Medio ambiente

The European Data Portal (EDP) has presented its report "Copernicus data for the open data community", prepared by con.terra as part of the EDP consortium. As we have reported before, Copernicus is the European Union's Earth Observation program that provides accurate, timely and easily accessible information to improve environmental management, understand and mitigate the effects of climate change and ensure civil security.

The report aims to help users harness the potential of Copernicus data to create Earth observation applications by answering three basic questions:

• What can I do with Copernicus data?
• How can I access the data?
• What tools do I need to use the data?

After an introduction reviewing the main activities and services available from the program, the report is divided into two parts: a first part where examples of Copernicus data applications are examined and a second, more practical part, where a particular use case is replicated in depth.

Copernicus use cases

The first part covers a series of possible use cases at a general level to answer the first of the questions posed above: what can be done with Copernicus data?

The use cases discussed are linked to the thematic areas addressed by the Copernicus program (emergency, security, marine, land, climate change and atmospheric monitoring), as well as to its services and tools. These examples cover the observation of plastic pollution of the oceans, land change due to mining activities, the impact of volcanic activities, ice loss, the creation of artificial islands, deforestation, forest fires, storms or pests.

The report highlights the importance of knowing what data are appropriate for each specific use case. For example, SENTINEL 2 MSI data is suitable for land monitoring, emergency management and security services, while SENTINEL 3 Altimetry data is linked to the areas of marine monitoring and climate change. To assist in this identification task, the guide includes references to various user guides with specifications on the missions, the instruments used to collect the data and the data products generated.

Case study on the use of Copernicus data 

The second part of the report focuses on a particular use case that it addresses in depth, including how to download the appropriate data, process it and build applications with it. Specifically, it addresses the mapping of the lava flow of the Etna volcano using data from the Copernicus emergency management service. The aim is to track the impact of volcanic activities on nature and urban areas.

First, the report shows how to search and download data for this area of interest.  In this case, Sentinel-2 products are used from the Copernicus Open Access Hub. The entry point for accessing the Copernicus data is their own website, which provides an overview of the data access points. Through different images, the report shows search and filter options to locate the appropriate data.

To visualize and process the data, it is proposed to use commercial software such as ArcGIS Pro,  free GIS tools such as QGIS, open source processing tools such as SNAP or programming libraries such as GDAL. In the case of the example, SNAP (Sentinel Application Platform), the European Space Agency (ESA) platform, is used to view the lava flow.

Some explanations on workflow automation with the Open Access Hub API and the SNAPgraph tool are given at the end of the chapter.

Final conclusions

The report ends with several conclusions, among which the following stand out:

1. Users can extract great value from Copernicus data but to do so they need to be familiar with the platforms involved and the necessary tools.
2. For most use cases, it is necessary to combine Copernicus data with in situ data. The Copernicus program itself uses data from ground-based sensors, for example, for calibration and validation of its products.

Spain's role in Copernicus

The Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, through the National Geographic Institute, and the Ministry for Ecological Transition (MITECO) represent Spain in the Copernicus User Forum, for the monitoring and evolution of the program. In this interview Nuria Valcárcel, Deputy Assistant Director (Observation of the Territory) of the General Directorate of Geodesy and Cartography, in the D.G. National Geographic Institute (IGN) delves into the services of Copernicus and its usefulness in the economic and social field.

In datos.gob.es you can also find this other interview with Stéphane Ourevitch, founder of SpaceTec, who participated as a speaker at the Encuentro Aporta 2019, where he tells us about the usefulness of data for space observation and how the Copernicus program promotes entrepreneurship through actions such as hackathons.

Copernicus data are very useful all over the world. In our country, we also find multiple services and applications developed based on Copernicus data, some of which are collected in this article.

More than 2.5 billion tonnes. That is the amount of waste that, according to the European Union, is produced every year in the EU - although the specific figure is from 2016 -, with the consequent danger to the environment and our own future. This worrying situation is leading the European institutions to promote a change of model in waste management.

For years, waste management has been linear, i.e. natural resources are extracted, used to produce a certain good, consumed and then discarded. This system requires large amounts of energy and cheap, easily accessible materials. Part of this model are also practices such as programmed obsolescence, very common in the technological field, where the company "programs" the end of the useful life of the product, in such a way that after a certain period of time it stops working.

