We are delighted to let you know that COBWEB has been featured in the latest issue (March 2014) of GeoConnexion International, a leading publication for professionals working in the geospatial industry and GIS. 

The article, which discusses “The Importance of Universities” as a space for innovation in geospatial, was co-authored by Steven Liang and COBWEB’s own Chris Higgins and can be found on page 22 of the current print edition of GeoConnexion, or can be read online here. 

The article looks at the work of the OGC Universities Domain Working Group, in which COBWEB plays a central role. If the article piques your interest you can read much more about the work of this group on the OGC website. 

COBWEB benefits from participation by six well regarded universities: University of Edinburgh; University College Dublin; Aberystwyth University, University of Nottingham, Technische Universitat Dresden and University of Patras. 

Find out more

• Read the article: The importance of universities
 by Steve Liang and Chris Higgins. 
• Find out more about the Universities DWG, and all of the OGC’s Domain Working Groups here. 
• Browse all of the COBWEB Project partners, including the Universities participating in the consortium. 

Last month (5th-7th February 2014) COBWEB was invited to attend, and present, at the Citizens Science and Smart Cities Summit which was arranged by the European Commissions Joint Research Centre, the Institute for Environment and Sustainability. 

Chris Higgins presented an overview of the COBWEB project as part of a session in which all five Citizens Observatories projects took part. You can view all materials from the event on the JRC website or access Chris’ presentation via SlideShare. 

The event sought to explore the interoperability and reusability of data across citizen-centred projects, and to explore the relationships between “Smart Cities” and citizen-centred projects. Find out more about the purpose of the day by taking a look at host Max Craglia’s introductory presentation. 

The COBWEB team found the event really useful for connecting with and exchanging experiences with others interested in the potential for citizen centre projects across Europe, particularly as openness and interoperability sit at the heart of the COBWEB project. Anyone interested in finding out more about a huge range of current projects and initiatives should definitely take a look through the presentations from the event, or to explore the resources on the UrbanQool: Citizen Science Observatory of New Indicators of Urban Sustainability website. 

Find out more

• Find out more about the Citizens Science and Smart Cities Summit, including all presentations from the event, via the JRC website. 
• Browse the map and other resources on the UrbanQool website.
• View or download Chris’ COBWEB presentation via SlideShare.
• Explore other recent presentations and publications by the COBWEB team on our Dissemination and Publications and Presentations pages. 
• Find out more about interoperability through INSPIRE , which JRC is the technical coordinator for. 

Last month (21st February 2014) the COBWEB project was represented by Crona Hodges (Aberystwyth University) at the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Monitoring Welsh Section Conference 2014 in Aberystwyth.

Crona gave a presentation on opportunities for crowdsourcing in ecology contexts (view below) and had some really useful questions and comments regarding these types of projects and particularly opportunities for data sharing and reuse. 

COBWEB was also represented through an exhibition stand which enabled us to meet and chat with a wide range of attendees from both the public and private sector, including a number of respresentatives from environmental consulting organisations. 

This was a really useful opportunity to reach out to our stakeholders and we look forward to staying in touch with the contacts that we met, or caught up with, as the COBWEB project continues. 

Find out more

• View the Website for the CIEEM Welsh Section Conference 2014, which includes the full programme [PDF]. 
• View or download Crona’s presentation: Citizens Observatory Web: Ecology Meets the Crowd (via SlideShare)
• Find out more about the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Monitoring.

We are delighted to let you know that the posters and video which we presented at last month’s GEO-X Plenary and Geneva Ministerial Summit are now available. 

We created a video of our mobile application demonstrator which was shown at Speakers Corner, part of the European Commission exhibition stand, and at on an iPad at the Citizens’ Observatory booth at GEO-X. The video gives a sense of the type of app that a citizen might use to gather data and reflects prototypes that we are currently testing with community groups in the UNESCO Dyfi Biosphere, in Mid Wales. 

The video shows both the building of the data collection form and the application. Both aspects of the prototype build upon the FieldTrip GB application, an open source mobile data collection tool developed by staff at EDINA, University of Edinburgh, part of the COBWEB project consortium. 

If you have any feedback on the demonstrator or the video, or if you have any questions about this area of the project, please do get in touch with us. 

