Abstract
This paper presents the authors experiences with the development of mobile Volunteered Geographic Information
(VGI) applications in the context of the ENVIROFI project and Future Internet Public Private Partnership (FI-PPP)
FP7 research programme.
FI-PPP has an ambitious goal of developing a set of Generic FI Enablers (GEs) - software and hardware tools that
will simplify development of thematic future internet applications. Our role in the programme was to provide requirements
and assess the usability of the GEs from the point of view of the environmental usage area, In addition,
we specified and developed three proof of concept implementations of environmental FI applications, and a set of
specific environmental enablers (SEs) complementing the functionality offered by GEs. Rather than trying to rebuild
the whole infrastructure of the Environmental Information Space (EIS), we concentrated on two aspects: (1)
how to assure the existing and future EIS services and applications can be integrated and reused in FI context; and
(2) how to profit from the GEs in future environmental applications.
This paper concentrates on the GEs and SEs which were used in two of the ENVIROFI pilots which are representative
for the emerging class of Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) use-cases: one of them is pertinent to biodiversity
and another to influence of weather and airborne pollution on users’ wellbeing. In VGI applications, the
EIS and SensorWeb overlap with the Social web and potentially huge amounts of information from mobile citizens
needs to be assessed and fused with the observations from official sources. On the whole, the authors are confident
that the FI-PPP programme will greatly influence the EIS, but the paper also warns of the shortcomings in the current
GE implementations and provides recommendations for further developments.
(VGI) applications in the context of the ENVIROFI project and Future Internet Public Private Partnership (FI-PPP)
FP7 research programme.
FI-PPP has an ambitious goal of developing a set of Generic FI Enablers (GEs) - software and hardware tools that
will simplify development of thematic future internet applications. Our role in the programme was to provide requirements
and assess the usability of the GEs from the point of view of the environmental usage area, In addition,
we specified and developed three proof of concept implementations of environmental FI applications, and a set of
specific environmental enablers (SEs) complementing the functionality offered by GEs. Rather than trying to rebuild
the whole infrastructure of the Environmental Information Space (EIS), we concentrated on two aspects: (1)
how to assure the existing and future EIS services and applications can be integrated and reused in FI context; and
(2) how to profit from the GEs in future environmental applications.
This paper concentrates on the GEs and SEs which were used in two of the ENVIROFI pilots which are representative
for the emerging class of Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) use-cases: one of them is pertinent to biodiversity
and another to influence of weather and airborne pollution on users’ wellbeing. In VGI applications, the
EIS and SensorWeb overlap with the Social web and potentially huge amounts of information from mobile citizens
needs to be assessed and fused with the observations from official sources. On the whole, the authors are confident
that the FI-PPP programme will greatly influence the EIS, but the paper also warns of the shortcomings in the current
GE implementations and provides recommendations for further developments.
