Meeting Venue: Remote Meeting – webex https://seascapebelgium.my.webex.com/meet/EMODnetsec

Dates: Thursday 23 April 2020 (9:00-12:30) & Friday 24 April 2020 (9:00-13:00)

Meeting Chairs: Iain Shepherd (DG MARE) & Conor Delaney (EMODnet Secretariat)

List of Participants: See Annex I

Actions list – To be tracked in JIRA

Meeting Minutes

DAY 1, Thursday 23 April 2020

1. Welcome & introduction - Iain Shepherd (DG MARE) and Conor Delaney (EMODnet Secretariat)

• Welcome to participants & Tour de Table
• Practical arrangements – remote meeting
• Expected outcomes of this meeting

Conor Delaney (EMODnet Secretariat, Technical Coordinator) opened the meeting and welcomed all participants. He emphasized that an important aim of the meeting is to better understand how EMODnet can and should evolve as a service provider and consider the necessary support tools to drive and monitor progress such as jira, indicator dashboard, etc.

2. Recap DG MARE Vision Objectives for next phase of EMODnet and implications - Iain Shepherd (DG MARE) and Zoi Konstantinou (DG MARE)

Zoi Konstantinou (DG MARE) recapped on the vision for the next phase of EMODnet which will see the programme move towards a more integrated approach with centralised access to all data resources, with the objective to significantly improve EMODnet as a service provider and maintain and expand the EMODnet user base. In the context of this Technical Working Group meeting, consideration to possible technical challenges and conception solutions are useful as to consider how to best prepare EMODnet for its next phase, without any prejudice or preconception as to how the next phase will be implemented. One goal of this TWG meeting is to therefore hear the point of view of the technical coordinators of the thematic lots about the challenges that could be encountered during the transition period. It was re-emphasized that the current contracts will still need to be honoured and implementation of the new vision objectives is expected to be done mainly during the next contractual period. All the thematic portals views are very valued and welcomed.

3. Updates and progress since previous Technical Working Group - Tim Collart (EMODnet Secretariat); Conor Delaney (EMODnet Secretariat); and Joana Beja (VLIZ))

• EMODnet as a service provider;
• INSPIRE compliance and updates;
• Personal data protection regulatory requirements;
• Revision of action points from previous meetings – cf. Meeting Document 1

Tim Collart (EMODnet Secretariat) presented updates and progress since 6^th Technical Working Group Meeting, including EMODnet as a service provider, INSPIRE compliance and updates and Data regulation:

• We will continue to work on EMODnet as a service provider, monitoring the performance, availability, quality of web services. The approach will be discussed in agenda item 7;

• Much progress has been made towards INSPIRE compliance of the OGC web services but some issues remain. The Secretariat can support the lots in solving the remaining issues through the JIRA issue 33.
• All portals have taken measures to ensure compliance with data protection regulatory requirements and reported timely to EASME. Additional evaluation will be done in light of the forthcoming migration of the Central Portal to the europa.eu domain. EASME and DG MARE will provide with additional feedback in due time.

Review list of Actions (open issues & revision required):

• TWG6-2: Resolved
• TWG6-5: Guidelines have been developed by Trust-IT (D1.5). Salvatore Catroppa (Trust-IT) and Sara Garavelli (Trust-IT) gave a short update that all the portal websites are expected to have same visual guidelines’. Great improvements from the portals were recorded and provided to the Secretariat as a deliverable. Trust-IT will keep monitoring in the coming months until the new integrated portals will be in action with the updated guidelines clarified.
• TWG6-8: Some portals made efforts on the implementation of INSPIRE Compliant CSW. Alessandra Giorgetti (EMODnet Chemistry) has this catalogue for all the products developed within the project, including all the maps analysis and the datasets. All products described with CSW are in the sextant catalogue which is INSPIRE compliant. The content is reflected into the central catalogue in the Central Portal.

• See table 1 for Action 1

• TWG6-9: The goal is that the Central Portal GeoNetwork can be harvested the EU Open Data Portal. Bart Vanhoorne (VLIZ) confirmed they are working on this.
• TWG6-10: Alessandra Giorgetti (EMODnet Chemistry) indicated the completion of this action. However, some of the data products cannot be downloaded through the WFS download service (e.g. point measurements, contamination). EMODnet Chemistry have a WFS service documented and need clarification on which products are compliant (i.e. downloadable) and follow up on this issue. Tim Collart gave an example of eutrophication map which does not have an OGC download service available and ask for potential support for WCS access in the future. EMODnet Chemistry indicated that they currently provide Open Dap access and have investigated how WCS access could be provided in the future. However, no feasible solution has been identified at this stage. A follow-up by opening a JIRA ticket was agreed.