We also presented two COBWEB posters and were part of three collaborative Citizens’ Observatory posters at GEO-X:

The first poster gives a broad overview of the project and was shown at the Speakers Corner area of the European Commission stand. This poster can be viewed or downloaded [PDF] here. 

The second poster specifically looks at the AIP-6 work which COBWEB project partners have been undertaking, and this was displayed at the OGC stand at GEO-X. This poster can be viewed or downloaded [PDF] here. 

COBWEB also contributed to three joint posters which were displayed on the Citizens’ Observatory exhibition stand, part of the European Commission presence at the event. All three posters are now available to download [as PDFs] from the joint Citizens’ Observatory website: An Introduction to the five CO projects; Overview of Technology in the five CO projects; Citizen Participation in the five CO projects

Find out more:

• View the COBWEB GEO-X 2014 Video Demonstrator on YouTube. You can also follow the COBWEB YouTube Channel for new videos as they come out. 
• COBWEB Dissemination page – view or download all of the COBWEB GEO-X posters as well as posters, flyers and other dissemination materials associated with the project. 
• Citizens’ Observatory website – the joint website spanning all five Citizens’ Observatory projects.
• FieldTrip GB website and GitHub code repository – find out more about this tool which our current mobile app prototype is based upon. 

As you may be aware, the COBWEB project is one of five Citizens’ Observatory projects funded by the European Commission to engage individuals across Europe in their environment through their participation in research and data gathering. 

At GEO-X last month all five projects were in attendance, sharing a stand, and collaborating on a Side Event where a new video was premiered. The video, which you can view below (or download from the EC website), promotes new earth observation systems using monitoring and information by citizens, a common feature of all of these projects. 

The video features three of the Citizens’ Observatory projects funded by the European Commission: CITI-SENSE (Spain), CITCLOPS (Ireland) and OMNISCIENTIS (Belgium) and the COBWEB team are really glad to see the Citizens’ Observatory projects being highlighted so prominently

COBWEB are pleased to be working with our fellow Citizens’ Observatory projects to share experience and work jointly to raise the profile of this whole area of citizen participation in the environment across Europe. We are also cooperating through a joint website which provides a single place to access all of the projects, and find out about overarching Citizens’ Observatory information and news.

Find out more here: http://www.citizen-obs.eu/​

Last week members of the COBWEB Project team attended the GEO-X Plenary and Geneva Ministerial Summit event in Geneva, Switzerland. GEO, the Group on Earth Observation, who have held annual plenary meetings since the organisation was established in 2005. GEO-X marked a particularly significant milestone with participants looking forward to the next 10 years of activity across GEO and GEOSS(the Global Earth Observation System of Systems) .  COBWEB was therefore delighted to be invited to be part of the European Commission delegation at the GEO-X exhibition, and to be able to take up opportunities to give a Speakers Corner talk on the project, to speak at the Citizens’ Observatories side event, to speak at the AIP-6 Side Event, and to show posters at the OGC stand including both a poster and video which was shown in the European Commission Speakers Corner area.

Chris Higgins talks about COBWEB during the Citizens Observatories side event.

The project was well represented by members of the COBWEB team covering technical, organisational, stakeholder engagement and dissemination activities, which enabled very productive discussions and networking to take place throughout the week. COBWEB’s Architecture Implementation Pilot (AIP) -6 achievements in enabling single sign on access across the COBWEB access management federation triggered some great conversations for Andreas Matheus, Bart De Lathouwer and project coordinator Chris Higgins. This contribution to the wider GEO community was also acknowledged in a GEOSS showcase film shown as part of the Ministerial Summit.

COBWEB’s development and infrastructure was highlighted in Chris Higgins’ talk during the Citizens Observatories side event, with a particular call made to our fellow Observatories’ to discuss and collaborate around interoperability across the projects. Meanwhile our stakeholder engagement work to date, including collaborations with organisations such as Dyfi Woodlands, was the focus of our Speakers Corner talk by Jamie Williams.

​

Jamie Williams gives his Speakers Corner talk at GEO-X

Citizens Observatories emerged as a key consideration for future environmental policy making and the GEOSS representatives were keen to ensure interoperability and access to citizen science efforts in generating environmental data in the interests of local, regional and global efforts to ameliorate environmental impact. Citizens are key to the European Commission vision as articulated in HORIZON2020 and therefore the initial tranche of Citizen Observatory projects, of which COBWEB is one of five, are trailblazing the future shape of citizen involvement as stakeholder in environmental policy.

