Geodata management in a European perspective – The European Geological Data Infrastructure (EGDI)

In 2014, an analysis showed that EU had funded geoscientific data harmonisation projects with several hundred thousand Euros but that only a small fraction of the results were sustained a few years after the projects ended. EuroGeoSurveys therefore decided to establish the EGDI which was first launched in 2016. This version consisted of a web GIS, dedicated GIS viewers for specific geoscientific topics, numerous distributed web services, a metadata catalogue, a database for pan-European harvested data, and it gave access to over 600 layers from 13 projects. EGDI provides a pipeline of data and knowledge through which the geological surveys connect strategically and technically with the wider European Research and Digital landscape. In 2018, the Horizon 2020 ERA-NET GeoERA was launched with 14 projects, all of which generate large amounts of pan-European and cross-border data sets. EGDI is the platform to safeguard, harmonise and disseminate all this information. Through a dedicated project (The GIP-P), EGDI is being substantially extended with a document repository, a search system, a 3D database, vocabularies, a user support system and eLearning platform, etc. When GeoERA ends in October 2021, EGDI will give access to results from a total of 37 projects covering on- and offshore geology, raw materials, geoenergy, groundwater, geohazards, geochemistry, and geophysics. Future plans focus on further developing EGDI under a Horizon Europe Coordination and Support Action where EGDI will move towards becoming a knowledge infrastructure. The presentation will explain about the system, the challenges and lessons learned from the last 5 years.