Citclops is a project that aims to develop citizen observatory applications for monitoring seawater color, transparency and fluorescence using crowdsourced data. The project involves partners from several European countries and plans to make data openly available through GEOSS by following standards set by SeaDataNet and EMODnet. Citclops will develop applications for ocean color research, scuba diving, beach water quality, bio-chemical hazard early warning, and water transparency. The project architecture will allow crowdsourced raw and processed data to flow to policy makers and the public after quality assurance/control.

1. Citclops - Citizens' observatory
for coast and ocean
optical monitoring
Luigi Ceccaroni, BDigital
GEO-X, Geneva, 2014.01.15

2. Project partners
Barcelona Digital (ES)
CSIC (ES)
Mariene Informatie Service MARIS (NL)
Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research – NIOZ (NL)
Coastwatch Europe (IE)
Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg (DE)
Kinetical Business (ES)
Noveltis (FR)
VUA (NL)
Deltares (NL)
TriOS Mess- und Datentechnik (DE)

3. Data to retrieve and use
Seawater color, transparency and fluorescence

4. Applications to be developed
An application to contribute to ocean-colour research
An application focused on individual citizens for the
improvement of scuba-diving activities
An application focused on users of the beach and consisting in
ranking the best beaches
An application focused on policy makers consisting in the
development of early-warning systems for bio-chemical
hazards
An application to retrieve/consult sensor measurements from
low-cost moorings
An application focused on water transparency

5. Data flow
Policy makers
GEOSS
Data management
and interoperability
Crowdsourcing
processed database
GIS data integration
Data interpretation
Knowledge
based integration
Public
Crowdsourcing
raw data
QA/AC
(partially embedded)
Water optical
properties
Crowdsourcing
raw database
transfer

6. Architecture

7. Plans to make data openly
available through GEOSS
In the marine domain, activities for data standardisation and
interoperability follow EU INSPIRE recommendations
[http://inspire.ec.europa.eu/] – via EU projects/initiatives:
• SIMORC – System of industry metocean data for the offshore
and research communities [http://www.simorc.org/]
• SeaDataNet (at present SeaDataNet II, 2011-2015)
[http://www.seadatanet.org/]
• EMODnet - European marine observation and data network
[http://www.emodnet-hydrography.eu/], coordinated in the
framework of INSPIRE, Copernicus (previously known
as GMES) and GEOSS.
The SeaDataNet infrastructure and standards have been
adopted as core elements of EMODnet data management.

8. Plans to make data openly
available through GEOSS
SeaDataNet maintains common vocabularies, governed by an
international board, for describing data parameters,
devices, countries and sea areas.
Common data index (CDI), based on ISO 19115: central piece
of the discovery service in SeaDataNet, enabling users to
know availability and geographical extent of marine data.
It also provides the link from the discovery services towards
the delivery services, because it is directly related to the
data sets, to which the users can request access.
Citclops adopted and adapted SeaDataNet metadata,
standards and principles, and its portal will be made
interoperable with EMODnet, and thus with GEOSS.

9. Plans to make data openly
available through GEOSS
Objective: managing and giving harmonised access to
ocean and marine observation data from organisations
such as governmental departments and research institutes
in all countries around the European seas.
EMODnet provides data to WISE-Marine
[http://water.europa.eu/], which is intended to fulfil the
reporting obligations of the MSFD and to inform the
European public on indicators for good environmental
status of sea basins, and GEOSS.
The data coverage includes monitoring and research data for
physical oceanography, marine geology, marine chemistry,
bathymetry, biology, both in archives and in near real-time.
[http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/water/dc]
[http://www.geoportal.org/]

10. Technology that can be used by
other citizen-observatory projects
• Citclops focuses on using mobile platforms
• to collect data
• to give citizens access to these data, and to analyses and
interpretations
• All projects which use mobile devices to collect data and as
an extra platform to serve out specific data sets can benefit
from Citclops’s technology.

11. Citclops - Citizens' observatory
for coast and ocean
optical monitoring
Luigi Ceccaroni, BDigital
GEO-X, Geneva, 2014.01.15