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UID:pretalx-foss4g-europe-2024-academic-track-P3FXYV@talks.staging.osgeo.or
 g
DTSTART;TZID=EET:20240704T103000
DTEND;TZID=EET:20240704T110000
DESCRIPTION:The European Strategy for Data aims at creating a single market
  for data sharing and exchange to increase the European Union’s (EU) glo
 bal competitiveness and data sovereignty. Additionally\, emphasis is put o
 n the need to prioritize people's needs in technology development and to p
 romote EU values and rights. \nThe EU has largely invested in making data 
 accessible. Examples of this are the Copernicus Programme\, the Group on E
 arth Observation (GEO) intergovernmental partnership\, and the Horizon 202
 0 and Horizon Europe funding programmes. In the scope of such programmes\,
  several Earth Observation (EO) cloud platforms have been developed\, prov
 iding access to data\, tools and services for a wide range of users\, incl
 uding support to policymakers in developing evidence-based and data-driven
  policies.\nTypically\, these platforms are an expression of very specific
  research communities with different sizes and scope\, even niche in some 
 cases\, with various and -often under-represented- user needs\, as opposed
  to more mainstream platforms with a wider user uptake.\nAs a consequence\
 , the current landscape of EO cloud platforms and infrastructures in the E
 U is rather fragmented\, thus their potential is only partially exploited 
 by users. We started our research by classifying existing infrastructures\
 , identifying available good practices and highlighting the technological 
 enablers\, in order to point out and leverage the building blocks needed t
 o improve the usability of such platforms (Di Leo et al.\, 2023). \nIn thi
 s follow-up study\, we seek to provide a user-centric perspective\, aiming
  at identifying limitations in the current offer of EO cloud platforms by 
 conducting a research study on user experience. We aim to propose good pra
 ctices to improve both the platform design and functionalities by taking i
 nto account the user viewpoint. Our research questions are:\n•	Does the 
 current offer cover the entire development lifecycle?\n•	What are the pa
 in points / bottlenecks to address on the current platforms from a user’
 s viewpoint?\nTo create a meaningful sample of EO cloud platforms\, we hav
 e surveyed use cases from EU flagship initiatives like e-shape\, OpenEarth
 Monitor and GEOSS Platform Plus\, to understand more on their use of the p
 latforms. In addition\, we have developed an additional use case so to gai
 n hands-on experience on cloud platforms. \nResponders to the survey were 
 developers of different use cases in a wide range of sectors\, including a
 griculture\, energy\, health\, ecosystem\, disaster management\, water\, c
 limate and climate change\, forestry and oceans. Intended end user categor
 ies ranged from business owners to analysts\, developers\, data scientists
  and policy makers\, as well as citizens. A common need emerging from the 
 exercise is the possibility to integrate datasets of different nature and 
 from different sources: EO\, in situ\, Internet of Things (IoT) data\, etc
 . Final products of the considered use cases ranged from static maps to st
 reams of data and web apps. In the development lifecycle\, techniques such
  as machine learning\, deep learning\, parallel computing\, virtualization
  / containerization and data cubes\, are of common use among developers.\n
 The main concerns on EO cloud platforms that emerge from the survey were: 
 \n(1) The difficulty to discover the services offered / the lack of servic
 es to browse the available services\; \n(2) The reduced accessibility to d
 ata and services\, as well as the timeliness and coverage of data provisio
 n and quality\; \n(3) The poor transparency of the price\; \n(4) The limit
 ed possibility to integrate heterogeneous datasets and tools from differen
 t providers\;\n(5) The limited quality of learning material and documentat
 ion\, as well as the frequency of their updates\; \n(6) The lack of effect
 iveness of support services such as helpdesks and forums\; \n(7) The limit
 ed possibility of exchanging code\, good practices\, and support with othe
 r users\, and the liveness of the communities around the platforms\; \n(8)
  The lack of possibility to customize tools and services\; \n(9) The lack 
 of strategies for the sustainability of platforms after the funding period
 \; \n(10) The lack of effective facilities for storage and for advanced fu
 nctionalities such as machine learning\, deep learning\, parallel computin
 g\, etc.\nBased on these responses\, we identified a set of dimensions of 
 high relevance for users\, which are meant for a self-evaluation by platfo
 rms so to improve their offer. Such dimensions can be summarized as 1) dis
 coverability\, 2) accessibility\, 3) price transparency\, 4) interoperabil
 ity\, 5) documentation\, 6) customer care\, 7) community building (data\, 
 models and knowledge sharing)\, 8) customization\, 9) sustainability of bu
 siness plan and 10) characteristics and performance of the platform.\nAmon
 g others\, the adherence to the FAIR principles (Wilkinson et al\, 2016) a
 nd to the TRUST principles (Lin et al.\, 2020)\, the use of open source co
 mponents and the compliance to open standards (e.g. from the Open Geospati
 al Consortium – OGC)\, all represent essential dimensions to enhance bot
 h the platforms’ usability and the user’s satisfaction.\nFinally\, we 
 discuss the emerging trend of creating federations among platforms. Federa
 tions can be of different types such as: federation of identity (e.g. sing
 le sign-on)\; federation of trust\; federation of resources (e.g. storage 
 and computational facilities) etc. Federations may overcome many of the pr
 oblems that we identified\, such as i.e. interoperability\, discoverabilit
 y\, accessibility\, etc. They provide a set of services available from one
  single place. This trend is expected to grow progressively\, especially t
 owards the concept of data spaces\, in which the EU is largely investing. 
 \nTo conclude\, the study outlines the need to address challenges and limi
 tations to improve both the usability and user satisfaction when using ava
 ilable EO cloud platforms. The identification of user needs and concerns\,
  along with the emphasis on principles such as FAIR and TRUST\, open sourc
 e components and OGC standards\, will be crucial in shaping the future of 
 data platforms and infrastructures in the EU and beyond. Furthermore\, the
  potential of federations among platforms presents an immediate opportunit
 y to move towards the vision of data spaces that the EU is putting forward
 \, thus enhancing both collaboration and data sharing\, ultimately contrib
 uting to the development of a more cohesive and effective data market in E
 urope.
DTSTAMP:20260602T131117Z
LOCATION:Omicum
SUMMARY:Insights on Earth Observation cloud platforms from a user experienc
 e viewpoint - Margherita Di Leo
URL:https://talks.staging.osgeo.org/foss4g-europe-2024-academic-track/talk/
 P3FXYV/
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