This linear model is not viable in the long term, which is why more and more people are calling for a change to a management based on the circular economy.

What is the circular economy?

Circular economy refers to an economic system that replaces the concept of 'end-of-life' with 'reduce, reuse, recycle and recover materials in the production, distribution and consumption processes'. In other words, instead of discarding products, they re-enter the production cycle, which contributes to creating environmental quality, economic prosperity and social equity for the benefit of current and future generations.

Through these actions, we can maximise the life cycle of products and minimise waste. When a product ceases to function, its materials can still be used to create new products and remain in the economy wherever possible.

There are many benefits to this practice, from reduced greenhouse gas emissions to financial savings for businesses and consumers, who can benefit from longer-lasting products.

How does open data contribute to fostering the circular economy?

As in other fields, information obtained through open data can help drive better decision-making on the efficient use of resources. Data can help train algorithms to predict certain trends and help citizens, administrations and businesses to implement the necessary measures to ensure a sustainable future.

In its article ‘Open Data and the Circular Economy’, the European Data Portal details 3 areas where open data has a major impact on the circular economy:

• A more sustainable food system. Open data can help solve logistical problems, improve efficiency and ensure food security. Data on production and distribution, temperature changes of products, rising water levels or mapping of deforestation can improve strategic decision-making to regulate supply and demand across Europe, avoiding over-consumption of resources. In this regard, an example is Smartchain's open data-based research, which aims to develop a shorter and more sustainable food supply chain.
• Efficient resource management and waste optimisation. The selective collection process and the use of the total capacity of recycling plants can be improved with the right information. In this regard, Santiago City Council has implemented a smart municipal solid waste collection system using IoT technology and machine learning algorithms enriched with open data. In this area, citizen awareness is also fundamental through apps such as EcoCity,  which monitors waste management in cities and sets a series of targets to improve urban recycling habits and reduce waste generation. Users can choose the recycling bin they want to monitor in their neighbourhood. If they detect any incidents with the registered bins, they can send a warning directly to the local council.
• Pollution reduction. Open data on contamination of the air or our seas helps to raise awareness of pollution and its health risks. This type of information can improve the decision-making process to protect the health of EU citizens and the environment through preventive measures, such as halting the expansion of London Heathrow Airport. Applications and visualisations such as the National Air Index, Aire.cat or this freshwater ecosystem explorer show indicators that raise awareness of the reality of our environment.

How Europe's circular economy is progressing

The European Commission presented last March 2020, in the framework of the European Green Pact, a new Circular Economy Action Plan which includes proposals on designing more sustainable products, reducing waste and empowering citizens (such as the "right to repair").

In addition, in order to effectively and efficiently implement the new sustainable products framework, the Commission is pursuing a number of data actions such as:

• Establish a common European Green Pact data space for smart applications with data on value chains and product information.
• Provide harmonised data on concentrations of microplastics in seawater.
• Cooperate with industry to develop harmonised systems for monitoring and managing information on hazardous substances, in synergy with measures under the sustainable product policy framework and the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).
• Encourage the publication of environmental data by companies through the revision of the non-financial reporting directive.
• Support a business initiative to develop environmental accounting principles that complement financial data with circular economy performance data.
• In addition, Horizon Europe will support the development of indicators and innovative data, materials and products that help drive the circular economy.

In our country, the promotion of the circular economy is marked by the Spanish Circular Economy Strategy 2030 (EEEC), whose objectives for 2030 include reducing waste generation by 15% compared to 2010, improving water use efficiency by 10% and reducing greenhouse gas emissions to below 10 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

We live in a context of increasing demand for raw materials and scarcity of resources. Many raw materials are finite and, as the world's population increases, so does demand. The circular economy is therefore a key element for the optimal development of the future of the entire population. Within all the initiatives that are already underway, data can play a key role in increasing our knowledge and driving technologies that help all citizens to move towards a sustainable future.

Content prepared by the datos.gob.es team.

Care for the environment is an aspect that has been of concern to a large part of society for several years now. It is clear that we have reached a turning point that makes us see the need to act as soon as possible to avoid further damaging our planet. Therefore, we citizens must change our habits if we want to see a real change in this situation.

