data access
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24. Go to http://www.nodc.nl Link: Data access
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25. Go to http://www.nodc.nl Link: Data access
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26. As a result from the NODCi-project:
NIOZ was the very first institute in Europe to fully comply to the SeaDataNet requirements
NL-NODC is the very first node in Europe to become a fully functional node in the SeaDataNet Transnational Access network
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27. As a result from the NODCi-project:
New MoU – needed to be renewed and rephrased, signed April 9
New membership – fisheries research institute (IMARES)
New data policy - external - differences in funding structure may cause problems: government and research institutes: public money – public access some organizations have to create revenue out of the data
New commitment - by partners (MoU signed by directors and discussed within management teams) - by outside world: NWO (national funding agency) now requires data to be delivered using NODC infrastructure and standards
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28. Pros and Cons of a Committee:
National platform – Large pool of subject experts
No legal entity – both pro and con
Very limited financial resources
Lack of corporate feeling
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29. Directors / management
COMMUNICATION:
Directors / management
Institutes / colleagues in other departments
Paramount importance of EOC (Education, Outreach, Communication) to advertize the infrastructure:
If nobody knows it, nobody will use it
Prevent re-inventing the wheel: Developments elsewhere which are in fact one step back
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30. Meeting original objectives?
1) to further data management All organizations convinced and active
2) the delivery of quality data to a broad user group All organizations consider this part of their tasks
3) to lower thresholds and barriers - organizational MoU signed by directors - technical NODCi infrastructure - financial MoU and Data Policy: free data exchange
4) % data availability ????? In principle 100%, in practice ??????
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31. Reasons to join the NL-NODC
1) Need of data to perform own task NODC is platform for access to data from other partners
2) Make data available Data requests can now be handled by NODCi/SeaDataNet infrastructure – greater efficiency
3) NODCi/SeaDataNet infrastructure is ready for INSPIRE requirements and can directly be used for EMODNET projects (probably also for other national obligations, such as OSPAR)
4) NODC facilitates cooperation in national and European projects
5) No need to develop infrastructure and policies on your own and thus re-invent the wheel
6) Efficient to be able to act on behalf of a larger group in Europe
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32. Operational system since early 2009
Conclusions:
A committee has proven to be a very efficient and fruitful construction
Importance MoU
NODC Data Policy
Operational system since early 2009
Constraints because of international project
Single license, used by many organizations
Paramount importance of EOC (Education, Outreach, Communication):
If nobody knows it, nobody will use it
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33. Conclusions
“The NODC data access infrastructure is a great achievement and extremely useful for science, policy-making and society at large”
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