1. Linked Data – Another Strategy for Discovery and Access
William Sonntag
USEPA Office of International & Tribal Affairs

2. Last year we rolled out Environmental Dataset Gateway - a Web based metadata repository that provides centralized access to data sets and geospatial tools that have been created by EPA program offices, regions, and labs.
It enables data consumers to discover, view, and access data sets, as well as geospatial tools made available by EPA. It also enables those who submit data to EPA to make data sets and geospatial information and services discoverable and accessible by others.
Publicly viewable information and metadata contributed to EDG is also shared with Data.gov and Geospatial One-Stop (GOS), so it streamlines entry of dataset metadata.

3. Why EPA Is Embracing Linked Open Data
We see linked data as a next wave of information access – going beyond publishing data on the web, and publishing it into the web using standards and best practices that render data machine readable and self describing so that third parties can understand it and know how use it to develop new information.
The idea that our data can be discovered when others surf data links in the same way they surf document links is really appealing. So to is the idea that links established between data sets are available for reuse in subsequent app development efforts.
The OMB strategy calls for us to move from managing documents to managing discrete pieces of open data and content. Open data and content refers to digital information that is structured and exposed in ways that make it accessible for meaningful use beyond its system of origin. Data should be published in open formats that are platform independent, machine readable, and made available without restriction. Furthermore, government should ensure that structured data are associated with valid metadata.
Linked open data meets all the criteria spelled out by the digital strategy, and does it in a way that the data is both human and machine readable, containing the metadata needed to provide context, so it is readily useable and reusable. Data rendered in the RDF format and linked to similarly published data can be used to develop lightweight compositions in quick turnaround fashion.
Making data available to enable citizen participation is part of our tradition, and is critical to our mission.
We are very interested in connecting environmental data with geographic data and health data….to the potential to tease out relationships between polluted regions and incidence of disease, cancer clusters, is important to us If we had the ability to look at corporate regulatory compliance more broadly, beyond environmental compliance to consider things like occupational safety, we could target enforcement efforts more effectively.
We have several large data warehouses at EPA – Envirofacts is one of them. Perhaps linked data approaches can be used to help us integrate data and build applications more quickly.

6. A model for microformat publishing of metadata about datasets
●A building block for making data findable via the major search engines

7. EnviroAtlas: Connecting Ecosystems, People, and Wellbeing
USEPA Atlas of Ecosystem Services -- What is the data model?
Federal GeoPlatform
(Cloud)
Data.gov
and EDG.epa.gov
Metadata
EPA
GeoPlatform
(Cloud)
Publish
EnviroAtlas: Connecting Ecosystems, People, and Wellbeing
Consume
LandScope America
Other public sources (USGS, BISON, USDA, etc.)
Proprietary and non-proprietary tools
User (local) Data
EPA Analytics Modules
Non-EPA Analytics
(e.g., USFS i-Tree, NGO Tools)

8. Beyond Web Services Interface For Model Web?
WPS WSDL
WPS WSDL Plus RDF
Model results as RDF
GEOSS Role for URI curation