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Mon 02.04.12 Award for GS Soil Portal Testing |
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Dear GS Soil website visitor!
Thanks for your interest in the project GS Soil co-funded by the community programme eContentplus. We kindly ask you to help us to evaluate the functionality and usability of the GS Soil Portal. With your feedback you help us to improve the GS Soil Portal.
This year we want to award prizes for your testing efforts. Those users providing their testing templates the most complete get a prize. In total we award 10 USB-sticks of GS Soil.
With the development of the GS Soil Portal we want to fulfill needs of different target groups for soil data in Europe. The GS Soil Portal is offering several services like search, advanced search, view and download of soil data and maps. In the last weeks of the project we want to finally improve the Portal. The amount of available data and maps is expected to be increased significantly in the future. Therefore also soil data you are holding in a database are welcome to be linked to the Portal if they comply with Inspire Standards.
The Portal can be reached here: http://gssoil-portal.eu.
For the user testing of the GS Soil Portal in 2012 we developed testing scenarios. These testing scenarios include test cases for tests of search (including advanced search), view and download service of the Portal.
For search service we prepared testing scenarios specific for different target groups. For advanced search and the other services we produced a common testing scenario for all target groups.
The testing scenarios contain the guideline how to run tests and how to report the test results.
Please consider that in each testing scenario we included a usability assessment at the end of the scenario.
Testing scenarios should run at least with web browsers Firefox 3.6 and Internet Explorer 8 .
If you only want to assess the general usability of the Portal a separate template is provided.
The word documents for the testing can be reached at the GS Soil website in the download section under item ‘Testing scenarios’.
We kindly ask you to further support the GS Soil project by carrying out the testing of the scenarios ‘Search’ and ‘Maps’. With your tests you help us to see, if the features of the Portal are correctly developed, to further improve the quality of the Portal and to make it more suitable to your needs. We highly appreciate to receive your testing results till 22nd of April 2012.
Please, send the filled word documents to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
If you have questions, please send them to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
Best regards,
Sigbert Huber & Larissa Vincze
GS Soil User Testing Team |
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Thu 29.3.12 Last WP5 meeting in Lisboa |
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On the 23.03.2012 the last working group meeting on the technical issues related to the GS SOIL portal and its integrated network took place in Lisbon, hosted by the work package leader EDISOFT.
Issues for finalization are the integration of the European Gazetteer, the soil specific thesaurus SoilThes and the open issue of the pilot case on rights management for Web Services. In addition, the group discussed and decided on the finalization of the pending project deliverables to be submitted by the end of the project. In terms of the long term operational plan all necessary technical steps could be concluded.
The WP5 members are looking forward to present and discuss the results and products at the GS SOIL final conference at the beginning of May in Berlin
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Wed 29.2.12 Registration for final event open |
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Our project running time is heading towards its end. In terms of our project activities in GS SOIL the last three years were filled with extensive networking between soil domain- and IT-experts, INSPIRE related work, but also within the soil community with regard to soil data harmonization, product cataloging, metadata and reference terminology. The products are becoming more and more visible now in the GS Portal via web services and best practice recommendations and test cases.
As project coordinator I kindly invite the GS SOIL network, advisory board, interested IT- and soil experts, related thematic communities, data users etc. to join actively our final event with the aim to discuss our results, define the future and to celebrate our network:
“From regional to European level: welcome “soil” in the INSPIRE reality”
Date: on the 2.+3. May 2012, starting at 13:00 and ending at 12.30h
Venue: Lower Saxony Presentation at the Federal Government
In den Ministergärten 10, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Please note that there here is limited space in the conference room, so we urge all interested parties to register as soon as possible via http://www.gssoil.eu/finaleventmenu.html
Co-organisation of the event as well as the registration procedure is done by the GS SOIL partner PLUS (Z_GIS).
