requardt, 2004 nefis nefis – network for a european forest information service
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Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
NEFIS – Network for a European Forest Information Service
http://www.efi.fi/projects/nefis
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
Why a European Forest Information Service
Support to pan-European forest strategies
The development of an operational system for information accessibility and
exchange supports to the pan-European forestry strategies at the EU level to
respond to the implementation of international commitments. A fundamental
pillar of meeting such commitments is the accessibility to, and the exchange of,
forestry, and forestry-related information and/or datasets.
Agenda 21, Chapter 40 (UNCED, 1992): Emphasis on strengthening existing
national and international mechanisms for information processing and
exchange to ensure effective and equitable availability of information
The Intergovernmental Panel on Forests: re-emphasised the importance of
gaining access to forestry information (IPF, 1997)
NEFIS – Network for a European Forest Information Service
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
aims to contribute directly to the EFICS (European Forest Information and Communication System) Regulation (established in 1998 by Council Regulation EEC No. 1615/89)
Project time: March 2003 – August 2005
13 Partners
6 Workpackes
NEFIS – Network for a European Forest Information Service
will build on and continue the activities initiated in the project "European Forest Information System (EFIS)" carried out for EC-JRC (1998-2002)
will contribute to the activities of the IUFRO Special Programme: Global Forest Information Service (GFIS).- EFIS the European node of GFIS
NEFIS:
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
Partners are:
1. EFI (Project Coordinator)
2. EU, JRC IES
3. IUFRO
4. University of Hamburg
5. Fraunhofer - FhG/AIS
6. METLA
7. IFN France
8. KVL Denmark
9. SLU Sweden
10. University of Greenwich, UK
11. Regione Dell‘Umbria, Italy
12. AISF, Italy
13. CTFC Catalonia, Spain
14. BFH - PCC of ICP Forests
15. State Forest Service, Hungary
NEFIS – Network for a European Forest Information Service
Management Committee
Sub-Contractor
other Partners within the project
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
WP1: Project management
WP2: NEFIS Metadata and Controlled Vocabularies Standards
WP3: UML Description of an extended European Forest Information Service and Establishment of a NEFIS KnowledgeBase
WP4: Data preparation and data provision
WP5: Evaluation
WP6: Links with Commission services, dissemination of results and follow-up activities
Workpackages
NEFIS – Network for a European Forest Information Service
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
Main objectives of NEFIS are to:
Objectives
present to data providers options of an EFIS by utilising harmonised methods and procedures of metadata provision and data linkage
demonstrate possibilities of increasing the usability of available data and databases to data providers and users
coordinate with ongoing efforts to create forest information systems and services
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
Specific objectives of NEFIS are:
Review the state of the art in the technical development of information services using the Internet as dissemination vehicle
Develop metadata standards and controlled vocabularies for different forestry and forestry-related topics
Suggest unified and operable methods for communication between different Internet based forest information service activities
Test the forest information service utilising regional, national and international data sets provided by the consortium for the project
Develop strategies for development of the service in the framework of the new EFICS regulation and international commitments
Objectives
Evaluate the service from the user’s and data providers perspective
Publish a follow-up version of the currently available EFIS prototype with features enabling European data providers and users to utilise the service
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
Options for the development of the European Forestry Information and Communication System EFICS, (EC, 1997)
A1. Rely on existingnational forestinventory data
B2. Harmonised datastored in a European
database
B1 All data stored innational units only
C3. Interactive analysisby users through the
Internet
C2. Special analysisupon request
C1. Standard analysiswith fixed content
A2. Introduce a set ofharmonised attributes
in national forestinventories
A3. National assessmentsplus harmonised EFICS-survey, probably based
on remote sensing
A4. IndependentEFICS survey
B3. All data stored in aEuropean database
Alternatives for data storage (B)
Alternatives for data analysis (C)
Alternatives for forest assessment (A)
Basic principle for developing an EFIS (A1-B1-C3)
EFIS Principle
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
Voluntary contributions
Labelling the data with metadata
User designed analysis
EFIS Principles
Utilising the existing data sources
Use of Internet
Distributed databases – the data will stay with the provider
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
Application
Land use planners (EU, pan-European,
National and sub- national level)
Trans-national environmentalists and
conservationists
Timber industry and timber trade
Forest and environment researchers
Local forest manager
Local authorities
Educational users
Individual personal user
Demand Supply
National Forest Inventory data
Geospatial data
Socio Economical data
other forest related
Environmental data
Data User Data Provider
Service
Various linked Data Sets
• Reporting Tool
• Decision support system
• Tool for research and education
at international, national, and regional levels
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
Application
Information Resource Discovery
A system for
Data Analysis & Visualisation
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
Application
Data Provider Data User
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
Application & Framework
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
Resource Discovery
The first hurdle that an information
seeker faces is to identify whether
data/information exists
corresponding to her/his needs
from the extensive electronic
supply on the Internet.
