GENESIS: GENeric European Sustainable Information Space for Environment

The GENESIS project has the objective of providing Environment management and Health actors with an efficient solution based on advanced ICT to constitute collaborative information networks integrating existing systems in Europe. Relying on standards (W3C, CEN, ISO, OGC, OASIS,…), developed in strong synergy with the major European or global harmonization initiatives (GEOSS, INSPIRE,…), the proposed solution is based on a thematic-neutral and open “information system set up framework” made of Web services, portal components and toolkits. This framework can be easily customized for various thematic fields and deployed in many contexts (Regional, European,…).

The solution is validated through real use-case scenarios in Fresh & Coastal Water Quality and Air Quality domains and their impacts on Health. The following needs related to environment monitoring, assessment of population exposure and health risks and response to crisis are typically addressed :

• easy discovery and access to information whatever its source (e.g. space data, in-situ data, historical databases) and location;

• combination of heterogeneous environmental data (e.g. static and near-real-time data, different spatio-temporal coverage and resolution);

• correlation between environmental and health data;

• Near Real Time decision-making processes;

• appropriate information of citizens;

• implementation of the European Policies, in particular the INSPIRE, CAFÉ (Clean Air for Europe) and WFD (Water Framework Directive) Directives.

The main benefits of GENESIS are:

• to support the actors in their daily practices in relation with the environment management and health,

• to facilitate the progressive build-up of powerful, cost-efficient and sustainable solutions at European level.

The GENESIS project represents an important step in operational environmental management in Europe thus paving the way to an effective wide deployment of the solution as part of the future SISE (Single Information Space in Europe for the Environment).