Requardt, 2004 NEFIS NEFIS – Network for a European Forest Information Service .

Requardt, 2004 NEFIS

NEFIS – Network for a European Forest Information Service

http://www.efi.fi/projects/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)



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


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:


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


Management Committee

Sub-Contractor

other Partners within the project


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



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


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


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


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


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


Application

Information Resource Discovery

A system for

Data Analysis & Visualisation


Application

Data Provider Data User


Application & Framework


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.


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


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


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


(Part 1)

NEFISMetadataSchema


NEFISMetadataSchema

(Part 2)



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



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.


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


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


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)



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)


all datasets are described by the NEFIS metadata schema

all datasets are linked to the Visualisation Toolkit


Discovery & Visualise


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/)


Tabular statistics


Data Types

Spatial data : vector and raster (grid) data


• 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.


Individual Data Analysis and Data Visualisation by:



NEFIS Workshop 2004


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


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


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?



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 …



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:



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.


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).


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


The set of Use Cases developed to date is as follows:


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


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


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


Discussion!

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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 NEFIS – Network for a European Forest Information Service .

Documents

Transcript of Requardt, 2004 NEFIS NEFIS – Network for a European Forest Information Service .