SCIDIP-ES
SCIence Data Infrastructure for Preservation - with focus on Earth Science
Earth observation is a very expensive activity. The data are generated from various sensors mounted on satellites, moored buoys, helium balloons, airplanes and ships all staffed with various measurement equipment depending on the background of the observation area.
To recognize even long-lasting smooth changes requires access to historical data. Clime and weather changes, continental drift, biosphere variation, ocean current deviations and glacial melting could neither calculated nor future trends for upcoming changes recognized without access to reference data.
The aim of the initiative is to deliver generic services for science data preservation as part of the data infrastructure for e-science and to build on the experience of the ESA Earth Observation Long Term Data Preservation (LTDP) program to favor the set-up of a European Framework for the long term preservation of Earth Science (ES) data through the definition of common preservation policies, the harmonization of metadata and semantics and the deployment of the generic infrastructure services in the ES domain.
Software Services and Standards
During - and after - the project preservation specific software services and guidelines for harmonization of preservation policies in the Earth Science domain gets released.
SCIDIP-ES assessed, analyzed and enhanced the following crucial steps of a preservation program:
- Definition (and rationale) of a preserved data set content: what you should preserve
- Archive operations and organization
- Archive security
- Data ingestion
- Archive maintenance
- Data access and interoperability
- Data exploitation and re-processing
- Data appraisal and purge prevention
Data Sources
Many international research institutions collect earth observation data. Earth science communities use various ontologies/schemas to describe different kinds of datasets and for different reasons, and there is not an integrated (harmonized) schema for describing all concepts of Earth science. This happened due to the different sensor technologies used for their missions. To allow common access and to be able to reproduce those data sets even if specific translation elements in Hardware or Software no longer exists, is it important not only to archive the recorded data but also the meta data that define the sensor type and the process to visualize the data streams using a common readable format. In some cases like in cartography the stored data are composed from recording at different times to be able to remove disturbing elements like clouds. For the research community the attached provenance data information allows conclusions if the data represent an original or if those are derived or manipulated data. SCIDIP-ES has established an all-spanning metadata scheme that allows to share the data and the exchange them without changes in the metadata structure and format. This allows every researcher to access earth science data from a common public portal
Elements of the SCIDIP-ES Technology
The following elements are subject of the project research and solutions that this project provides
- Repository Information (RepInfo) Toolkit
- Authenticity Toolkit
- Finding Aid Toolkit
- Process Virtualization Toolkit
- Preservation Strategy Toolkit
- Packaging Toolkit
- Data Visualization Toolkit
- Certification Toolkit
More information about SCIDIP-ES
More detailed information about the SCIDIP-ES Project you can get on the project webpage. Just click on the project logo.
For additional Information
Please call +49 2932 4294664