1. © GEO Secretariat GEO To Understand Trends, Forecast Changes and Support Informed Decisions GEO Data Sharing Principles- Challenges and Opportunities José Achache, Secretariat Director

2. © GEO Secretariat Willis et al., 2004 Residual ( 2 mm/yr) Sea level observations (3 mm/an) Thermal Expansion (1 mm/an) (1 mm/an)

3. © GEO Secretariat Recognizing the Need to Share Observations Washington Tokyo Brussels

4. © GEO Secretariat GEOSS will serve 9 Societal Benefit Areas 1. Reduction and Prevention of Disasters 2. Human Health and Epidemiology 3. Energy Management 4. Climate Change 5. Water Management 6. Weather Forecasting 7. Ecosystems 8. Agriculture 9. Biodiversity

5. © GEO Secretariat Any Single Problem Requires Many Data Sets A Single Data Set Will Serve Many Communities

6. © GEO Secretariat IKONOS QuickBird SPIN-2 SPOT 4, 5 EROS A1 Terra Aqua Grace QuikScat Sage SeaWinds TRMM Toms-EP UARS Landsat 7 SORCE ACRIMSAT EO-1 SeaWiFS ERBS Jason Orbview 2, 3

7. © GEO Secretariat Seismic Networks Argo Float Array

8. © GEO Secretariat There is a Need to Share all Earth Observation Data in Standard Interoperable Formats The Tower of Babel

9. © GEO Secretariat GEOSS: A Global, Coordinated, Comprehensive and Sustained System of Observing Systems

10. © GEO Secretariat GEO : The Group on Earth Observations is an Intergovernmental Organization of 66 Member Countries, the European Commission and 43 Participating Organizations

11. © GEO Secretariat GEO should Provide Easier and More Open Data Access

12. © GEO Secretariat Defining Standards for Quality Assurance of Derived Products Providing Online Calibration and Validation Providing Tools GEO Web Portal and Clearinghouse

13. © GEO Secretariat Data and Products at Minimum Time delay and Minimum Cost Free of Charge or Cost of Reproduction for Research and Education GEO Data Sharing Principles Full and Open Exchange of Data…Recognizing Relevant International Instruments and National Policies and Legislation

14. © GEO Secretariat Challenges

15. © GEO Secretariat 90 m30 m Comparison courtesy of V. Gorokhovich, CIESIN National Security

16. © GEO Secretariat Commercial Imagery

17. © GEO Secretariat Exposure Hazard Vulnerability = RISK!

18. © GEO Secretariat Example: Use of Google Earth to help pinpoint households where deaths occurred due to Hurricane Katrina, using data from a generalized map Paper in press in the International Journal of Health Geographics by A.J. Curtis, J.W. Mills, and M. Leitner, “Spatial confidentiality and GIS: re- engineering mortality locations from published maps about Hurricane Katrina” Privacy

19. © GEO Secretariat Air pollution measurement station Emden, Germany Venice, Italy Indonesia Urban Air Quality Private Operators of Observing Systems

20. © GEO Secretariat Opportunities

21. © GEO Secretariat EO Global turnover today: Infrastructures: 2-3 B€ Services: 1 B€ (should be compared with Broadcast: Infrastructures: 5-10 B€ Services: 100 B€) The value-adding Private Sector

22. © GEO Secretariat EMERGING RE-EMERGING ZOONOTIC VECTOR-BORNE * Modified from Morens et al. 2004 Nature 430:242 Global Emerging Disease

23. © GEO Secretariat Information Providers and Web Services

24. © GEO Secretariat Developing applications for monitoring renewable energy sources Improving forecasting of fluctuations and intermittency The Energy Sector

25. © GEO Secretariat The Insurance Sector

26. © GEO Secretariat

27. To Provide the Right Information, in the Right Place, at the Right Time, to the Right People to Make the Right Decisions.