From 2023 towards 2024 Focus on Open Data and Open Knowledge workshop to GEO week

Following the great success of the Data Providers Workshops held in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, the GEO Community was ready in 2020 to participate to the 1st Open Data and Open knowledge Workshop in China; Covid didn’t allow it and therefore in 2023 the 1st GEO Open Data Open Knowledge workshop (ODOK) was held at the WMO Building, Geneva (Switzerland), from 15th to 16th June 2023.  The Data Working Group, GEOSS Platform Team and GEO Knowledge Hub Team organized the ODOK workshop with overall coordination by the GEO Secretariat.

Being a workshop widely supported by the GEO community, in two days of the event, ODOK counted 17 sessions (Thematic and practical), totalizing 38 hours of content. To fill these sessions, 95 speakers from 76 different organizations from 5 continents participated. With this large amount of available content, ODOK created the perfect atmosphere for sharing content and knowledge related to Open EO Data and Open EO Knowledge practices. As a result, ODOK had approximately 400 participants, 193 in person and nearly 200 online.

The Open Data and Open Knowledge Workshop aimed to facilitate dialogue on Open Data and Open Knowledge within various sectors of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) community. To achieve the objectives of the workshop, nine thematic sessions were conducted, focusing on specific areas of interest.

  • Space-based data and data cubes
  • Very-high resolution data
  • Cloud providers and Open Data and Knowledge
  • In Situ Data
  • Capacity development
  • Youth community of practice
  • Open Data & Knowledge principles and Data Licensing aspects
  • Private sector contributions to the Open Data and Open Knowledge
  • Role of Regional GEOs
  • GEO Infrastructure

Additionally, to cultivate Open Knowledge practices, for the very first time, during the workshop, practical sections were held to allow GEO Work Programme Activities to present to the GEO community how the data, tools, and knowledge produced in their initiatives can be used. Those sessions covered various topics:

  • In situ data management
  • Knowledge preservation and sharing
  • Data Cubes applications
  • Water management and forecast services
  • Crop analysis
  • Spatiotemporal analysis using open-source tools.

Following the Open Data and Open Knowledge concept, all presentations and extra materials presented during the ODOK 2023 are freely and openly available on the GEO Knowledge Hub . The Impact Report for ODOK 2023 available here  is published to summarize all the actions that GEO Community identified during the event that will also inform the GIDTT in the way towards a new infrastructure. This report contains an event overview of the community, content and future actions. The Impact Report is available on the GEO Knowledge Hub and can be accessed by the following DOI.

The workshop follows the endorsement of the GEO Statement on Open Knowledge in 2021, with the goal of incorporating open knowledge practices into all GEO Work Programme initiatives. This facilitated discussions within the GEO community on the advantages, prospects, and challenges associated with Open Data and Open Knowledge endeavors across a diverse range of topics.

Based on this broad community interaction, various initiatives had the opportunity to interact and realize that join efforts among the various GEO Stakeholders/Working groups  are needed and are possible. This emphasizes the value of disseminating all knowledge, not only data, produced by the GEO Work Programme Activities. These interactions are anticipated to generate novel joint projects and activities within the GEO community.

Following the ODOK 2023 success, the new ODOK 2024 is planned for 23-27th September in China!

Save the Dates and see you there!

                                          the ODOK organizing commitee members