1. Introduction Measure once, use many times
Sean Gaffney (with acknowledgements to Pete Edmonds, ex Crown Estate)

2. Why are we here?
How to best manage all the data collected by your organisation(s)?
Drive/Need to share data
Regulatory drivers e.g. Open Government Licence / INSPIRE
Best practice
Improving organisational reputation

3. Importance of good(?) data
“It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data!” (Sherlock Holmes)
What do we mean by “data”?
What’s the difference between an observation and data?
“The goal is to turn data into information, and information into insight.” – Carly Fiorina, former executive, president, and chair of Hewlett-Packard Co.
A cautionary tale

4. NOT SUSTAINABLE – MEDIN TO PROVIDE A SOLUTION
The genesis of MEDIN
> 200 holders of marine data and information in the UK (circa. 2008)
NOT SUSTAINABLE – MEDIN TO PROVIDE A SOLUTION

5. Who are MEDIN?
In operation since 2008 Open partnership Funded by 14 sponsors Budget ~£470K
Work with academia, government and industry

6. i.e. Easier data sharing! MEDIN’s objective
To improve access to, and management of, UK marine data and information
i.e. Easier data sharing!

7. Marine Standard & Guidelines
The MEDIN Solution
Hub for UK Marine Data
Marine Standard & Guidelines
Network and Expertise

8. MEDIN Core Team Metadata support - by DASSH in Plymouth
Based at British Oceanographic Data Centre
Metadata support - by DASSH in Plymouth
Charlotte Miskin-Hymas
Robin McCandliss
Clare Postlethwaite
Gaynor Evans
Roseanna Wright
Sean Gaffney

9. 7 Data Archive Centres (DACs)
Hub for UK Marine Data
Discovery
metadata
Data
7 Data Archive Centres (DACs)

10. Benefits of MEDIN DACs
DAC

11. Marine Discovery Metadata Standard
ISO International Standards (ISO and ISO 19139)
Need a way of locating datasets online
How to describe them in a standardised format so all records are consistent?
Need to follow current best practice in this, but extend/adjust for MEDIN’s specific needs
EU INSPIRE Directive
UK GEMINI

12. The MEDIN portal (portal.oceannet.org)
Governed by MEDIN Discovery Metadata Standard
Hub –the single point of access to find out about marine data
All public funded data available under OGL

13. MEDIN Data Guidelines
Provide guidance on what metadata is needed for re-use – not guidance on how to collect data
Drafted by DACs and other expert bodies. Speed up data ingestion into DACs, makes re-use & data sharing easier
General Metadata:
Project and Survey tables
Detailed Metadata:
Details of methods or instrumentation used to collect data
Data:
Fixed Station, Sample Event and Sample Data

14. Is MEDIN working? Good coverage?
>14,500 datasets accessible through portal
> 400
organisations
with metadata
in portal
(~200 in 2008)
Bathymetry(27.4%)
Physical oceanography (12.5%)
Marine geology (11.5%)
Anthropo-genic properties (5.2%)
Boundaries & admin (4.6%)
Socio-economic(1.6%)
Marine biodiversity (19.7%)
Fisheries (10.3%)
Met data (1.5%)
Marine chemistry (4.6%)
Cryosphere (0.1%)
Heritage (1.1%)

15. Spatial coverage of MEDIN data

16. Is MEDIN working? Data re-use?
Requests for data at the MEDIN Data Archive Centres
>5 million requests for data in
>30 times more than
> 200 Tb data available on request

17. Challenges Ensuring direct access to data “2 clicks to data”
Increasing access to industry data
Understanding requirements
Communication
Tailored services
Demonstrating and quantifying benefits of data sharing
Collating testimonials
Real world use cases
Expansion of network, geographically and by data type

18. (P. Edmonds, The Crown Estate, 05 Feb 2016)

19. EU INSPIRE, IODE, IHO, EMODNet
MEDIN links
Building links amongst MEDIN stakeholders
Government agencies and Departments
Commercial organisations
Academia and research community
Charities and NGOs
General public
MEDIN regarded internationally as example of best practice for data management and data sharing by
EU INSPIRE, IODE, IHO, EMODNet

20. There’s data out there, but we can’t always see it

21. http://xkcd.com/ + Clare P
DAY 45
ESCAPE AT LAST
+ Clare P