New Resources promoting the GEO Data Sharing and Management, FAIR, and CARE principles

Abstract

In September and October 2022, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Data Working Group implemented a dialogue series to raise awareness about the GEO Data Sharing and Data  Management Principles and their benefits with special attention to usability and legal aspects of in-situ and remote sensing Earth Observation data. The intended dialogues’ audience included all Earth observation stakeholders, including data producers, technology providers, scientists, researchers, business developers, decision-makers, and policymakers. Each session covered the theory of the core topic and provided examples of existing implementations.  Leaders and experts presented, via short lightning talks, success stories related to in situ and remote sensing data, the GEO Data Sharing and Data Management Principles, and the FAIR, TRUST, and CARE principles. The diversity of the success stories related to different thematic domains and data types, fostering cross-innovation, and highlighting proven solutions - all serving to introduce discussions. Members of the Earth observation community shared their experiences in implementing the principles, discussed how they tackled challenges and described impacts. The covered topics addressed the data life cycle, the GEO Data Sharing Principles, and the GEO Data Management Principles; elements of Discoverability, Accessibility, Usability (Encoding, Documentation, Provenance, Quality Control), Preservation (Preservation, Verification); Curation (Review and processing, Identifiers); as well as the Data Management Self-Assessment Tool. Standards are instrumental for implementing data management best practices. Broadly sharing a common baseline of understanding and references, the dialogues support community engagement and interoperability. The dialogue series contributes to capacity development on data management in general. All materials, including recordings and presentations, are available on the GEO Knowledge Hub, Youtube, and are open to sharing on other community portals. This communication will present examples of implementations of the GEO DMP extracted from the dialog series as well as new dialogues that will be developed in 2023, with special attention to in-situ data challenges and integration with other data in global solutions.