• See table 1 for Action 2

• TWG6-11: Antonio Novellino (EMODnet Physics) suggested to open a JIRA issue and plan some bilateral meetings to see product by product to see what is missing (if it is missing).

• See table 1 for Action 3

• TWG6-12 and 13: Bart Vanhoorne (VLIZ) gave an overview of the Central Portal Query Tool, for which development started 2 years ago as an easy way of viewing statistics and summary information from data product layers from different thematic lots. VLIZ will make the Query Tool available but stop this development to focus on the new strategy for the Central Portal. He suggested to close this ticket.
• TWG6-18: Tim Collart (EMODnet Secretariat) opened a discussion and proposed to monitor usage of Web services centrally instead of creating this distributed monitoring traffic as we are planning to have a more centralized infrastructure in the future. Conor Delaney (EMODnet Secretariat) emphasized the vision of EMODnet as a service provider and asked for some technical feedback based on the experience of thematic lots. Further follow up in agenda item 7.
• TWG6 – 21 The EMODnet Secretariat aims to take a more structured and transparent approach to follow up on requests for user support by making use of JIRA service desk which will log the Contact Form requests and assigning follow up to the relevant portal coordinator(s)

Fabienne Jacq (DG DEFIS) mentioned that JIRA ticketing system has been adopted by Copernicus services as change management tool to record requests, product information and actions internally and traditional communication by emails is still used afterwards. Tickets are closed once they are solved, so everything (e.g. all services, all kinds of changes) can be tracked in efficiently.

Conor Delaney (EMODnet Secretariat) wrapped up this discussion by stating that the use of JIRA ticketing system is expected for user contacts at the Central Portal, to facilitate and manages the work and to record and recognize all the efforts. Mickael Vasquez (EMODnet Seabed Habitats) asked when the Secretariat will open the JIRA issue on the Contact Form and request it is made clear which portals are concerned. Tim Collart confirmed that when EMODnet Secretariat creates a JIRA issue on any item, the Secretariat will assign the coordinators of the portals that are relevant, therefore we are very much dependent on the technical expertise of portal coordinatorsJoana Beja (VLIZ) added that it is done automatically if the user selects a specific portal; besides, the assigned person can be tracked in changes and the assignee/assigner will also be recorded. Coordination can be done and we can keep the oversight. It is a transparent system but it takes a little bit of time to get used to. Jan-Bart Calewaert (EMODnet Secretariat) suggested to provide guidance for unexperienced users, to create an online demonstration or tutorial, or to organise a webinar at some stage by an experience Jira user from Secretariat or VLIZ.

Conor Delaney (EMODnet Secretariat) concluded that the Secretariat will follow up as we need to follow best practices and JIRA clearly is the way forward. He suggested to produce a document after the meeting showing the JIRA workflow.

• See table 1 for Actions 4 and 5

• TWG 6 – 22: An email contact list will be created that will contain relevant contact people from the portals. Conor Delaney (EMODnet Secretariat) recommended to use the case of EMODnet as service and think how we are serving our users in other cases (e.g. Atlas of the Seas).

• See table 1 for Action 6

• TWG 6 – 26: Nick Earwaker (EMODnet Human Activities) reported no updates on Vessel Density Maps at the moment and confirmed they will follow up on this. They can contact the Secretariat if further support is needed via JIRA issue 6.
• TWG4-22 / 23 / 24: Bart Vanhoorne (VLIZ) confirmed that they have elaborated an API documentation. He suggested to close the last two actions and rethink this idea of Query tool in the frame of the new approach.
• TWG3-1: Bart Vanhoorne (VLIZ) confirmed that they will check whether it is fixed and suggested to leave it open to keep more background information. Check integration of the Physics climatology data in the Central Portal geoviewer will be followed up in JIRA

• See table 1 for Action 7

• TWG3-2: The action is done and the layer is available. But Antonio Novellino (EMODnet Physics) was not sure if the Central Portal is able to integrate it. It needs to be confirmed and Bart suggested to send VLIZ the correct layer parameters. Check integration of the Physics climatology data in the Central Portal geoviewer. This will be followed up in JIRA.

• See table 1 for Action 8

• TWG2-4: (Get_legend_graphic) Bart Vanhoorne (VLIZ) will double check.
• TWG2-5: Antonio Novellino (EMODnet Physics) confirmed this action can be closed because it is an old layer of 3 years ago. Conor Delaney (EMODnet Secretariat) suggested to create a JIRA issue and close it to mark that the work has been done.

