08.03.2012 Board Call with ESTAT/ICES

I-MARINE BOARD NOTES

Thursday 08 March 17.00 - 18.15

Topic: Discuss iMarine Board agenda

Participants: Marc Taconet FAO (MT), Donatella Castelli ISTI-CNR (DC), Neil Holdsworth ICES (NH), Matt Elliott ESTAT (ME), Anton Ellenbroek FAO (AE)

Meeting was called by the iMarine Board Chair to cover some topics of the upcoming meeting with Board Members that are unable to attend.

CODELIST MANAGEMENT NH: ICES main interest is in Codelistmanagement and Time Series / SDMX, also in connection with SEIF2 ICES has a vocabulary server, but we are less active with formats and protocols, which is more a DGM issue. ICES understands Regional Database (RDB)-FishFrame as a project that has received a.o. two years funding from DG-Mare’s, and new developments are expected when the RDB Steering Committee meets. COST can be used to analyze RDB-FishFrame data. In the event RDB-FishFrame remains the first choice, there are some elements of COST which should be brought inside FishFrame. DG-MARE has considerable activity in E-logbooks and the Regional Fisheries DB.

ME: Concurs with Neil on importance of CM management and Time Series

MT: Codelistmanagement is also important to FAO

In developing the VTI prototype in D4ScienceAn e-Infrastructure operated by the D4Science.org initiative. project, FAO has already touched upon formats and standards for e.g. VMS, observations and eLogbooks, and iMarine offers an opportunity to continue. A strong collaboration with DG-Mare can result in a open and flexible support for eLogbook data processing and analysis.

NH: DGMare is preparing a document that describes their position on e.g. formats and protocols. This may also describe the funding and operation for the Regional Fisheries Database. The RDB-Steering Committee is tasked with preparing a data policy document to faciliate the use of data in the RDB context. Will keep iMarine posted.

MT: When it is ready, even in draft, we would like to discuss this in the iMarine Board.

NH: The EU formats are not directly of interest to ICES, and we not following the discussion closely.

Codelistmanagement is a real issue, e.g. when transforming data from DCF to RDB-Fishframe, the codelists may lose their validity. ICES is working towards a codelist availability through a set of webservices in the future.

Marc: Should the iMarine Board establish a WG of it’s own to identify opportunities?

Neil: Can surely be considered.

Matt: ESTAT will have to decide on transfer of responsibility to DGMare staff, as my position will end. E.g. DGMare has an interest in International standards, and software such as Fishframe. But is also relatively new to the topics, and may need time to identify directions.

In DGMare Herwig Rainer could be contacted in respect of the RDB framework Another opportunity is the EU market observatory, a large datamart outside Francky Callewaert’s direct scope. It is a huge initiative, and must offer collaboration potential.

ESTAT can ask Francky to prepare an update.

CODELISTS & SCHEMAS PRIORITIES

Marc: Can we list relevant schemas and Code lists, and prioritize them, or is that not feasible now?

Matt: As part of SEIF, we have already made progress and indicated code lists of interest

Has provided a link to DGMare work, registry and codelists: MARE Master Data Registry http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/control/codes/index_en.htm

On languages, there is an issue with SDMX

Now developing FLUX, a related XML language

NH: Even DGMare, as of today, has not provided a clear picture. This evidences the many obstacles.

In INSPIRE and Seadatanet there is scope for more Code lists reference data management

MT: IRD can disseminate OBSTUNA in e.g. Darwin Core, Fishframe, and SDMX

ME: Codelists have been with Daniel Suryani and Erik van Ingen.

In terms of mapping, Daniel Suryani would be good

ESTAT concluded that SDMX could be used for microdata, but a negotiation with Mare is needed for better selling the SDMX capability. A single registry would be a benefit to both Mare and Eurostat.

PLANNING

MT: Summarizes the iMarine Board meeting agenda ME: very interested to learn more about the CNR’s Statistical Data Processing capacity NH: Agenda looks promising. Also interested in Geospatial cluster, in particular the automated aggregation is very interesting and already emerging issue in RDB-FishFrame MT: NEAFC will be present at Advisory Council meeting, and we will discuss with RFB’s if the integrated approach across clusters is of interest to RFB’s. ME: Will inform Mare on the interesting geospatial data processing. The ESTAT Statistical WG of next week may outline a future collaboration with iMarine. MT: iMarine organizes an event with assistance from DG Mare, with ESTAT, ICES, and others. The event is scheduled in Brussels in Q2-2012, it aims to allow a discussion on directions and opportunities for sustainability of the iMarine e-InfrastructureAn operational combination of digital technologies (hardware and software), resources (data and services), communications (protocols, access rights and networks), and the people and organizational structures needed to support research efforts and collaboration in the large..

Actions:

AE: Contact Matt for registries, EU Observatory and DG-MARE AE: Contact Neil for Herwig Rainer, DG-MARE reports AE: Distribute information (slides) on all 4 clusters after tcom. Ask for collaboration with ICES and others