GENESIS: A vibrant portal for environmental data

The nature of environmental data means that it is not easy to gather, collate and present it in a coherant and accessible form. We spoke to Christian Alegre about the GENESIS project's work in developing an overarching infrastructure to link environmental data, work with wide implications

Patrick Truss: Why was the GENESIS project originally established?

Christian Alegre: In its FP7 funding call the EU raised the question of whether it would be possible to link the different services that exist at defined levels of environmental management. They wanted to provide users, or system developers, with a means to connect the available data and services, to use and view all those resources, and also to research the relevant information through a kind of matrix. This matrix should allow users to find and search for information easily, as well as to orchestrate different services. GENESIS was established in response to these questions. The project provides a base solution for researchers to register services, to catalogue data and services, and to define a new portal dedicated to a given thematic field, and then to connect the different resources across the web to manage the environment in a given field.

PT: So GENESIS is a kind of overarching infrastructure designed to link environmental data?

CA: Yes, it is based on technology standards and on the software required to install the infrastructure. The design of the infrastructure itself is quite generic; meaning the capability to connect a service, register new services and catalogue the data is independent of whether the data refers to air or water quality. This is because we rely on several technological standards which are more or less independent of the thematic area. In Europe the INSPIRE directive deals with the representation of the data from the various thematic areas.

PT: What is the relationship between the thematic pilots and the overall project?

CA: The thematic sub-projects provide requirements for the solution; they express their needs in thematic terms, then we refine the solution. The thematic pilots can almost be seen as customers, they define their needs and what is currently missing, it could be the ability to archive or collate data, or it could be displaying the data to the user in some way. So after these thematic requirements are analysed they are turned into what we call generic user requirements – the part that is not so closely related to the specific thematic pilot – they tend to be more technical in nature. The people who are in charge of the technological sub-project develop the solution, this work takes issues like the standards background and existing solutions into account. The solution is really validated when it is opened to the thematic pilots, clients that use the solution to try and solve their specific problems, this combines the generic solution with a specific algorithm. It’s like a puzzle; the technology provides some generic services, then specific thematic data, and algorithms are added. This is assembled by each pilot, they then experiment and evaluate the eventual solution.

PT: What are the common elements which each of the thematic pilots require from the infrastructure?

CA: All the thematic pilots require the ability to catalogue information, to register services, and to raise the alarm in certain given conditions. This means systematically monitoring the data over a given period and raising the alarm when the conditions are abnormal. After that the actual decision – for example banning bathing in a lake on health grounds – is up to the local authority concerned, the alarm is just a signal that conditions are not normal. People can be made aware of that by an e-mail or a text; you can parameter the system to know exactly how the information should be publicised, but it means that something abnormal has been detected; information which can then be disseminated to system users. GENESIS’ provides the monitoring basis – it’s about workflow management.

PT: Given that it is a generic infrastructure could it be applied to any kind of environmental problem?

CA: The two thematic areas of air and water quality were recommended by the EC because there was a special interest in them. Air quality is particularly relevant for thematic areas where you can combine in situ data and air portal observations. In GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) there is an interest in combining air portal observations and satellite data, which gives an overview which can then be complemented with in situ data. You can combine this with street-level data if you want very precise; air quality is an interesting thematic area in which you can combine different levels of information. Beyond that there are a number of potential applications outside the thematic areas explicitly being studied by GENESIS. For example flood risk management – risk could be monitored with the same kind of system.

PT: Have you found any links between air and water quality in your research? Or are those two areas treated as entirely separate?

CA: The EC has recommended that we try to increase the synergy between air quality and water quality thematic experts. We are setting up a thematic pilot monitoring planning group, which overarches air and water quality, and could converge on some common information processing needs. By nature the project analyses the commonality in terms of the requirements of the two thematic areas, so by the project’s structure we – especially Thales – are in a strong position to make this cross-cutting analysis, and to identify the common requirements and so on. Beyond that the thematic pilot monitoring planning group meets monthly for the various pilots to exchange information.

PT: Is the technology being used primarily to gather data, or is it also being used to present it?

CA: The visualisation and processing of data is an essential part of GENESIS. We look at a number of different options in terms of presenting the data as there are several different kinds, including 1-D, 2-D, 3-D and maps. Integrating data from different sources within a common infrastructure allows you to raise queries which combine data from several different sources, and also to present the different sources of information and mix them on the same representation.

PT: How does the still-evolving nature of technology standards affect the way the project conducts its research?

CA: We are strongly dependent on the evolution of standards. Thales and some of our other major partners within GENESIS participate in the OGC (Open Geo-Spatial Consortium). Whenever possible we use the standard, and in cases where the standard is not yet mature and there is only some preliminary view of the standard we have to find a kind of trade-off to provide users with an effective solution. In these kinds of cases we have a preliminary solution that will clearly evolve beyond the project.

For more information about the GENESIS project please visit their website.

Published: Monday, 29th March 2010 by Patrick Truss

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