ANALYSIS OF USE CASES TOWARDS THE EVOLUTION OF EUROPE’S CONTRIBUTION TO GEOSS

Abstract. The European Commission (EC), being the co-lead of the European Regional Group on Earth Observations (EuroGEO), is currently outlining an ecosystem that will interconnect European technologies, digital infrastructures and data and enable the implementation of policy-relevant use cases using shared standards. This ecosystem will in turn strengthen Europe’s contribution to GEOSS, which is the Global Earth Observation System of Systems. To evaluate and demonstrate the potential of this ecosystem, prioritization of use cases is necessary. This work presents a methodology for this prioritization, taking into consideration policy relevance, data and digital infrastructures and adherence to European approaches, principles and values. This methodology can also be used for identifying noteworthy research projects in the Earth observation (EO) domain that possess policy relevance and have the potential to be transformed into sustained and operational services beyond the funding period, focusing on research projects funded by Horizon 2020 (H2020) and Horizon Europe EU Framework Programmes for Research and Innovation. We applied this methodology to an H2020 project named “EuroGEO Showcases: Applications Powered by Europe (e-shape)”, composed of 37 pilots, and here we present the results. This process led to the identification of a priority pilot on solar energy potential assessment in urban areas, for which EC Knowledge Centre on Earth Observation (KCEO) will participate in co-design activities with ARMINES, the leader of this pilot. We finally present the pilot shortly and elaborate on the next steps.