Recently we have seen how the new generations are the ones who are most aware of the need to take proper care of the environment at a global level. At this point, change becomes more than necessary and new technologies can play a fundamental role in helping us to take care of our planet.

Did you know that open data is very useful in overcoming environmental challenges? In addition to providing us with accurate information to understand the problem and to be able to search for effective solutions, open data allows us to implement solutions that raise awareness in society and make it easier for us to protect the environment.

Currently, in our portal you can find diverse content on applications related to the environment, cases of use of open data to fight climate change, in addition to 6,000 datasets related to this field.

Below, we highlight some of the environmental datasets that you can find in our catalogue to reuse and develop new applications and services that can drive improvements in this field.

These are the types of environment-related data you can find at datos.gob.es

In our portal you can find a wide catalogue of data classified by different sectors. The Environment category has different datasets that can help in the fight against climate change, deforestation or environmental degradation, threats faced by the whole world.

Of these datasets, the following are the most important ones, together with the format in which you can consult them:

1. At the state level

• Centre for Sociological Research (CIS). Ecology and environment. ASCII. 
• Ministry of the Interior. Nature conservation: environment-related offences. XLSX. 
• National Parks Autonomous Agency. Natural systems in national parks. SHP, HTML. 
• Confederación Hidrográfica del Guadalquivir. Distribution of invasive species in the Guadalquivir river basin. HTML, WFS, WMS, SHP, KMZ. 
• Renfe – Operator. Main sustainability indicators. XML, JSON, CSV, TURTLE, RDF. 
• INE. Statistics on Waste Collection and Treatment. CSV, XLSX. 

2. At Autonomous Community level

• Xunta of Galicia.  Air quality data. XLS, JSON, RSS. 
• Basque Government. Cartography of the Open Catalogue of Relevant Natural Spaces. SHP, WMS. 
• Castilla y Leon Government. Camping area in natural spaces. GML, SHP, KML, CSV. 
• Government of Aragon. Special Conservation Areas de Especial. JSON, CSV, KMZ, SHP, GML, XML-APP. 
• Autonomous Community of Madrid. Reforestation. JSON, CSV.  

3. A the local level

• Santander City Council. Environmental News. RDF-XML, XML-APP, JSON, RDF, CSV, Atom, RDF-Turtle, HTML, RSS. 
• Cáceres City Council. Cáceres rubbish collection points. SPARQL, RDF-Turtle, CSV, XLS, JSON.
• Valencia City Council. Location of domestic oil containers. WMS, KML, GML, WFS, KMZ, OCTET-STREAM, JSON, CSV. 
• Vigo City Council. Forest Parks (Points of Tourist Interest). CSV, JSON, KML, ZIP, XLS, CSV. 
• Alcobendas City Council. Environment. Waste collection. ODS, XLS, XML, CSV, JSON. 
• Madrid City Council. Clean Proximity Points. RSS, XLS, CSV. 

Some examples of environmental data reuse

The power of datasets related to this field is of tremendous value. Thanks to them, it is possible to create new tools that facilitate aspects such as the care of the environment or the fight against climate change. An example of this is the National Air Quality Index, which makes it possible to check, in real time and in a simple way, the state of the air quality marked by the 506 measurement stations of the national monitoring network. Or Förecast, an application with real-time data on forest stocks that allows spatial-temporal analysis and thus optimises forest management.

Do you know of any company that uses this type of data or an application that relies on it to help care for the environment? Then do not hesitate to leave us a comment with all the information or send us an email to contacto@datos.gob.es. We will be happy to read you!

Climate change, air pollution and sea pollution. These are the 3 main environmental problems for Spanish citizens according to the latest Eurobarometer "Attitudes of European citizens towards the Environment", published in March 2020. The survey also highlights that 90% of the Spanish population considers to protect the natural environment important. Citizens want more action to be taken and believe that responsibility should be shared between companies, national governments, the EU and citizens themselves.

As with other sectors, such as education or health, open data can also help us to overcome environmental challenges. On the one hand, it provides us with detailed information to understand the situation and to be able to look for solutions. On the other hand, they serve to implement solutions that help us raise awareness and reduce our environmental footprint.