Sincerely
and on behalf of the GS SOIL Operational Management Group
Katharina Feiden |
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Mo 23.04.12 Update: agenda GS SOIL final event |
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From regional to European level: welcome “soil” in the INSPIRE reality”
Date:
on the 2.+3. May 2012, starting at 13:00 and ending at 12.30h
Venue:
Lower Saxony Presentation at the Federal Government
In den Ministergärten 10, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Agenda:
Detailed agenda
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Wed 22.2.12 Joint WP 3 & 4 meeting in Salzburg |
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A joint WP 3 & 4 meeting organized by project partner PLUS was held from Feb 15-17 in Salzburg.
 
40 Project partners attended the WP3 & 4 meeting which addressed practical issues regarding metadata handling in various software environments based on the metadata profile developed within the GS Soil Project. In addition to that, data harmonization was another central aspect of this meeting. A number of project partners presented the status of their transnational harmonization progress. The third and last day was dedicated to schema mappings using the HALE-Tool (Humboldt alignment editor).
 
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Thu 15.12.11 GS SOIL at national seminar in France |
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The national seminar of the "Inventory, Management and Soil Conservation "(IGCS) was held on 1th and 2nd of December in Strasbourg (France) at the Home of Agriculture.
Co-organized by the Association for Agricultural Renewal in Alsace (ARAA) and InfoSol unit of INRA Orléans, various presentations followed by discussions were held on different aspects of soil science:
- How to meet the needs of users who need more detailed local data, especially with regards to the available soil data 1:250.000?
- Monitoring of soil organic matter,
- Access to digital data on soils,
- Examples of applications of enhancing soil data in France and in neighbouring territories
The event was a chance for the GS SOIL partner Region Alsace to gain a complete overview of programs and knowledge of soil monitoring in France: IGCS, Network Quality Measurement of Soil (RMQS) and bank analysis land (BDAT).
It was also a great opportunity to present the European experiences of ARAA and the Regional Council of Alsace made through their contribution to the project GS SOIL. Together with the project partner BGR (German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources) the French partners work on a joint French-German test case in the framework of the establishment of the GS SOIL deliverable “Best Practice Guidelines for Soil Data Se-mantic Harmonization”. The aim of which is to test the feasibility of presenting small scale soil data of France and Germany in one harmonized map. The results of the harmonisation efforts were presented brilliantly by Rainer Baritz (BGR). The feedback on the work done in GS SOIL was very positive and the organizers hope the presentations provided new ideas to our French friends to be inspired!
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Mon 21.11.11 "INSPIRE and soil data" - National workshop held in Salzburg |
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On Wednesday 16th and Thursday 17th November a national Workshop on "Inspire and soil data in Austria" was held at the University of Salzburg. More than 70 participants from Austria and Germany covering all INSPIRE-affected organisations including the soil domain attended this event organised by the GS Soil partners "University of Salzburg", "Environmental Agency Austria" and "AGES". The focus was laid on challenges, prospects and chances regarding the implementation of the INSPIRE directive with respect to the dedicated chapter "Soil" of ANNEX III. The presentations held are publicly available in the "Downloads" area.
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Fri 18.11.11 Fourth GS SOIL Newsletter published |
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The fourth project newsletter was published today and comprises the main project activities during the last months. This issue focusses on the contributions of GS Soil to INSPIRE and shows first results of the work on selected test cases.
To receive the newsletter automatically please subscribe at the field NEWSLETTER at the bottom of this page. |
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Fri 21.10.11 GS SOIL finishes INSPIRE testing |
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Today, in due time, the contributing partners in GS SOIL submitted the comments regarding the INSPIRE data specification for the annex III theme “soil” to the JRC for further acknowledgement. The contributing partners tested their datasets regarding the feasibility of the INSPIRE schema, for example for monitoring data, derived soil profiles, map units, soil sample points, soil thematic maps etc.
