Hubs virtuales para facilitar el acceso a Datos Abiertos

In October 2014, the ENERGIC-OD (European NEtwork for Redistributing Geospatial Information to user Communities - Open Data) project, funded by the European Union under the Competitiveness and Innovation framework Programme (CIP), has started. The objective of the project is to facilitate the use of open (freely available) geographic data from different sources for the creation of innovative applications and services through the creation of Virtual Hubs. Data and data services heterogeneity is recognized as one of the major barriers to open data reuse. It imposes end-users and developers to spend a lot of effort in accessing different infrastructures and harmonize datasets. Such heterogeneity cannot be completely removed through the adoption of standard specifications for service interfaces, metadata and data models, especially in interdisciplinary contexts. ENERGIC-OD Virtual Hubs address heterogeneity adopting a mediation and brokering approach: specific components (brokers)are dedicated to harmonize service interfaces, metadata and data models, enabling seamless discovery and access to heterogeneous infrastructures and datasets. ENERGIC OD will deploy a set of five Virtual Hubs at national level in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and an additional one at the European level. ENERGIC-OD Consortium will develop an initial set of ten different multidisciplinary applications on top of the deployed VHs. The main expected impact of VHs is the creation of new business opportunities opening up access to Research Data and Public Sector Information.