In its report "The Economic Impact of Open Data Opportunities for value creation in Europe”, ", the European Data Portal highlights that data can "contribute to reducing total energy consumption in Europe, increasing the use of sustainable energy sources, protecting biodiversity and raising awareness of CO2 emissions", as well as generating an economic impact of around 1€ billion. Let's look at some examples:

• Reducing energy consumption. Open data-based applications can serve as a tool to help households and institutions to understand and reduce their energy consumption. In this sense, the Regional Government of Castilla y León has launched an Energy Datahub that provides detailed and visual information on energy consumption in the more than 1,500 centres managed by the Regional Government: educational centres, health centres, administrative offices, hospitals, etc. The scorecard facilitates the disaggregated analysis by type of energy (electricity, gas, diesel) and by geographical location, allowing informed decisions to be made. According to the Board itself, thanks to the energy scorecard they have saved more than 12 million euros in electricity since 2015.
• Increase the use of sustainable energy. The 2018 EU directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources sets a target for the share of renewable energy in gross final consumption to be 32% by 2030. To help achieve this target, publicly available data on urban planning, use of public services or weather conditions can be cross-checked to create solutions that help make housing more sustainable. One example is Solarmap, which allows the profitability of a solar panel installation to be calculated for a specific location.
• Improving biodiversity: Changes in ecosystems can lead to mass extinctions of species and the limitation of available natural resources, which can affect not only our economy but also our own way of life. In this sense, open data serves as a basis for solutions that, for example, help us monitor various parameters of port waters (such as Environmental Control Panel), improve waste management (Punto limpio) or publicise noise pollution (MAdb).
• Raise awareness of air pollution and the reduction of CO2 emissions. Although, as we saw at the beginning of this article, we Spaniards are very aware of climate change, however, if we look at the individual habits of citizens, we see that there is still much to be done. Only 38% try to reduce their energy consumption, 28% choose less polluting forms of transport, and 36% buy local products. It is therefore necessary to continue raising awareness, for example through indicators of air quality in cities such as GV Aire. There is also a need for applications that promote the use of more efficient means of transport, such as bicycles or public transport (Barcelona metro bus rodalies bici).

You can find more examples in the applications section of datos.gob.es and in our environment section.

Just a few months ago, in November 2019, Ursula von der Leyen, still as a candidate for the new European Commission 2019-2024, presented the development of a European Green Deal as the first of the six guidelines that would shape the ambitions of her mandate.

The global situation has changed radically in the little more than six months since then due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and as a result, many strategic plans of companies in practically all sectors and many roadmaps and roadmaps have been blown up. public policies of governments. Despite the great uncertainty in which we find ourselves, what is clear is that a thorough review will have to be undertaken to adapt these policies and plans to the new reality that is still taking shape.

However, it seems certain that the need and convenience of the European Green Deal has been reinforced in the current context. The Green Deal was conceived as an engine for the transformation of the European economy in the coming decades, but circumstances have made it a fundamental pillar for the reconstruction of the European economy in the short term after the shock induced by the confinements of the population.

In this sense, the European Union has an important advantage over other global players and that is to a large extent that its priorities are already aligned with the main challenges that we will face as the health crisis subsides. In any case, an EU growth strategy that aims to turn Europe into a continent without polluting emissions by 2050 may not seem ambitious enough to us now and we may even deem it pertinent to accelerate this transition.

The plan for the roll-out of the European Green Deal was published with a very ambitious tentative timetable that foresees the development between 2020 and 2021 of actions corresponding to the main key areas: climate ambition, clean, safe and affordable energy, industrial strategy for the economy circular and clean, sustainable and intelligent mobility, common agricultural policy beneficial to the environment and zero pollution and toxic-free environment.

If we analyze the main areas of action of the Green Deal, we clearly see that innovations based on data and artificial intelligence, together with other specific technologies, will be key to solving a good part of the challenges it aims to address. And of course all the documents already published recognize this, integrating data, open data, artificial intelligence and other technologies in the different planned actions. Those that are already available clearly indicate the path that the lines of work that will be approved in the coming years will follow.

