Water Environmental Hub at Geo Alberta - May 8 2012

A cloud-based, open, web platform that aggregates and federates water and environmental data and makes that data accessible through an API

A non-profit project funded by Western Economic Diversification Canada, Natural Resources Canada GeoConnections program, Cybera and the University of Lethbridge

Alex Joseph - Executive Director – alex.joseph@explorus.orgwww.waterenvironmentalhub.ca

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Jim Prentice announcesWater Hub on World Water DayMarch 22, 2010

1st region under water stress

Diverse geography

$Trillions water infrastructure

“…wouldn’t it be nice to have one (web) platform for climate and hydrometric data”

– J. Allen (SFU) @ CWRA2011

2043 MB - Download Full Dataset

Phone Dave for data Subject: Out of Office Auto Reply – on vacation…

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Problem with Water Data

• Local - majority of water data is stored on paper, local computers, controlled organizational databases -> restricted by storage medium

• Stranded - little water data is available online, what is available is piecemeal -> not web connected

• Hidden, Dispersed - most of what is available is on many different websites, often obscured within those websites -> dispersed widely

• Opaque - most of what is available is only in downloadable format -> all or nothing

• Custom Format - most are not standardized -> custom structures

• Human Required - virtually none are available as an API -> requires human intervention

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The Dream

• All water data is available through web services - including historical, new data can be found automatically

• (at least) One great node where one can efficiently search and find water data one is looking for

• Data can be converted/transformed on the fly• User can easily mash together datasets• Users have access to great tools and can custom build

tools• Users can integrate water data with other types of data

from other sources through API

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WEB PLATFORM

DATA

APPLICATIONS

LESS DUPLICATION AND WASTEMORE RESEARCH, MORE SOLUTIONS, BETTER MANAGEMENT

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Enabling Infostructure

Dissolving Boundaries

political organizational platform data applications

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Browse data

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Metadata

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Share data

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Visualize data

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Develop Apps with API

A great platform with no data is…

Is like a plate with no food.

When the Water and Environmental Hub launched the cup was only half full…

On the Right Path?

• Federal: NRCan GeoConnections/CGDI, GIN• Provincial: AENV, BC MOE, SWA, IISD, ON MOE, NS• Municipal: Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Vancouver• International: GEOSS, OGC, CUAHSI, UNGEMS, GRDC,

UN, World Bank, USGS, Aus, NZ, EU Inspire • Industry: Google, Open Layers, Pachube• Academia: Canada Research Data Summit, US NSF*>

DataOne, DataConservancy, UK > IEDRO, Aus > TERN

*US NSF mandates data management for funding

RecognitionApril, 2012 – “Report on Water Forum”, National Roundtable on Energy and Environment March 2012 – “Summary of Water Info Resources”, BC Ministry of EnvironmentFebruary 7, 2012 - "Evaluating the Water Hackathon: What’s Your Problem?", World Bank Water HackathonFebruary 2, 2012 - "App Savy", Water Canada MagazineJanuary 10, 2012 - "Democratizing Data", Water’s Next (an annual publication from Water Canada magazine), p24January 6, 2012 - "Join Cybera and WEHUB at Metropolis", Cybera NewsJanuary 5, 2012 - "WEHUB Flowchart App", GeogNews, Canadian Association of GeographersDecember 15, 2011 - "Website serves water data for public consumption", The Western ProducerOctober 26, 2011 - Liberating Water Data - Guest Post by Alex Joseph - WEHUB", DataLibre.caOctober 24, 2011 - The Water and Environmental Hub - Making Water and Environmental Data More Accessible", H2O: Ideas & Actions for Canada’s Water - A blog about the Lake Winnipeg WatershedSeptember 2011 - A Flood of APIs Just Waiting to Happen", API EvangelistSeptember 2011 - "IP3 Data Archive", IP3 Network, University of SaskatchewanJanuary/February 2011 - Water Canada Magazine, "Tools for the Trade"March 22, 2010 - "U of L pegged as Water Hub", The Legend, University of Lethbridge

What’s Next?

• Organization– Explorus, Phase 2 funding, New partners

• Platform– Additional API capability, visualization features, processing capability,

file conversion on the fly, sensors

• Data– Federal: Env Can, Parks Canada– Provincial: BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, NS– Other sectors: eBird

• Apps– Scalable applications (i.e. State of the…)

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Hard to find water data

Expensive to publish water data

Difficult to distribute water data

Costly to use water data

Easy to search and discover water data

Lower cost to publish water data including real time

~$0 distribution of water data

Easy to mashup and integrate water data into applications

A cloud-based, open, web platform that aggregates and federates water and environmental data and makes that data accessible through an API

A non-profit project funded by Western Economic Diversification Canada, Natural Resources Canada GeoConnections program, Cybera and the University of Lethbridge

Alex Joseph - Executive Director – alex.joseph@explorus.orgwww.waterenvironmentalhub.ca

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