The COBWEB project was present at the European Commission exhibition area through a shared stand with all of the Citizens’ Observatories projects: COBWEB,Citi-Sense, WeSenseIt, Omniscientis, and Citclops. Three collaborative posters were created especially for this space, outlining all of the projects in more detail and highlighting areas of commonality across the projects. We were excited to meet GEO Plenary participants and fellow exhibitors throughout the week – with over 89 GEO member nations present this was a truly diverse group. However, the highlight of the exhibition was the visit to the stand on Friday 17th January byJanez Poto�nik, the European Commissioner for the Environment.  The image at the top of this article (taken by Stuart Wrigley from the WeSenseIt project) shows Nicola Osborne, from the COBWEB project team, explaining all five Citizens Observatories projects to the Commissioner.

For the team, the event also presented a wealth of opportunities to meet, learn from and exchange ideas with projects and organisations from across the world, and particularly to make connections to complementary activities funded by the European Union. It was a hugely useful week and we look forward to sharing more from the event, including our presentations, posters, and a brief video on the AIP-6 work showcased, over the following weeks.

Find out more:

• Daily write ups and pictures from GEO-X can be found on the IISD Reporting Services website: http://www.iisd.ca/geo/geox/
• GEO X website: http://www.earthobservations.org/geo10.shtml?id=8
• Citizens Observatories Website: http://www.citizen-obs.eu/

Project Cordinator, Chris Higgins, reports back from the COBWEB meeting which took place in several locations in Greece from 28th October to 2nd November. 

A few weeks ago we finally realised the full glory of a project built round the World Network of Biosphere Reserves.  After a year of planning and a year of talking about, writing and doing the COBWEB project, we finally managed a visit to the Greek reserves involved in our project – the magnificent Samaria Gorge in Crete and incomparable Mount Olympus.

Our Greek partners University of Patras and OIKOM Environmental Studies Ltd did us proud by arranging for us to meet key individuals and representatives from the management bodies responsible for our areas of interest.  I can report some intense interest on the ground in the potential for what smartphone enabled citizens can contribute and what COBWEB is doing, especially in our pilot case study areas of validating Earth Observation products and biological monitoring.  It was particularly invigorating to meet with a number of enthusiastic teachers at Mount Olympus keen to get local children using new technology in environmental education.

All of the UK delegation have come away from our week of meetings and walks round the reserves with a much clearer mental picture of the reserves, the main players involved, the constraints, the level of enthusiasm and the potential for transferring the technology we develop in Wales to Greece.

My own feeling is that there is a lot of untapped potential here. Personal highlights were the evident opportunities for progress in environmental education for sustainable development, the flock of Griffon Vultures (Gyps fulvus), the throne of Zeus and the food – those Greeks really know how to do food and eating out!

Image of Fotios Xystrakis (above) curtosy of Robin Farrar, Ecodyfi.

Earlier this month Andy Rowland (Ecodyfi) and Chris Higgins (University of Edinburgh) attended the EuroMAB 2013 conference in Brockville, Ontario, Canada, on behalf of the COBWEB project. Andy and Chris are pictured above during the tour of the local Biosphere Reserve, Frontenac Arch. Those who, like COBWEB, work and engage with the UNESCO Man And Biosphere programme, will be interested to read Chris’ reflections on the event: 

Over the 4 days (15th-19th October), we attended several workshops, heard a lot of interesting discussion and made quite a few new friends. We took the opportunity to strengthen contact between COBWEB and the Greek and German Biosphere Reserves we are working with, by discussing the project with Prof. Michael Scoullos, the Chair of the Greek MAB Committee, and with the Head of Nature Conservation at the Wadden Sea and Hallig Islands Biosphere Reserve.

This was our first exposure to EuroMAB in its entirety. It is very lively, enthusiastic and diverse group representing many different countries across Europe (which, for historical reasons, includes North America) and many varied Biosphere Reserves.

My overall impression is that the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) is a significantly underused resource. Following imperatives issuing from fora such as the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change, never was the need greater for a network of areas that could act as exemplars for what an ecologically sustainable society might look like.