EU strategy on biodiversity by 2030

The European biodiversity strategy to reintegrate nature into our lives, published on May 20, 2020, recognizes that “investment in research, innovation and knowledge sharing will be key to obtaining the best data and developing the best nature-based solutions”. As an example, he cites the European Forest Health Assessment, where the European Commission commits to "work with other data providers to further develop the Forest Information System for Europe." These commitments represent a good opportunity for the Spanish forestry sector on its way to transition towards a precision forestry industry approach.

Furthermore, the strategy expressly cites "the need to eliminate bycatch of endangered species or reduce them to a level that allows full recovery." To this end, it is proposed to intensify the collection of data on bycatch of all sensitive species. In this sense, the awarded project in the Aporta 2019 challenge is oriented, Optimatics System, which is designed to help fishermen make decisions in real time and thus rationalize fishing in the fishing grounds.

Ultimately, the European Biodiversity Strategy aims for research and innovation to help the Commission support and finance investments in nature-based solutions by providing objective criteria to prioritize 'green' solutions over 'gray' solutions.

Farm-to-table strategy

The “farm to table” strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food system, also published on May 20, 2020, aims to ensure that Europeans have affordable and sustainable food, combat climate change, protect the environment and biodiversity and increase organic farming. This ambitious line of action also integrates the use of data and artificial intelligence in numerous places.

For example, it recognizes that the Common European Data Space on Agriculture, defined in the European Data Strategy, “will enhance the competitive sustainability of Union agriculture through the processing and analysis of data on production, land use, environment and of other types”, to then clarify that these data will allow “the precise and adapted application of the production approaches at the farm level and the monitoring of the results of the sector, in addition to supporting the initiative on carbon sequestration in soils agricultural”. That is, a clear orientation towards precision agriculture.

The key tool to achieve these objectives and for the transition to be fair and beneficial for all is the Common Agricultural Policy, which must be fully aligned with the Green Pact. The new CAP, proposed by the Commission in June 2018, aims to help farmers improve their performance as measured by environmental and climatic criteria. To do this, it proposes, for example, better use of data and analytics and a greater emphasis on investment in green and digital technologies and practices.

The European Union programs Copernicus and the European Sea Observation and Information Network (EMODnet), major open data sources, are cited for their contribution to reducing investment risks and as facilitators of sustainable practices in the fishing and aquaculture sector.

The improvement of data collection systems such as the 2009 Regulation on pesticide statistics or the Agricultural Accounting Information Network are also under attention and improvements are planned that will contribute both to fill the current gaps in the available data, how to promote evidence-based policy making.

New Action Plan for the circular economy

The New Action Plan for the circular economy for a cleaner and more competitive Europe, published on March 11, 2020, also recognizes a decisive role for research, innovation and digitization and therefore data during the transition. In this line, it is intended, for example, to promote the dissemination of environmental data by companies, which will force them to improve their systems for data capture and monitoring of objectives.

In the same way, innovation models based on massive customization or a closer relationship with customers are mentioned, which can accelerate the circularity and dematerialization of our economy. These models will only be possible using intensively data and artificial intelligence combined with other technologies such as blockchain or internet of things.

In addition, the European Commission will define a European data space for smart circular applications, with data on value chains and product information that will provide the architecture and governance system necessary to promote applications and services such as product passports, mapping of resources and information to consumers.

As part of the plan, the indicators, and therefore the data collection systems, on the use of resources will continue to be developed, in particular with regard to consumption and material footprints, which will be associated with the monitoring and evaluation process. of the advances obtained.

Open data 

Finally, it is worth highlighting how open data is being used at the European level to promote the development of new solutions. The open data competition organized annually by the European Union, the EUDatathon, dedicated the first of its four challenges to the European Green Deal in 2020. The European Union Publications Office, organizer of the competition, has received 30 proposals (25% of the total) addressed to this challenge, which is a remarkable success considering the novelty of a concept forged only in recent months.

This interest from the open data community has also been reflected in the Spanish participation, which, with 4 proposals, has been the second country most committed to the Green challenge. Among the 3 shortlisted proposals for the final phase, there is a Spanish one, Dataseeds, which aims to help SMEs in the agriculture sector to contribute to the ecological restructuring of the EU industry.