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
Metadata is defined as “data about other data”
Metadata describes information or data of information resources (data set, database, publication, website, etc.)
Give data seekers assistance through reliable standardised search procedures for the identification of information and data.
Metadata
Resource Discovery
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
Metadata system for discovering forest information resources
Dublin CoreMetadataElements
DC Qualifiers forAgriculturalInformation Resources(WAICENT)
DC qualifiers forForestInformationResources (GFIS)
DC qualifiers for Plant GeneticInformationResources (including CWRs)
Core elements alwaysthe same
Subject CategoryQualifications
based upon internationally accepted metadata standards (DCMI, ISO geospatial standards, INSPIRE)
DC open to qualification and specification
e.g. qualifiers for forest information
principle of simplicity
implementation environment: Java programming and related technologies (JSP; XML)
Resource Discovery
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
NEFIS Metadata Schema
Investigating the need to extend the basic DCMI elements structure
Tasks within NEFIS:
Preparation of a metadata standard based on Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI)
Test and improve NEFIS metadata schema and its usability to prepare metadata for the agreed NEFIS data sets
Evaluate through questionnaires its applicability to the NEFIS data sets
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
(Part 1)
NEFISMetadataSchema
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
NEFISMetadataSchema
(Part 2)
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
NEFIS Metadata Schema
Keyword list
Controlled keyword lists represent
one of the most important search
elements for a user seeking desired
information.
Therefore the project will focus on
developing these lists with help of
experts in different forestry fields.
This task is based on thesaurus
activities like: CAB-Thesaurus;
Multilingual Forestry Thesaurus
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
NEFIS Metadata Schema
Keyword list
• inventory
• health
• vegetation types
• non-wood goods and benefits
• operations
• fire
• trade and production
• rural development
developed for eight themes identified as
of importance in describing the NEFIS
data sets:
Lists are quite variable in the level of
detail and their scope.
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
Metadata Element
1. Title
2. Creator
3. Subject
4. Description
5. Publisher
6. Contributor
7. Date
8. Type
9. Format
10. Identifier
11. Source
12. Language
13. Relation
14. Coverage
15. Rights
16. Audience
Metadata Schema
= without problems
? = problems (hot spots)
? = with some problems?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
Evaluation - Resume
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
DatasetProvider
NFI data
Forestry experimental dataDanish Forest and Landscape Research Institute
Forestry statistics• NFI data• additional data (NFI time series data)
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Forestry statistics• NFI• round wood price (stumpage and delivery) statistics
Finnish Forest Research Institute
IFN maps database
IFN– photographs database
NFI dataInventaire Forestier National
ICP-Forest data:• Level 1 crown condition• soil data• foliage (1994-1997
ICP/BFH
Forest Research Capacities Database (updated)
Forest products trade flow DB (updated)
EU socio-economic data (updated)
Long-term forest resources assessment database (updated)EFI
UN-ECE/FAO: TBFRA 2000University Hamburg/ Dresden
Provided and linked Datasets
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
DatasetProvider
European forest map
Seasonal burnt-area map
Daily Fire risk maps
European country polygons
NUTS 0/1/2JRC
Unemployment
Age structure (population)
Agrarian Surface Distribution
Land use classification in Catalonia
Land Cover Map of Catalonia
Rural development and land use dataThe Forest Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC)
Aggregated NFI data• Trade in secondary wooden products • Removals and production
Hungarian State Forest Service
Forestry statistics• forest map• Forest inventory data• Interventions financed by Reg. (CE) n. 2080/92• fire risk• Sub regional limits (mountain areas; protected areas, Natura 2000)
Umbria (Italy)
Provided and linked Datasets
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
DatasetProvider
Implementation of rural development measures in Italy
Forest type map (of Abruzzo region)
Monthly climatic (temperature and rainfall) maps of Italy
CORINE 4th thematic level (Forest map of Italy)
1st National Forest Inventory
DEM (75 m)Accademia Italiana Di Scienze Forestali (AISF)
Provided and linked Datasets
all datasets are described by the NEFIS metadata schema
all datasets are linked to the Visualisation Toolkit
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
Discovery & Visualise
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
Visualisation Toolkit
is accessible throughout the Internet
allows data access to any JDBC/ODBC-compliant database, including Oracle.
is able to handle various data formats e.g. SHP (shape files), GML (Geography Markup Language, OpenGIS consortium), GIF and JPG formats and CSV formats (Comma Separated Value)
incorporates automated map design. This implies that expert knowledge on cartography or GIS is not required
outputs are available as data tables and thematic maps with different techniques for selected geographical area
it allows production of statistical graphics (box plots, dot plots, scatter plots, etc.) that are dynamically linked to maps
the produced maps are interactive, including traditional GIS interactivity and visual manipulations
is based on CommonGIS – CommonGIS is a Java based GIS (developed by Fraunhofer AIS, see at: http://www.commongis.de/)
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
Tabular statistics
Visualisation Toolkit
Data Types
Spatial data : vector and raster (grid) data
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
• thematic mapping
• choropleth mapping
• chart mapping
• visualisation and exploring data over time
• dynamic classification
• non-cartographical data displays
• multiple display and display linking
(like: plots or parallel coordinates)
• dynamic query
• propagation of object classes
• table view and table lens
• exploring data regarding their spatial
distribution
• analysis of grid (raster) data
• multi criteria decision making
• etc.