The GS SOIL group generally states that the provided data specification and data model is “partly feasible”. Comments and proposed changes are submitted. Further testing results are in addition mapping tables and transformed data. |
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Tue. 27.09.11 pre-announcement GS SOIL Final Conference |
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The dates for the final GS Soil conference have been fixed. It will take place on May 2 & 3, 2012 in Berlin at the premises of Lower Saxony at the federal government, Germany.
Further information on the registration rules, schedule, venue and scope will be distributed during winter.
Please mark these dates in your calendar!
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Fri. 16.09.11 GS SOIL 2nd interim meeting in Darmstadt |
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On the 14th and 15th of September 2011 the second GS SOIL interim meeting took place in Darmstadt, Germany. The meeting was hosted by the project partner “Fraunhofer”. Over 50 participants out of the GS SOIL project as well as external experts from the projects advisory board, EC Joint Research Center, German Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy, discussed the projects´ achievements out of the second year of project implementation.
Main issue was the feedback round by GS SOIL data providers regarding the experiences with the testing of the INSPIRE “soil” data specification version 2. The GS SOIL partners will report on the testing as Spatial Data Interest Community until the 21.10.11. as an additional task besides the already provided contributions to INSPIRE via the project implementation.
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Fri 29.07.11 GS Soil published in "International Innovation" |
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A 3-paged article about GS Soil was recently published in the July 2011 issue of the "International Innovation" magazine. The publisher "ResearchMediaLTD" regard it as the "the leading global dissemination resource for the wider scientific, technology and research communities", so helping to prominently represent GS Soil to a broader scientific community. |
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Mon 18.07.11 GS Soil SummerSchool @ AGIT/GI_Forum 2011 |
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The EnviSDI Summer School 2011 was hosted by Salzburg University's Centre for Geoinformatics lasting from June 27 to July 8, 2011 and attended by 29 people from 8 countries. It was dedicated to the theme of Spatial Data Infrastructure for environmental datasets and aimed at establishing a European education network to improve the access to spatial environmental data for public sector bodies, private companies and citizens. The Summer School considered aspects of data organisation, data harmonisation as well as semantic and technical interoperability in order to produce seamless geospatial information across Europe and to improve the data access for a wide community of different user groups.
Summer schools participants were also allowed to attend the international AGIT/GI_Forum 2011 conference.
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Mon 11.07.11 GS SOIL @ GlobalSoilMap.net Workshop |
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Representatives of the GS SOIL project were also involved at the GlobalSoilMap.net Workshop, 20-24 JUNE 2011 at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy. A presentation of the GS SOIL activities was provided. GlobalSoilMap.net is a global consortium that has been formed with the aims to make a new digital soil map of the world using state-of-the-art and emerging technologies for soil mapping and predicting soil properties at fine resolution. This is an initiative of the Digital Soil Mapping Working Group of the International Union of Soil Sciences IUSS. |
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Tue 05.07.11 GS SOIL @ INSPIRE conference |
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This years INSPIRE Conference 2011 took place from 27th June to 1st July 2011 in Edinburgh, Scotland. The theme of this year's edition was "INSPIREd by 2020 - Contributing to smart, sustainable and inclusive growth". GS SOIL contributed to the discussion with a pre-conference workshop “The best practice network GS SOIL and its contribution to INSPIRE” in which the soil specific multilingual thesaurus, metadata and data quality, the GS Soil data exchange - application schema and preliminary testing results and the GS SOIL portal were presented and discussed.
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Mon 04.07.11 GS SOIL @ ISESS |
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The International Symposium on Environmental Software Systems took place from the 27-29 June 2011 in Brno. The conference is organised by the Masaryk University in cooperation with IFIP, the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic, the European Commission and the European Environment Agency. GS SOIL was presented with a talk on “Best Practice Network GS SOIL promoting access to European, interoperable and INSPIRE compliant soil information”. |
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Wed 29.06.11 Request for Testing of GS Soil Portal |
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Dear Reader!
We kindly ask you to help us to evaluate the functionality and usability of the GS Soil Portal. With your feedback you help us to improve the GS Soil Portal.