Undoubtedly, the new growth strategy of the European Union represents a new source of opportunities for all economic sectors, but in all of them data will represent a key factor for their development, increasing the potential of other technologies such as intelligence. artificial knowledge and specific knowledge of each domain. And in Spain we have enormous potential both in the form of natural resources and in the form of capacities that can take advantage of this source of opportunities and generate competitive advantages in many sectors during this transition that has just begun.

Content prepared by Jose Luis Marín, Senior Consultant in Data, Strategy, Innovation & Digitalization.

The contents and points of view reflected in this publication are the sole responsibility of its author.

A few months ago, the Open Data Climático, carried out by the Spanish Meteorology Agency, starred a large number of news, with headlines such as "70% of Spaniards affected by climate change", "Summers are five weeks longer than they were in the eighties" or "The semi-arid climate advances towards Galicia".

Our planet faces big challenges in the coming years: deforestation, high levels of contamination, melting of the poles, desertification ... All these element endanger the life of the different species that live on the Earth, leading some even to extinction. In addition, it could damage the economic development: if the effects of climate change are not mitigated, the global market could suffer a recession of up to 20% of global GDP, as said by Carmen Parra, Director of the Chair of Solidarity Economy of the Abat Oliba CEU University, based on the Stern Report on the impact of climate change on the economy.

Human beings have the responsibility to try to reverse this situation, and the technology and open data can help us. Providing detailed and up-to-date information helps to raise environment awareness, as well as to seek solutions to climate change and the other environmental challenges that affect us.

Taking advantage of World Environment Day, in datos.gob.es we have wanted to compile some examples of applications that reuse open data generated by public bodies and whose objective is to promote sustainability and environment improvements.

Fight against pollution

Nine out of ten people around the world are exposed to levels of pollution that surpass the security quotas indicated by the World Health Organization (WHO). An increasing number of cities, regions and countries put in place mechanisms to try to limit the amount of pollutant particles and gases emitted. In this sense, we can also find more applications to inform about air or rivers situation in real time.

• airACT. This application, developed by the Polytechnic University of Catalonia together with Ecologistas en Acción and the CSIC, among others, seeks to inform the population about the air quality in real time. Through an alerts system, based on WHO recommendations, users can know main air pollutants levels, as well as the risk they are exposed to.
• Riu Net. In addition to the air we breathe, it is also important to raise awareness about water quality. Riu Net is an interactive educational tool that allows evaluating the ecological status of the rivers and, at the same time, it provide scientific data that can be consulted both by experts and environmental managers and the general public.

Improve waste management

8 million tons of plastics arrive every year to our oceans. To end this situation, it is necessary to promote the reuse and recycling of materials. The applications that show the waste collection points help raise awareness and educate public about the recycling, classification and disposal of waste. Some examples of these applications are:

• Garbage containers in Cáceres. This application help to visualize the location of all containers in the city of Cáceres. The user can filter by types of container (organic, plastics, paper, etc.) to improve the search and locate the closest container.

• CleanSpotApp - Your nearest clean point !. Some waste needs specialized containers (recycling centres). Thanks to applications like CleanSpotApp we can know the closest household waste recycling centre to deposit batteries, electrical appliances, light bulbs, used oil, clothes and shoes, toys, books and school supplies, coffee capsules, etc.

Promote sustainable means of transport

Automobiles account for 83% of transport CO2 emissions. Some applications based on open data seek to avoid or reduce the individual use of private cars and encourage the use of more sustainable means of transport (public transport, bicycles, electric scooters).

• dBizi++. dBizi Users can know, with a frequency of 5-6 minutes, the availability of bicycles in the 16 stations of the city of San Sebastián. In addition, the application informs the user about the feasibility of their journey, using historical and real-time data.
• Puedo circular. This application provides personalized information on the contamination protocols in the city of Madrid. The user only has to enter the license plate of his vehicle in the web / application and will obtain information on the environmental mark that corresponds to the vehicle, the current scenario activated according to the pollution protocol of the city and the effects of this scenario: whether or not you can travel around the city, where you can park or what speed you should keep to reduce the environmental impact.

