WP 6: Gap Analysis and Priorities

Overview
Kickoff Meeting
Gap Analysis Review

Gap Analysis Review

Introduction

In the context of GEO, several attempts have been made to cary out gap analysis. The work on the GEOSS User Requirements Registry (URR) had the ultimate goal to facilitate a gap analysis and to support prioritization. The GEO Science and Technology Committee (STC) developed a document summarizing different approaches to gap analyses and presented this to the ExCOM. Here we provide a summary of these attempts and give access to relevant documents. The discussion was revitalized in connection with the SEE IN KB.

URR and Gap Analysis

A main goal of the development of the GEOSS Users Requirement Registry (URR) was the identification of gaps in the available observations and the observing system in a way that would inform a prioritization. The following papers document the development of the URR and the role it can play in a gap analysis:

  • Plag, H.-P., Ondich, G., Kaufman, J., Foley, G., 2010. The GEOSS User Requirement Registry - Supporting a User-Driven Global Earth Observation System of Systems. Imaging Notes, 25(4), 28-33. See pdf.
  • Plag, H.-P., Ondich, G., Kaufman, J., Foley, G., Pignatelli, F., 2011. The GEOSS User Requirement Registry: A Versatile Tool for the Dialog Between Users and Providers. Proceed. 34th Internat. Symp. Remote Sensing of the Environment, Sydney, April 10-15, 2011, available at http://www.isprs.org/proceedings/2011/ISRSE-34/211104015Final00579.pdf or pdf.
  • Plag, H.-P., Foley, G., Jules-Plag, S., Kaufman, J., Ondich, G., 2012. The GEOSS User Requirement Registry: Linking users of GEOSS across disciplines and societal areas. Preliminary Proceed. of IGARSS 2012, Munich, Germany, July 23-27, 2012. See pdf.
  • Plag, H.-P., Pearlman, J., Pearlman, F., 2012. A Measure for Relevance of User Needs, Observational Requirements, and Earth Observations Data. Draft Version 0.2, April 17, 2012. See pdf. Comment: This document summarize an approach to measure relevance of observational requirements based on links published in the URR.
  • Plag, H.-P., et al., 2012. The GEOSS User Requirements Registry (URR): A Component of the GEOSS Common Infrastructure in Service of Work Plan Implementation and a User-Driven GEOSS. See pdf. Comment: This document is one of the deliverables of the URR project funded by EPA and details the relationship between URR and GCI.
  • Plag, H.-P., et al., 2012. Concept of Operations Document User Requirements Registry (URR). See draft as doc or pdf. Comment: This document is one of the deliverables of the URR project funded by EPA and lays out the concept for the operation of the URR as part of the GCI.

STC Gap Analysis Review

The former Science and Technology Committee (STC) of GEO discussed gap analysis approaches in 2010 and 2011. In June 2011, a document was presented to the ExCOM. The following documents are available as a result of this process:

  • Plag, Hans-Peter, 2010: The First Assessment Report on the State of Global Earth Observation (FAR-GEO). Paper presented to the STC Meeting, 2010, Ankara, Turkey. See pdf.
  • Minchin, Stuart, 2011: Development of a GEO Gap Analysis Strategy. Presentation given at the GEO Workshop “Building a User-Driven GEOSS: Methods to Capture, Analyze, and Prioritize User Needs,” Sydney, Australia, April 10, 2011. See ppt
  • Science and Technology Committee, 2011: Development of a GEOSS Gap Analysis Strategy (for decision). See doc.
  • Plag, Hans-Peter, 2012: FAR-GEO: First Assessment Report of Global Earth Observation. Web page available at http://www.far-geo.com.

The overall status of the discussion is best summarized in the STC paper presented to the ExCOM. The discussion was discontinued shortly after the STC was disolved.

The FAR GEO Assessment proposed to the STC in 2010 would take a rather comprehensive approach and include the identification of what is essential to observe in order to understand the coupled socio-economic and environmental system and to monitor variability and changes in this system (basically the essential variables across all domains), the discussion of which of these variables are observable or derivable from observations with the goal to identify knowledge and technology gaps, and assess the observing systems with respect to the deliverable of the observations meeting the requirements for the essential variables. ConnectinGEO is making considerable progress towards a methodology for FAR GEO.

SEE IN KB and Gap Analysis

The SEE IN KB aims to connect societal goals and targets to essential variables that need to be observed in order to quantify indicators that provide the metrics for measuring progress towards these goals. For each indicator, specific observational requirements can be derived that need to be met. In the frame of the SEE IN KB, the goal of gap analyses is to identify those EVs that are not available to satisfy the observational requirements. The SEE IN KB also considers observational requirements derived from a wide range of applications and aims to determing the societal benefits depending on each of these requirements. In a gap analysis, the requirements not met are identified and the associated societal benefits are used to prioritize the gaps.