We can report an appetite for greater understanding of how technological advancements may progress the sustainable development agenda. In COBWEB’s area of competence, there is significant interest in what we are doing in respect of citizen science and ecosystem services. We hope to be able to report some more concerted activity in this area in association with the next EuroMAB conference in 2015 in Estonia.

As a general point, the opportunity to access existing networks of citizens in different countries through the WNBR is of great benefit to COBWEB. It was noted in a workshop we attended, that this is a pattern that could be repeated in other projects which require a comparative European dimension and access to citizens in a sustainable development context. 

Find out more:

• Read Andy Rowland’s blog post on EuroMAB 2013 over on the Biosffer Dyfi Biosphere Blog.
• UNESCO EuroMAB website

Those interested in the technologies and standards-based approaches used by COBWEB will be interested to hear that last week Bart De Lathouwer, from COBWEB partner OGC, attended the ENVIP-2013 (Environmental Information Systems and Services – Infrastructures and Platforms 2013) workshop, part of ISESS 2013 – the International Symposium on Environmental Software Systems (9th – 11th October 2013) in Neusiedl am See, Austria. 

Bart gave a presentation on COBWEB and chaired the session “ENVIP 2013 for Citizens Observatories and crowd sourcing” on  Thursday 10th October. The day included a number of interesting presentations from other European projects including:

Thomas Usländer’s presentation, “SERVUS – Collaborative Tool Support for Agile Requirements Analysis”, which talked about a design methodology for semi-structured use case descriptions in geospatial-orientated projects. You can read about this methodology in Uslander, Junker and Pfarr (2011). 

Jan van Oort and Denis Havlik’s presentation on the “Ubicity framework for crowd sourcing and crowd tasking”, which is associated with the ENVIROFI initiative, talked about task-based crowdsourcing – the idea of giving participants a specific contained task to complete rather than asking them to gather broader types or formats of data. 

The day also included updates on ENVIROFI (the Environmental Observation Web and its Service Applications within the Future Internet) and the FI-PPP (Future Internet Public-Private-Partnership) programmes. 

Other projects presented included:

• NRG4CAST, which is looking at real-time energy forecasting in smart cities
• SUDPlan, a web-based planning, prediction and training tool to support decisions in long term urban planning
• EnviroCar, which captures car data (speed, engine parameters) to map pollution and noise emissions in a city
• CITI-SENSE, which is developing a sensor-based citizens’ observatory community for improving quality of life in cities. 

Bart’s own presentation on COBWEB gave an overview of the project and particularly talked about COBWEB’s Access Management Federation. It was well received with interesting questions raised around authentication and trust. 

Other European projects working in similar areas to COBWEB may want to take a look at  “Environmental Infrastructures and Platforms with Citizens Observations and Linked Open Data” (Berre, Schade and Roman 2013) which looks at ENVIP’s work to date, looking at common building blocks emerging from research projects concerned with environmental information. ENVIP is currently particularly following citizens observatories and linked open data, two key emerging trends. The authors encourage interested parties and project consortia to provide contributions for future analysis through the ENVIP initiative and the CEN/TC287 best practices registry.

Earlier this year COBWEB signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the GeoViQua (QUAlity aware VIsualization for the Global Earth Observation System of systems) project.

We did this as there is crossover in terms of what COBWEB aims to do in the area of quality assuring crowdsourced data and what GeoViQua has been doing in respect of data quality within GEOSS.  Both projects have a strong commitment to interoperability through adherence to open standards.  

As GeoViQua is drawing to a close and COBWEB is still in its infancy, there are opportunities for COBWEB to learn from GeoViQua and maybe take some of their work forward.

To facilitate this, on the 9th and 10th of Sept, the University of Edinburgh (COBWEB coordinators) hosted a GeoViQua consortium meeting at the EDINA offices.  It was a busy GEO week in Edinburgh with lots of people in town for the ESA Living Planet conference.

It was an unusual mixed co-located meeting, with presentations from GeoViQua to the COBWEB team and vice-versa.  Lots of interesting discussion, cross-fertilisation and an increased likelihood that COBWEB will work with the GeoViQua outputs.  Watch this space…