Fight against noise pollution

We usually forget acoustic pollution when we talk about environment, but its effects can be very harmful to health: it can generate from stress and sleep disorders to loss of attention or cardiovascular diseases. In Spain, at least 9 million people support average levels of 65 decibels, the limit accepted by WHO.

• ComfortUP!:This is a mobile application for citizen collaboration, through which people who are using public spaces can assess the comfort of these places from an acoustic and thermal point of view, based on their own experience. The application also allows observations and measurements of environmental conditions in a selection of city parks.

•  Noise Capture: This application support citizen science project whose objective is to register the noise levels listened by the users. In addition to discovering the noise pollution suffered by citizens, it allows us to share this information and contribute to the creation of collaborative noise maps on a voluntary and anonymous basis.

The protection and improvement of the environment is a fundamental issue that affects welfare and social and economic development. Therefore, it must be one of the priorities not only of governments, but also of citizens. Thanks to the open data, and the services created based on them, citizens can be more aware of their environment and act accordingly to reduce their environmental footprint.

Liight App was the winner of Desafío Aporta 2017 with its application to gamify sustainability, encouraging those citizens who make efficient and sustainable use of resources. To this end, activities such as the use of public transport or recycling are rewarded through a virtual currency exchangeable for discounts and direct rewards.

We spoke with Santiago Jiménez and Carlos Rosety, the founder of this initiative, to tell us how they are carrying out this project.

Currently, at what point of Liight App development are you?

Currently, Liight has a product version on both Android and iOS, with the basic functionalities available and sufficient stability and robustness to start with the phase of user acquisition and growth (at the moment close to a thousand downloads in an organic way). Regarding the team, counting on the most advanced technical part covered, we are incorporating new profiles to reinforce the fields of communication, marketing, etc., in order to generate a community with the mission and values of the brand. Our goal is to improve different aspects related to the business plan, the technology-user relation and the client, in order to launch -investing, right now, in marketing- in September-October, coinciding with the "back to school" season.

In which information sources, public or private, is your project based on?

We use different sources to check and validate the veracity of the sustainable actions carried out (the use of the bus, the bike, the train, etc.). At this point, our product is unique, because there are competitors and other alternatives that likewise seek to encourage people to be more sustainable but without any verification, which can cause adverse effects or reward fakes actions such as the use of the vehicle or similar situations. To confirm the reduction of CO2 emissions, the Liight algorithm crosses different parameters obtained through the user's mobile sensors with public data, such as the route,  schedules, etc. of the different means of transport (Metro or Bus, for example).

We also use private data sources through the use of APIs under third-party permission and the collaboration with companies such as Ecoembes, among others; and even self-produced data sources collected by Liight's community such as the mapping of areas that did not have an existing digitized database.

Do you think that initiatives such as Desafío Aporta 2017 can help companies and entrepreneurs launch their open data reuse projects? What other initiatives of this kind do you think should be put into practice?

I think yes, accions of this kind help to give visibility and support to startups and solutions that suggest to give value and use these data whose mere storage, if it does not reach this second derivative, would be meaningless. Data analysis and use is a huge opportunity offered by the current moment, where you can sensorize, collect and publish or treat information instantly, very cheap and on a large scale. Data becomes a valuable resource to obtain value. If we return data to society in a treated, clean and useful way, we can achieve a great impact in our cities.

As a user of open data, what challenges have you found when reusing public information? How have you solved those challenges?

Sometimes we miss a standardization, perhaps, regarding the data format, since different homologous institutions (such as town halls or transport services) can have similar proposals regarding the concept but very different in their structure, so you have to adapt the tool in each case and apply correction factors to use them.

In other cases we find that there is a lot of information that is not digitized and therefore does not "exist" for its use, although the tendency is to collect and made data effective. In any case, the most important problem we have found is when there is a data but, for whatever reason, it is not updated or it is incorrect. In areas where accuracy at geolocation or temporal level is not essential, there is no problem. Even as the generation of more data layers progresses, data can be discovered, updated and corrected. But in other cases, for example, knowing exactly what the waiting time for my bus is, the user can assume that the information published is reliable and he can be frustrated if their expectations are not met, not because of technology or the tool but due to the basic information that may be wrong.