Visualisation Toolkit
Individual Data Analysis and Data Visualisation by:
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
Visualisation Toolkit
NEFIS Workshop 2004
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
Functionality is distributed between client and server (components are implemented in Java).
The server only runs on demand:
If the client needs a set of data a new copy of the server software is started, and the full context information is passed on. Respectively, the server sends back data only for specified regions and topics.
Implementation of the System
Organisation of mapping services
through the Internet client-server
architecture with the server starting
on demand
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
Data Rights Management
The original idea : A distributed system
Implementation of the System
What about a system based on a Central Data Server?
data should reside on data providers server
data provider should be able to do own updates of both metadata and
actual data at any point in time
data provider should be able to block access to data at any time;
the overall system should be maintained by a designated unit who guarantees
that the system is running continuously and properly
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
68%
3%
29%all data on a server bythe data provider
only certain data on aserver by the dataprovider
all data on a centralserver
Which form of data storage do you prefer for your data set?
Data Rights Management
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
metadata data itself
(nr)
the data provider
authorised body whomaintenance the server
other
• the original data provider is the best option, as this organisation knows the datasets best.
• …the authorised body who maintenance the server – like for moving, freshening of the provided data set, but without modifying of the data itself.
If data a stored on a central server (e.g. NEFIS Server), who is the custodian of …
Data Rights Management
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
"stale" data data redundancies "stale" data & dataredundancies
(nr)
yes
no
no meaning
If data are hosted on a centralised database, do you foresee problems with:
Data Rights Management
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
NEFIS KB is a knowledge resource on forest information systems, it is not conceived to be a forest information system itself and therefore does not contain information on, for example, forest statistics.
NEFIS KnowledgeBase
The purpose of the NEFIS KB is to establish an online repository for the storage and structured organisation of pertinent information that may otherwise be either difficult to find, inaccessible or simply lost.
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
UML of an Extended European Forest Information System
Use Cases are based on story lines which scope typical forest information processes at the European level.
Purpose of this work package component is to attempt to model the European Forest Information framework to better understand what the forest information requirements are from a policy perspective.
This task necessitates the identification of both information users and functional processes within the context of policy frameworks by developing a set of representative forest Use Cases.
The modelling is being undertaken using the Unified Modelling Language (UML).
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
UML of an Extended European Forest Information System
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
Temperate & Boreal Forest Resources Assessment (TBFRA)
Forest Products Production and Trade Flows
Forest Certification
Criteria & Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management
Land Use & Land Cover Change component of the IPCC relating to forests
Forest Focus
UML of an Extended European Forest Information System
The set of Use Cases developed to date is as follows:
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
Focus of evaluation on “five aspects” :
metadata and metadata guidelines
keyword lists and thesaurus
levels of access – data rights management in NEFIS
information needs and user’s expectations
electronic information system for periodical data reporting
The evaluation is going to focus more on the contextual aspects
within NEFIS rather than on the technical ones.
WP5 – Evaluation
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
Two ways of approach:a) Standardized questionnaire
b) Validation by Experts
Questionnaires will collect responses regarding:
• metadata records and metadata guidelines• data preparation and data rights• performances, user friendliness of the system • capability to satisfy information needs - user expectations
Validation by Experts will give theoretical appraisements and statements regarding:
• metadata and metadata guidelines• levels of access – data rights management in NEFIS• keyword lists and thesaurus• electronic system for periodical reporting• UseCases and Storylines
Evaluation Report (April 2005)
WP5 – Evaluation
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
EFIS : an electronic system for periodical reporting ? !
Future - Perspectives and Challenge
constant data flow – periodical updating of information
common interpretation and aggregation of information – “harmonised data”
problem of misinterpretation of visualised & analysed data – aspect: subjectivity; user friendliness and applicability of the VTK
clear identification of user requirements and technical possibilities – What can/ What has to reported in certain periods? – Aspect: regular/ irregular needs
Aspects of concern are:
reliability and comparability of aggregated/ harmonised data
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
Discussion!
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Requardt, 2004 NEFIS
A standardised information/data reporting and transfer service will contribute to
harmonising multiple data collection initiatives.
Such improved tools will allow the improvement of communication between different
organisations and stakeholders in the field of forestry and rural development at the regional,
national, EU, and pan-European and international level.
The tools will contribute to a reduction in time input for preparing and transferring
data/information to official data collection and dissemination organisations.
Electronic System for periodical reporting
Community forestry measures need improved tools for their analysis and evaluation, and communication
!
Requardt, 2004 NEFIS