4. Approach and general framework for operational developments (Jan-Bart Calewaert, (EMODnet Secretariat); Conor Delaney, (EMODnet Secretariat) and Joana Beja, (VLIZ))

• Please refer to meeting documents: JIRA - Meeting Document 2
• Modus operandi and Terms of Reference of the EMODnet Technical Working Group: objectives set up, composition and operations, regular remote meetings.

Jan-Bart Calewaert (EMODnet Secretariat) went through the TWG Terms of Reference. Copies of this were sent to the portal coordinators. In light of the new strategy: Dialogue theme will be done with each of the Portals in the coming months.

Some operational tools are in use to facilitate the process.

• Includes JIRA
• Extended with a Confluence wiki

• See table 1 for Action 9

Main comments from TWG:

• According to Dick Schaap (MARIS), there will be a need for much more interaction between the thematic lots and the Central Portal development team in the future. Under the current contract, the small team may not have enough time available to participate in these interactions since they still need to focus on deliverables linked to their own portal.
• Conor Delaney (EMODnet Secretariat) explained that the aim is to make communication and collaboration much more efficient, by using productivity tools such as JIRA.
• Zoi Konstantinou (DG MARE) added that for an initial period of time, more communication may be required, but over time, the centralization of EMODnet services will have much payoff.
• Dick Schaap (MARIS) enquired if in future Tenders will stay per portal or if there will be a centralized one.
• Zoi Konstantinou (DG MARE) clarified that there will be a move to a different business model, and there is a need to mainstream the work done by the portals. Indeed, some technical developments will not be proposed by the portals, but will be requested. There may be a period of time where thematic lots are flexible and efforts may need to be re-prioritised. The decision is not going to change, we need to follow up with constructive discussions.
• Fabienne Jacq (DG Defis, Copernicus) Agreed with Zoi Konstantinou (DG MARE) that the transition to the new EMODnet vision is a strategic and mandatory step which will create a much more added value and breakthrough for EMODnet. The technical barriers are not too high as a state-of-the-art technology is available to make it work. The cooperation between the technical experts a traditional project management work, and it will not be impossible to do without proper productivity tools such as JIRA.

5. EMODnet technical development framework in view of the new DG MARE vision objectives

• Please refer to meeting documents: JIRA - Meeting Document 3

6. EMODnet Central Portal Developments – Concept, approach and preparatory work by Central Portal development team(Bart Vanhoorne (VLIZ) and Conor Delaney (EMODnet Secretariat ))-Meeting Document 3

Bart Vanhoorne (VLIZ) went over the Central Portal data gateway discussion document highlighting the main points below:

• Search, visualize and download data through a single tool;
• Find tutorials and examples for accessing and processing data;
• Use helpdesk service for any questions.

The Central Portal team has started indexing the technologies that are being used, what data formats are used, what services are offered. This will be continued in the current contracts. In the future, thematic portals will change to a machine-to-machine interface though with a thematic portal community space on the Central Portal. Content of the Central Portal will remain the task of the Secretariat. However, the thematic lots will be able to use their community space to cater to their specific users. The Central Portal will be migrated to the Europa domain before the end of 2020.

The following monitoring tools have been set up:

• • GeoHealthCheck
  • Matomo from Central Portal will switch to Europa Analytics. But as the API of Europa analytics is the same, this has no major implications for the Dashboard implementation. To implement the new strategy, a collaborative approach between the Central Portal team and thematic lots is envisaged. There are no decisions yet on which technologies will be used.

Timing

Request from DG MARE was to have an integration of the Central Portal, 6 months after the start of a new contract. As such, EMODnet Bathymetry will be integrated first (by June 2021), which should be feasible as the number of products is manageable. Bathymetry emphasized that their users desire more functionalities than just a download service.

Towards a collaborative framework using a stepwise AGILE approach – workplan, coordination, collaborative exchanges and communication.

Dick Schaap (MARIS) had asked if he could give a presentation of his personal thoughts on sharing marine observation data. A pdf of the presentation is available as part of the meeting presentations.

EMODnet Checkpoint websites migration to Central Portal - Meeting Document 4

This document was not presented, all portal coordinators were sent a copy.

Feedback from Thematic Portals and open discussion

This session was scheduled to start on Day 2 but since time was available it was decided to start this session. Presentations from the portals are available as part of the meeting presentations.

END OF MEETING DAY 1

DAY 2, Friday 24 April 2020

6. Updates, features and perspectives from EMODnet thematic projects - Meeting Document 5 with compilation of short information updates and feedback per portal – continued from previous day

Discussion of following point by each of the portals:

1. Overview of planned developments and data/product releases under current contract;
2. Short, medium and long term implications of the new EMODnet vision objectives & recommendations for future developments;
3. Overview of technical architecture/infrastructure and key features of each of the portals;
4. Recommendations and insights from the thematic portals to support further developments.

