Unlocking the Power of Geospatial Data: Embracing FAIR Principles for Innovation and Impact

Description

During the event, Dr. Gail Millin-Chalabi, co-leader of the GISMEO community, delivered a presentation titled “Unlocking the Power of Geospatial Data: Embracing the FAIR Principles for Innovation and Impact.” She began by introducing geospatial data and emphasised how adopting the FAIR principles—Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable—is essential for enabling discovery, access, sharing, and reuse of datasets to support broader research and innovation. Drawing on her research knowledge and experience, she used practical examples to illustrate points.

When discussing the Findable principle, Gail demonstrated how platforms like Google Earth Engine enhance dataset discoverability through centralised, searchable catalogs of satellite imagery and environmental data. She noted, however, that the platform does not automatically assign Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) to datasets or scripts. To address this, she outlined the steps for archiving outputs and assigning DOIs—a process the UKFDRS Project will undertake over the summer

For the Accessible principle, the mention of Figshare sparked a lively discussion. One participant pointed out that while it’s often assumed everyone knows which systems to use, many researchers are unsure. This highlighted the need for clearer communication—such as identifying commonly used systems across disciplines and exploring where future investment could better support data sharing. Gail also referenced the roles of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), the EU INSPIRE Directive, and Data.gov.uk in promoting access to geospatial data.

For the Interoperable principle, Gail used Digimap to illustrate how standardised formats and services support interoperability. She noted that Digimap is typically accessible only to users in higher education institutions under university licenses. She summarised the importance of OGC standards in enabling geospatial outputs to work across platforms and software.

For the Reusable principle, Gail stressed the importance of richly described metadata with accurate and relevant attributes. She used the UK Fire Danger Rating System to demonstrate ISO 19139, the XML schema implementation of ISO 19115 for geographic metadata. She noted that metadata creation is often incomplete due to limited resources or the lack of integration into researchers’ workflows.

In the final section of the presentation, titled Innovation & Impact, Gail highlighted the opening-up of satellite datasets and the evolving changes in data usage policies. She concluded that the increasing availability of geospatial data—such as Earth Observation datasets—has created valuable opportunities for commercialisation and the growth of new start-ups and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Period	11 Jun 2025
Event title	Research Data Conversations: Office for Open Research
Event type	Workshop
Location	Manchester, United KingdomShow on map