Eye on Earth (EoE),Citizen Science and

the Invasive Alien Species project

Malene Bruun

NRC’s for EISJune 17, 2011

Eye on Earth objectives To provide a user-friendly global system for sharing georeferenced environmental data and information to:

• Provide a platform environmental data (historical and NRT)

• Enable user interaction through feedback and ratings

• Initiate and facilitate ”citizen science” activities

To engage a wide variety of communities and individuals at different levels of complexity

Interacting with the public

EEA

Public

Data, indicators and assessments

Feedback

Public

Data & indicatorsData & indicators

Information and ratings

Public

What do we (want to) get from the public?

Feedback:• “I love Eye on Earth”• “It would be good tohave more info on . . ”

Citizen science:• “I’ve counted 1 007 352butterflies in Caix today”• Here’s the noise levelin Amalienborg measuredon my Android• This is a picture ofsomething Henri shot nearEremitage Lodge

Ratings:• “This location is good”• “It’s noisy here” Crowd

sourcing

Why Citizen Science?

• Increasing interest in Citizen Science

• Commitment to engage with more target audiences

• Advancement and availability of Information, Communication, Technology (ICT) tools

Citizen Science

• Public involvement in projects or ongoing programmes of scientific work by which individual volunteers or networks of volunteers, many of whom may have no specific scientific training, perform or manage research-related tasks such as observation, measurement or computation

Citizen Science – added value

• Generates large amounts of data from many different people in several regions in a relatively short period of time

• Experienced volunteers can deliver more accurate/ consistent information than ‘short term’ technicians

• Useful when aiming to identify trends and spatial differences/ similarities in parameters or species observed

Our vision

• To engage the public in the observation and reporting of environmental data and information to fill important gaps in our knowledge and understanding of Europe’s environment

Overall objectives

• To design and implement Citizen Science activities enabling the Agency to fill gaps in European environmental data and information

• To establish citizen science as an important monitoring activity in Europe and ensure that it is properly managed across relevant networks, and in relation to key EU bodies and stakeholders

• To establish the success criteria required to properly design and evaluate Citizen Science projects

Why this project?

• Political interest the monitoring of Invasive Alien Species (IAS)

• Expert emphasis on the need for ‘surveillance and monitoring activities’

• Biodiversity monitoring is costly and active communities already exist

The vision

• To engage citizens in the observation and reporting of invasive alien species to fill gaps in our knowledge about changes in these, and hopefully contribute to the establishment of an IAS Early Warning and Rapid Response System.

Aim of this project• Test new ways of monitoring the invasion of alien

species in Europe

• Create a pilot with a longer term vision for an IAS monitoring system based on Citizen Science

• Raise general awareness of Invasive Alien Species

• Operate within the frame of the future EU strategy on IAS, ongoing activities in EU member states, and global IAS strategies (CBD)

Process foreseen• Initial emphasis on IAS expert involvement

• Citizen science as a tool to monitor IAS• Networks • Species

• Country involvement• Connecting with existing initiatives• Securing proper data flows, data import and verification

• Technical developments• Web and smart phone applications • Web services

• Pilot based on Citizen Science available when the longer term EU vision for an IAS monitoring system is ready

Configurable…Configurable…

Time aware…Time aware…External

platform’sExternal

platform’s

Time aware

Platform

Services

Applications

DesktopsDesktopsMACMAC PCPCLINUXLINUX

MobilesMobilesWindows 7Windows 7 Iphone/IPadIphone/IPadAndroidAndroid

MachinesMachinesP2PP2PGBIFGBIF ……

Community 2Community 2Community 1Community 1 Community 4Community 4Community 3Community 3

Mapping servicesMapping services

Feature servicesFeature services

Tabular servicesTabular services

Modeling services

Modeling services

Geospatial…Geospatial…EoEplatform

EoEplatform

Community 5Community 5

External

What are we looking for?

- Volunteers for the pilot- System in place- Data available for import

- National citizen Science activities (information, contacts)

- Innovative environmental applications (web, smart phones)

-

What do we offer in return?Local to global connectivity

o Enable local/ national iniatives to connect with/ relate to the overall picture

o Provide European/ global exposure to national/ local initiatives

Bring communities togethero Establish contacts with other countries/

regions collecting similar informationo Enable data comparison & exchange of best

practiceso Language (translation)

Contribute to EU Strategies/ policy worko Establish connections between citizen science

activities and EU policy

Broaden the networko Engage new/ emerging communities

Communicationo Facilitate communication amongst

communities and viz a viz EU

Infrastructureo GIS Expertise

• Common platform• Mapping applications• Map services• Processing tools (produce messages)

o Development resources• App/Tools to accommodate accurate

data collection• Positioning/Picture verify

o Access to data• Access to own data and data by others

EEA does not intend to

• Create our own community

• Take away ownership from others

Keep project mutually beneficial

Thank you

Tel. 00 45 33 36 71 65Malene.bruun@eea.europa.eu