With the development of the GS Soil Portal we want to fulfill needs of different target groups for soil data in Europe. The preliminary GS Soil Portal is offering several services like search, advanced search, view and download of soil data and maps. In the last year of the project we want to further develop and improve the Portal. The amount of available data and maps is expected to be increased significantly. Therefore also soil data you are holding in a database are welcome to be linked to the Portal if they comply with Inspire Standards.
The Portal can be reached here: http://gssoil-portal.eu.
For user testing of the GS Soil Portal we recently developed testing scenarios. These testing scenarios include test cases for tests of search (including advanced search), view and download service of the Portal.
For search service we prepared testing scenarios specific for different target groups. For the other services we produced a common testing scenario for all target groups.
The testing scenarios contain the guideline how to run tests and how to report the test results.
Please consider that in each testing scenario we included a usability assessment at the end of the scenario.
We recommend using browsers Internet Explorer 8 and/or Firefox 3.6 for testing.
If you only want to assess the general usability of the Portal a separate template is provided.
The word documents for the testing can be reached here in the download section under item ‘Testing Scenarios’.
We kindly ask you to further support the GS Soil project by carrying out the testing of the scenarios ‘Search’ and ‘Maps’. With your tests you help us to see, if the features of the Portal are correctly developed, to further improve the quality of the Portal and to make it more suitable to your needs. We highly appreciate to receive your testing results till 14th of August 2011.
Please, send the filled word documents to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
If you have questions, please send them to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
Best regards,
Sigbert Huber & Larissa Vincze
GS Soil User Testing Team |
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Mon 30.05.11 GS Soil @ "100 years soil science in Bulgaria" |
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The National seminar with stakeholders on GS Soil project was organized on May 18 in Sofia (Bulgaria) by partner ISSNP as a separate session in the International Conference “100 years soil science in Bulgaria”, held in the Institute of Soil Science “N. Poushkarov”, Sofia, Bulgaria, 16-20 May 2011. The Conference was attended by 250 participants, about 60 of them participated in the seminar.
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Fri 27.05.11 GS Soil @ ESSC 2011 |
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Dr. Sid Theocharopoulos (Partner NAGREF) represented GS Soil at the 6th International Congress of the ESSC (European Society for Soil Conservation) : "Innovative Strategies and Policies for Soil Conservation" held in Thessaloniki, Greece, 9-14 May 2011, with approximately 150 attendees. He presented the GS Soil progress titled “GS SOIL: Development of a GEOPORTAL to offer access to multilingual soil data to the European citizens” within session 6 “Restoration and remediation of degraded lands-Education in soil conservation and public awareness.” on Friday 13th.
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Tue 24.05.11 GS Soil WP5 meeting Prague |
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During the 11th and 12th of May 2011, at CENIA’s premises in Prague, we had the WP5 meeting in the scope of the review for the 2nd year of the GS Soil project.
The meeting agenda was pretty ambitious and several issues were addressed, mainly the current WP5 achievements, integration of data providers and the inter-relation with other work packages – WP3 for metadata profile and WP4 for data profile.
In a bit of more detail, the issues discussed were:
- Presentation of the preliminary GS Soil Portal (includes search mechanisms, Map Viewer and Ingrid Catalogue)
- Presentation of the customised set of Open Tools for the data providers (includes View and Download Services and Catalogues)
- Semantic Service implementation and the new GS Soil thesaurus “SoilThes”
- Strategies for integration of Data Providers using the Portal and Open Tools (to publish their metadata, using WP3 metadata profile, and their datasets)
- Presentation of the Rights Management framework
- Presentation of the current status of the WP4 GS Soil data profile
- Presentation of the framework for transformation services in strict connection with the WP4 GS Soil data profile
The future work plan was agreed and it is focusing on the integration of most of the Data Providers and the continue adaptation of the Open Tools packages in order to support the new outcomes of WP3 and WP4.
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