Presentations from the portals are available as part of the meeting presentations.

EMODnet Chemistry and Geology provided an overview of planned developments and data/product releases under current contract. As updates to existing products and release of new products are relevant for the European Atlas of the Seas, the EMODnet Secretariat wants to follow up on them through JIRA.

• See table 1 for Action 10
• See table 1 for Action 11

Before moving to the next agenda item, Jan-Bart Calewaert (EMODnet Secretariat) invited EMODnet Human Activities to share updates about the Data for MSP Workshop which took place the previous day. Alessandro Pittito (EMODnet Human Activities) reported that they had a meeting with a newly-formed group of marine experts to discuss data aspects to support Members States in their Marine Spatial Planning processes. Human activities will submit a proposal for a common harmonisation plan to assist Members States and avoid all submitted plans to be completely incomparable. The TWG will be kept informed.

7. Progress performance monitoring, reporting and harmonization (EMODnet Secretariat, VLIZ & Trust-IT & All)

• Reassessment of EMODnet progress indicators & streamlining of the reporting procedures (EMODnet Secretariat) - Meeting Document 6
• Dashboard progress indicators - A link to the prototype dashboard will be circulated before meeting for TWG members to have a look and provide feedback (Trust-IT)

Sara Garavelli (Trust-IT) gave an overview & current status of dashboard progress indicators with the major changes: removal of 8.2 and ongoing 7/9.2. She proposed an open discussion on following questions:

• Addition of other indicators?
• Addition of another dashboard for more granularity?
• Publication of dashboard? Make samples of indicators public making efforts toward transparency for stakeholders.

Iain Shepherd (DG MARE) agreed that making indicators public should be a goal.

OGC service monitoring

• GeoHealthCheck implementation - monitor.emodnet.eu

Bart Vanhoorne (VLIZ) gave an overview of the OGC service monitoring in place to check WMS, WCS, WMS status. The check is running every 10 min, meaning it can detect when the service goes down. Bart Vanhoorne (VLIZ) requested a list of contact points from portals to whom downtime can be reported (See Action 6).

• Webservice content monitoring tool(s)

It was agreed that since the INSPIRE validator (developed by JRC) is the official tool of INSPIRE and it will be used going forward.

• See table 1 for Action 12

• Webservices traffic monitoring

In the previous TWG, it was agreed that all the monitoring extension API’s of the EMODnet GeoServers could be used to monitor web service traffic. However, some questions remain: (1) not all EMODnet web services are provided by a GeoServer (2) What are the efforts required to make the monitoring extension API available (what Geoserver versions are supported)?

Quarterly and interim progress reporting (Julie Auerbach (EMODnet Secretariat) and Conor Delaney (EMODnet Secretariat))

Julie Auerbach (EMODnet Secretariat) updated the participants about recent discussions with coordinators and technical managers of each thematic lot individually to see how indicators are being interpreted and could be improved/rationalised. Conor Delaney suggested to open the discussion and go through the each of the indicators to see, what is useful indicator and how to standardize it.

Sara Garavelli (Trust-IT) informed that the new dashboard will provide information on a daily basis (previously on a quarterly basis).

Open discussion on indicators:

Indicator 8: adjustment in the spreadsheet needs to be done before the data can be used in reports:

• Joana Beja (VLIZ) mentioned that 8.1 will need to be multiplied by 90 so that it can be compared with previous reported indicators.
• To avoid duplication, do we still need to have a table of values or do we just copy and paste the graph from the dashboard.
• Dick Schaap (MARIS) suggested maybe in table the summarised numbers per 3 months while the graphs show daily rates? We always want to know how many visitors we had over a longer period, but also daily. It is not correct to multiply 365 to get annual number, because lots of people might return.
• Lucie Pautet (EASME) confirmed that EASME are regularly asked to provide numbers over a year. So that needs to be available - graph and number (also in some report).

Indicator 10-12: Indicator 10 caused much confusion – will need to be clarified which web page do they want to be indexed? Joana Beja (VLIZ) asked how these indicators were originally developed. Jan-Bart Calewaert (EMODnet Secretariat) clarified that a first list of 10 relatively straightforward indicators were developed by the Secretariat in 2013 in close collaboration with thematic lots and VLIZ. Later on, indicators underwent a major review in 2017 which made them perhaps too complicated to collect, interpret and compare between lots and therefore not entirely fit for purpose. This is why another major review is now ongoing to streamline, simplify and automate the indicators in dialogue with the thematic lots.