What actions do you consider that Spain should prioritize in terms of data provision?

Standardization is, of course, relevant at a city, country and even European level in order to speak the same "language" so any system can be scaled and useful. We know that measures are being taken in this direction, mesures that have been implemented in recent years, which is welcomed and congratulated. Providing quality, up-to-date and accurate data is also important.

At the end, they are resources and they have to fulfill certain characteristics. As with everything, if we build a bridge with a good design, a correct structural calculation and a correct execution, but the base material does not meet the specifications, it will probably come down. Or in the case of a restaurant, if the products and ingredients used are low quality, even when we have a good waitress or kitchen service, and although if we have a great chef, the final product eaten by customer will not be pleased.

Finally, what are your future plans? Are you immersed or have any other open data reuse project in mind?

As of today, in terms of mobility, Liight is operational in the Community of Madrid. Our idea is to deploy the technology that we have developed in other regions and cities where it can also receive a warm reception and impact on the welfare and reduction of pollution. In the field of recycling, we are also working with institutions and companies focused on smart-cites and sustainability, in projects that will see the light in the coming months. We are in a very exciting and demanding moment demanding for the development and growth of our startup, as well as the entire ecosystem, and more specifically within the smart-city sector.

The environment is a concern and a matter of general interest for our society. We should not be surprised, therefore, by the numerous initiatives within the universe of open data for the publication of information related to the environment, both internationally and locally. These initiatives cover different aspects of the environment within the competences assigned to government bodies and agencies: natural resource management, biodiversity, air quality, climate and atmospheric information, and many more.

As environmental topics are very diverse, the typology and nature of the data can also be diverse. It is not easy a priori to find homogeneous universal criteria to describe the wide variety of information related to the description of the environment (for example, ranging from the population of a subspecies of cod near Iceland to levels of solar irradiance in an area of ​​Extremadura). Therefore, for clarity, a separation is established between "data on the environment" (any information describing some aspect of the environment in a general sense) and "environmental data" (the second being a subset of the first)

Expressed intuitively, environmental data consists of measurements of physical and chemical magnitudes, usually obtained using specific instrumentation, such as sensors or measuring equipment. In general, this data describes observations (or measurements) whose value must be related at least to the following information:

• Description of the nature of the physical magnitude.
• Spatial and/or geographical dimension.
• Time dimension.
• Unit of measurement.
• Description of the instrumentation.

As regards existing vocabularies for the description of "environmental data", the Semantic Sensor Network Ontology (currently still at draft stage) should be noted. This vocabulary is a joint effort between the W3C Consortium  and the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). Also worth noting is the possibility of applying the RDF Data Cube vocabulary, although perhaps its use cannot be generalized in all cases.

At European level, the European Environment Agency (EEA) provides a very comprehensive catalogue of data in direct collaboration with Member States and other initiatives such as the Copernicus programme. This program is managed inter alia by the European Space Agency ESA) and the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). This programme, on the one hand, captures environmental data via satellites and sensor systems that measure physical, maritime, climatic and atmospheric physical magnitudes and, on the other hand, provides this information through free and open services for the general public and European companies.

In the last edition of the international open data conference: IODC 16 (International Open Data Conference) held in Madrid last October, the environment was one of the central issues, with a slot specifically dedicated to discussing advances and opportunities for the use of open data for understanding the climate globally, biodiversity resource management and other related issues. This is an unequivocal sign that the environment has acquired strategic relevance in international agendas for the opening up of data.

From 22 to 23 June, Valladolid hosts the 1st International Forum on Urban Forestry in Mediterranean Cities, a meeting organized by the LIFE + Quick Urban Forest project to share and discuss with researchers, urban managers and technicians about techniques and advances in planting in degraded urban areas in Mediterranean climates; while social projects and initiatives on urban forestry are show as well. 

The program includes four sessions: one on social approach, another on local politics and two technical sessions, of which one is dedicated to monitoring and intelligent data analysis. The aim is to show attendees the state of sensor technology, the importance of big data and Internet of Things and its application to interpret the results.

The forum is not only designed for technicians responsible for forestry management or researchers, the organization has also invited experts and private companies specialized in data intelligence and regional associations and members of other similar projects.