EuroGEOSS — A European Approach to GEOSS

Overview

EuroGEOSS built an operating capacity for a European Environment Earth Observation System to make existing Earth observation systems and applications interoperable within the frameworks of two other projects, GEOSS and INSPIRE.

GEOSS is a 10-year program to build a world-wide observation system of interlinked Earth observation systems—a system of systems—that will contribute enormous amounts of data in nine “societal benefit areas”: disasters, health, energy, climate, water, weather, ecosystems, agriculture, and biodiversity.

INSPIRE is a European Union program to develop a Spatial Data Infrastructure that will enable governments and other organizations to seamlessly share environmental observation data from many sources.

In support of the GEOSS and INSPIRE programs, EuroGEOSS interlinked information about drought, forestry, and biodiversity in order to develop an advanced operating capacity providing access to both data and analytical models.

IIASA Research

IIASA researchers developed the tools needed to assess the societal benefits of GEOSS and INSPIRE for the three thematic areas of EuroGeoss —forestry, drought, and biodiversity. They analyzed the social and scientific benefits expected from the international Earth observation work and then carried out a cost-benefit analysis to determine the overall value of the work.

Researchers also created a public bibliography database of all EuroGEOSS-related research and used Geo-Wiki to help validate existing spatial information and collect new data.

Last edited: 02 June 2014