Project

The ETH Zurich and the Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest have started the GEodata Openness Initiative for Development and Economic Advancement in ROmania (GEOIDEA.RO) in January 2013.

Because everything is connected through location, absolute or relative, the understanding of the geospatial dimension of elements of the environment, natural or man-made, and grasping the knowledge it unfolds is, without any doubt, one of the most important keys to better informed decisions.  Many data users point to the lack of a more integrated and consistent framework for the dissemination and licensing of government geodata as inimical to the goal of promoting its wider use and benefit.

The main objective of the GEOIDEA.RO project is to improve the scientific basis for open geodata model adoption in Romania. The following actions are foreseen to achieve the GEOIDEA.RO goals:

  1. Rewiew of the international strategies and legislations on open data
  2. Analysis of the impact of adopting open geodata access policies in Romania
  3. Development of innovative technologies and tools for geodata publishing and retrieval
  4. Exploration of instruments and methods that can lower the cost of open geodata publication
  5. Dissemination of the project findings

Partners

Institute of Cartography and Geoinformation (IKG) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ), Switzerland


The former Institute of Cartography was founded in 1925 by Professor Eduard Imhof, one of the main founders of modern academic cartography. Traditionally, research has focused on topographic cartography (relief representation), thematic cartography, and atlas cartography (school atlases, national atlases). These domains are still considered the main fields of application, but adapted to new demands, media and technologies. In 2011, with the establishment of the new chair of Geoinformation Engineering, the scope of activities of the institute was expanded and its name was adapted.

In cartography, under the leadership of Prof. Hurni, the institute strives to maintain its leading position by exploiting and further developing cartographic knowledge and adapting it to new interactive technologies and application domains.

Groundwater Engineering Research Center (CCIAS) at the Technical University of Civil Engineering of Bucharest (UTCB), Romania

Research at CCIAS (the Groundwater Engineering Research Centre focuses on the characterization of permeable media using hydraulic and hydrochemical data and on the human impact on groundwater.

Applications include groundwater resources evaluation, urban groundwater, groundwater-infrastructure interaction, aquifer management, vulnerability assessment, ground pollution control, underground waste storage, and vadose zone analysis. Methods used are both regional and local in scale, of a quantitative nature, using flow and contaminant transport modeling. One part of the group develops geospatial data analysis and representation techniques and another one part works in data acquisition.


Supporting Institutions

Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)

Every year the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) supports more than 8,000 scientists. It is Switzerland’s foremost institution in the promotion of scientific research.By distributing public research money based on a competitive system, the SNSF contributes to the high quality of Swiss research. More on http://www.snf.ch .

UEFISCDI

UEFISCDI(Executive Unit for Financing Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation) is a public institution with legal personality, subordinated to the Ministry of Education, Research, Youth and Sports (MECTS) and functional MECTS advisory councils with responsibilities in higher education , scientific research, development and innovation. More on http://uefiscdi.gov.ro .

Swiss-Romanian Cooperation Programme

The Swiss Confedearion supports Romania until 2014in the framework of the Swiss contribution to states that joined the European Union on 1st May 2004 and 1st January 2007 respectively. The overall goal of the Swiss contribution is to reduce economic and social disparities within the enlarged European Union. More on http://www.swiss-contribution.ro.