• See table 1 for Action 14

Indicator 9: Portal user friendliness. Conor Delaney (EMODnet Secretariat) suggested to remove as per the slides of Sara Garavelli (Trust-IT).

Lucie Pautet (EASME) requested clarification regarding the inclusion of bots in some of the Matomo statistics following a report by the EMODnet Secretariat. Tim Collart (EMODnet Secretariat) asked Bart Vanhoorne (VLIZ) to comment on how the MATOMO deals with bots in its reported visitors? Bart Vanhoorne (VLIZ) replied that the report is created as standardized as any other analytic software. Tim Collart (EMODnet Secretariat) clarified that the report in question was indicating that the large discrepancy between page views and unique page views in the first quarter a page was recorded, was likely the result of initial testing of the page, but that this discrepancy was not there in following quarters and thus this should not affect the statistics anymore.

Indicator 5: Joana Beja (VLIZ) raised the concerns that we do not have a standard list of institutions and we should consider a smaller list. Conor suggested to add capita statistics for EU member states. Dick suggested to be careful because these will be relative numbers. Joana suggested more important to standardize the organization structure across the lots. Biology used to allow free text in indicator 5 and now it is a pre-selected mandatory field; But it is not applied to all the lots, so that it is not comparable. Minimal guidance should be expected across lots. We need to collate the information not only from Trust-IT. Dick commented filtering 1300+ users is a lot of work and wished to deal with a shorter list. It is useful to have a standard class (university, research institute). Julie Auerbach (EMODnet Secretariat) added some decision are taken via email. Joana Beja (VLIZ) suggested to remove categories.

• See table 1 for Action 15

Indicator 6: to be removed. Jan-Bart Calewaert (EMODnet Secretariat) suggested to share information in narrative part of the periodic interim and final reports (decision).

Indicator 1.1: Joana Beja (VLIZ) mentioned this is the indicator not comparable across the lots. So this cannot be used for comparing. For biology sometimes there is negative trend, it means that datasets ingesting in the reporting period contained fewer data of the specific theme when compared to the previous period. It was not clear in the feedback to the lots, if the provided information is OK and if further communication is needed. Conor suggested to have side meeting on indicators during the Jamboree.

• See table 1 for Action 16

Indicator 1.2: It was not very clear to EMODnet Biology whether internal or external products should be reported. What if the products cover different sub-themes? How to deal with redundancy? Jan-Bart Calewaert (EMODnet Secretariat) clarified it is useful to have both (Seabed Habitat reported both). Biology products covered different regions so it is not a good way to present what is requested.

Indicator 7: Julie Auerbach (EMODnet Secretariat) reconfirmed that all the use cases will be held on Central Portal website. Jan-Bart Calewaert (EMODnet Secretariat) confirmed the Secretariat provided a template in the past and we will be able to track and monitor. Some portals have their own use cases in different presentations. The main principle is that all the cases are held on Central Portal. Antonio Novellino (EMODnet Physics) agreed that in case of Physics, they rely on the Central Portal: if we publish a case we just publish a news and point to the Central Portal, easier and clearer for us. Iain Shepherd (DG MARE) repeated some indicators should be made public. EMODnet Biology publish all the indicators once approved by DG MARE/EASME.

• See table 1 for Action 18

Technical support, specific questions, technical issues & other updates

Joana Beja (VLIZ) has sent feedback to Trust-IT on changing dates function which is still not working for Biology.

• See table 1 for Actions 19 and 20

Alessandra Giorgetti (EMODnet Chemistry) suggested to share between portals the indicators reported and the Secretariat agreed it is a good practice.

EMODnet Secretariat has been working toward such centralisation, Julie Auerbach (EMODnet Secretariat) suggested to centralize the reports from all the portals and called for a common space on Central Portal to store them.

8. EMODnet Jamboree: fostering cross-lot collaboration and interactions for technical developments

Jan-Bart Calewaert (EMODnet Secretariat) opened the free discussion on the Jamboree agenda, and Conor Delaney (EMODnet Secretariat) suggested Town hall meetings like EGU to ask technical people to share experience

9. Next Technical Working Group Meeting: format, date and location (Secretariat & all)

We aim for a virtual TWG meeting in September 2020. Dick Schaap (MARIS) mentioned about the EMOD-PACE WP2 scheduled on 11/12 May and persuaded all EU colleagues to make these dates. Iain Shepherd (DG MARE) is also willing to join and he is open to all the dates.

10. Wrap up, actions, next meeting

It was concluded to consider planning a short half-day remote video-meeting early September 2020 to assess progress and prepare for the Open Conference and Jamboree

END OF MEETING

Annex I: List of Participants