NEFIS – Network for a European Forest Information Service

1. http://www.efi.fi/projects/nefis NEFIS – Network for a European Forest Information Service NEFIS

2. NEFIS – Network for a European Forest Information Service Why a European Forest Information Service 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) 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. NEFIS

3. NEFIS – Network for a European Forest Information Service NEFIS: aims to contribute directly to the EFICS (European Forest Information and Communication System) Regulation (established in 1998 by Council Regulation EEC No. 1615/89) 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 Project time: March 2003 – August 2005 13 Partners 6 Workpackes NEFIS

4. NEFIS – Network for a European Forest Information Service Partners are: EFI (Project Coordinator) EU, JRC IES IUFRO University of Hamburg Fraunhofer - FhG/AIS METLA IFN France KVL Denmark SLU Sweden University of Greenwich, UK Regione Dell‘Umbria, Italy AISF, Italy CTFC Catalonia, Spain BFH - PCC of ICP Forests State Forest Service, Hungary Management Committee other Partners within the project Sub-Contractor NEFIS

5. NEFIS – Network for a European Forest Information Service Workpackages 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 NEFIS

6. Objectives Main objectives of NEFIS are to: • 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 • present to data providers options of an EFIS by utilising harmonised methods and procedures of metadata provision and data linkage NEFIS

7. Objectives Specific objectives of NEFIS are: • Review the state of the art in the technical development of information services using the Internet as dissemination vehicle • Publish a follow-up version of the currently available EFIS prototype with features enabling European data providers and users to utilise the service • 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 • Evaluate the service from the user’s and data providers perspective • Develop strategies for development of the service in the framework of the new EFICS regulation and international commitments NEFIS

8. EFIS Principle Options for the development of the European Forestry Information and Communication System EFICS, (EC, 1997) Basic principle for developing an EFIS (A1-B1-C3) NEFIS

9. EFIS Principles • Utilising the existing data sources • Distributed databases – the data will stay with the provider • Voluntary contributions • Use of Internet • Labelling the data with metadata • User designed analysis NEFIS

10. Application Data User Data Provider • 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 • National Forest Inventory data • Geospatial data • Socio Economical data • other forest related Environmental data Service Supply Demand Various linked Data Sets • Reporting Tool • Decision support system • Tool for research and education at international, national, and regional levels NEFIS

11. Application A system for Information Resource Discovery Data Analysis & Visualisation NEFIS

12. Application Data Provider Data User NEFIS

13. Application & Framework NEFIS

14. 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. NEFIS

15. Resource Discovery Give data seekers assistance through reliable standardised search procedures for the identification of information and data. Metadata • Metadata is defined as “data about other data” • Metadata describes information or data of information resources (data set, database, publication, website, etc.) NEFIS

16. Resource Discovery Metadata system for discovering forest information resources • 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) NEFIS

17. NEFIS Metadata Schema Tasks within NEFIS: • Preparation of a metadata standard based on Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) • Investigating the need to extend the basic DCMI elements structure • 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 NEFIS

18. NEFIS Metadata Schema (Part 1) NEFIS

19. NEFIS Metadata Schema (Part 2) NEFIS

20. NEFIS Metadata Schema 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 NEFIS

21. NEFIS Metadata Schema Keyword list developed for eight themes identified as of importance in describing the NEFIS data sets: • inventory • health • vegetation types • non-wood goods and benefits • operations • fire • trade and production • rural development Lists are quite variable in the level of detail and their scope. NEFIS

22. Metadata Schema Evaluation - Resume = without problems ? ? = with some problems ? ? = problems (hot spots) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? NEFIS

23. Provider Dataset University Hamburg/ Dresden UN-ECE/FAO: TBFRA 2000 EFI Long-term forest resources assessment database (updated) EU socio-economic data (updated) Forest products trade flow DB (updated) Forest Research Capacities Database (updated) ICP/BFH ICP-Forest data: • Level 1 crown condition • soil data • foliage (1994-1997 Inventaire Forestier National NFI data IFN– photographs database IFN maps database Finnish Forest Research Institute Forestry statistics • NFI • round wood price (stumpage and delivery) statistics Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Forestry statistics • NFI data • additional data (NFI time series data) Danish Forest and Landscape Research Institute Forestry experimental data NFI data Provided and linked Datasets NEFIS

24. Provider Dataset Umbria (Italy) 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) Hungarian State Forest Service Aggregated NFI data • Trade in secondary wooden products • Removals and production The Forest Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC) Rural development and land use data Land Cover Map of Catalonia Land use classification in Catalonia Agrarian Surface Distribution Age structure (population) Unemployment JRC NUTS 0/1/2 European country polygons Daily Fire risk maps Seasonal burnt-area map European forest map Provided and linked Datasets NEFIS

25. Provider Dataset Accademia Italiana Di Scienze Forestali (AISF) DEM (75 m) 1st National Forest Inventory CORINE 4th thematic level (Forest map of Italy) Monthly climatic (temperature and rainfall) maps of Italy Forest type map (of Abruzzo region) Implementation of rural development measures in Italy Provided and linked Datasets all datasets are described by the NEFIS metadata schema all datasets are linked to the Visualisation Toolkit NEFIS

26. Discovery & Visualise NEFIS

27. Visualisation Toolkit • is based on CommonGIS – CommonGIS is a Java based GIS (developed by Fraunhofer AIS, see at: http://www.commongis.de/) • 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 • the produced maps are interactive, including traditional GIS interactivity and visual manipulations • 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 NEFIS

28. Visualisation Toolkit Data Types • Spatial data : vector and raster (grid) data • Tabular statistics NEFIS

29. Visualisation Toolkit Individual Data Analysis and Data Visualisation by: • 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. NEFIS

30. Visualisation Toolkit NEFIS Workshop 2004 NEFIS

31. Implementation of the System Organisation of mapping services through the Internet client-server architecture with the server starting on demand 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. NEFIS

32. Implementation of the System Data Rights Management The original idea :A distributed system • 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 What about a system based on a Central Data Server? NEFIS

33. Data Rights Management Which form of data storage do you prefer for your data set? NEFIS

34. Data Rights Management If data a stored on a central server (e.g. NEFIS Server), who is the custodian of … • 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. NEFIS

35. Data Rights Management If data are hosted on a centralised database, do you foresee problems with: NEFIS

36. 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. 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

37. UML of an Extended European Forest Information System 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. Use Cases are based on story lines which scope typical forest information processes at the European level. The modelling is being undertaken using the Unified Modelling Language (UML). NEFIS

38. UML of an Extended European Forest Information System NEFIS

39. UML of an Extended European Forest Information System The set of Use Cases developed to date is as follows: • 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 NEFIS

40. WP5 – Evaluation 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. NEFIS

41. 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) NEFIS

42. Future - Perspectives and Challenge EFIS : an electronic system for periodical reporting ? ! Aspects of concern are: • constant data flow – periodical updating of information • common interpretation and aggregation of information – “harmonised data” • reliability and comparability of aggregated/ harmonised data • clear identification of user requirements and technical possibilities – What can/ What has to reported in certain periods? – Aspect: regular/ irregular needs • problem of misinterpretation of visualised & analysed data – aspect: subjectivity; user friendliness and applicability of the VTK NEFIS

43. ? ! ? ! ? ! ! ! ? Discussion ? ? ! ! ? ! ! ? ! ! ! ! ? ? ? ! ? NEFIS

44. Electronic System for periodical reporting Community forestry measures need improved tools for their analysis and evaluation, and communication ! 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. NEFIS

45. NEFIS