Open Support Platform for Environmental Research (OSPER)-tools for the discovery and exploitation of environmental data

The Open Support Platform for Environmental Research (OSPER) has been launched to take forward key data management components developed under the Swiss Experiment platform project to achieve improved usability and a wider scope. With this project, we aim to connect users to data and their context, an area identified during SwissEx as having the greatest potential impact on the research community. OSPER has a clear focus on providing the technology for data storage, management and exploitation with a special focus on data interoperability and documentation. In this presentation, we will demonstrate the key aims of OSPER for the period 2012 – 2015. Inheriting the basic SwissEx functionality, OSPER provides an excellent method of making data accessible via their metadata. One of the biggest differences between the OSPER infrastructure and other data platforms is the level of interaction that one can have with the data and the level of integration with the analysis tools used in science. We wish to capitalise on this advantage by increasing this integration and working with environmental research projects to develop the tools that make a difference to their daily research. The new data infrastructure will serve the following purposes: — Open documentation, archiving and discovery of datasets. — Facilitation of data sharing and collaboration (especially inter-disciplinary) with data owner controlled access rights, particularly concentrating on providing as much contextual information as possible. — Improvements in ease of data access and combination of data sources. — Tools for data visualisation and statistical and numerical data analysis with a focus on spatial data and trends. Key areas identified for development during OSPER are: — New infrastructure and content for current WebGIS-based data visualisation system to create a publicly available platform. — Provision of data in standard formats using standard methods as well as the consumption of such data by the processing/visualisation tools. — Provision of connected tools to provide commonly used functionality. — Cloud compatibility. — Greater integration of metadata and data. — Integration of publications using advances made in the ScienceWise project. — Advanced queries of 3- and 4-Dimensional data sources. — Documented examples of spatio-temporal statistical tools. Each of the components of the infrastructure (database middleware, WebGIS, model interfaces and processing/visualization tools) will be designed for usage both within the OSPER system and standalone. They will provide standardized interfaces, such that they can be adapted for use with data from any compatible infrastructure, and such that the data held within OSPER can be visualized or processed using any compatible tools. www.swiss-experiment.ch