ESIP Decision Tools Catalog and Community of Practicecommons.esipfed.org › sites › default › files › Kumar_DSTCCP_v2.pdf · 2020-01-03 · Shailendra Kumar (E2C), Taber Allison

Shailendra Kumar (E2C), Taber Allison (AWWI),

Laurie Allen (USGS), and Sky Bristol (USGS)

ESIP Summer Meeting, UNC Chapel Hill

July 11, 2013

ESIP Decision Tools Catalog and Community of Practice:

Platform and Applications

Agenda

• Introduction

• Decision Tools Catalog and Community of Practice (DSTCCP): Platform

• Renewables Site Selection Application

• Other Applications

• Discussion

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Common concerns in development, selection, and use of decision tools*

• Transparency

• Quality of data

• Appropriate use of tool output

• Quantification

• Flexibility

• Number of tools developed v. individual tool improvement

Office of Science & Technology Policy Executive Office of the President

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*Courtesy of Alison LaBonte (AAAS Fellow at OSTP, now at DOE)

Dynamic Decision Tools Catalog and Community of Practice (DSTCCP): ESIP Actions

Actions

• ESIP Summer 2011 Meeting - Awareness of the need brought to ESIP by representatives from OSTP and AWWI

• ESIP Winter 2012 Meeting – A workshop held to discuss needs and potential solutions leveraging previous ESIP work

• ESIP Summer 2012 Meeting – AWWI stepped up with seed funding

• August 2012 – Member driven project launched with student intern and student fellow participation and stakeholder guidance

• ESIP Winter 2013 Meeting - A DSTCCP prototype for renewables site selection demonstrated the value proposition

– Other uses for a generic platform considered

Outputs

• May 2012 - A White Paper* authored by key representatives from the community identifying needs and potential solutions:

– Federal agencies (DOE, USGS, NASA)

– Non-Partisan organization (Western Governors Association)

– Academia (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, University of Alabama at Huntsville, University of New Mexico)

– NGO (American Wind and Wildlife Institute)

– Private sector (Northrop Grumman)

• December 2012 - DSTCCP prototype** for renewables site selection completed

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*ESIP White Paper: Dynamic Decision Tools Catalog and Community of Practice: Renewable Energy Installations and Environmental Impacts, http://wiki.esipfed.org/index.php/Energy_and_Climate **DSTCCP Prototype for renewables site selection, http://dstccp.esipfed.org

Key Stakeholder Needs: Renewables Site Selection

• Stakeholder Engagement - Federal agencies (DOE, USGS, EPA, DOD, others), project proponents and NGOs

– User centered design process engaging stakeholders throughout the cycle

– comprehensive and sustainable frameworks and methods for access to actionable information

• Decision Support Tools Transparency and Quality Control

– Lack transparency to varying degree about models used and the underlying data

– Many lack clear documentation and no standardized quality control or comparison of models

• Data Access and Exploitation

– Access to relevant data from disparate data sources with ability to download or transform data

• OpenEI applications offer data; don’t allow users to “play” with it

– Consistent framework for data access and use

• DOE apps for solar, geothermal, and wind power siting (power generated, federal/state rebates and incentives)

– Greater institutional commitment from data owners to maintain state of the art platforms and services

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Key Stakeholder Needs: Renewables Site Selection (Cont’d)

• Interoperability

– Approach not coordinated among agencies and organizations

– Cross-referencing and interoperability are major issues

• Open Source

– Many software/tools developed within the government are not open source

• free redistribution, distribution in source code and compiled format, allows modifications and derived works, technology neutral

– May be beneficial to publish the application development work to facilitate wider usage.

• Mobile and Social Networking Platforms

– Access to decision support tools via mobile devices/location awareness

– A solution in a highly distributable format, e.g., Facebook

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Need a framework and methods to assess risks and environmental impacts

Generic Platform for Community Supported Decision Tool Catalogs

Decision tool Catalog

• Functions and features

– Base data layers, metadata, and sources

– Connecting tools to datasets

• User Applications

– Use cases mapping tools to user applications

– Collaborative environment

– Utilization and value maximization

• Updates

– Ongoing user requirements

– Gap analysis

– Tracking/ contact information

Community of Practice

• Fed Agencies, NGOs, Users

– Provide requirements, current implementations, and feedback

• Tool Developers

– Defining/refining architecture

– Classify types of functions decision tools may perform

– Populate the catalog

• Academic and Research Community

– Innovate/address unmet user needs

– Engage in education and awareness

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Facilitate information sharing of community supported tools, and a partnership among stakeholders, developers and users

ESIP Platform: Some Examples

• Renewable Energy Site Selection Tool Catalog

– Wind, solar, geothermal

• Extreme Events/Disaster Response Community Tool Catalog

– Decision tools for emergency preparedness and disaster response

– Community engagement and access to information (real-time/non real-time)

• Global Climate Change Impact Assessment and Adaptation Tools Catalog

– Support global platforms, e.g., NASA SERVIR

User driven, community defined, community supported - platform and services

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DSTCCP Demo

DSTCCP: Request for Information from Developers: Renewables Site Selection

1. URL: (Tool details, developers website)

2. Organization: (Tool development organization; also

identify collaborations and sponsors.

3. Tags: wind energy, environment etc.

4. Intended purpose: (3or 4 line summary of goals and

objectives)

5. Potential tool users: identify (e.g., academic, consultant,

government agency, NGO

(Environmental/Conservation/Other), Student, Wind

Project Developer)

6. Geographic Coverage: National, State

7. Data layers: Including Wind Resource, Disturbance, and

Land Ownership layers, species models, protected area

database etc.

8. Ecosystem-level Parameters: Vegetation/Biome, Physical

components, Flora/Fauna [Species presence/absence]

9. Species Information [Numbers, Distribution, Status

Assessment]: Distribution (Breeding , Nesting, Roosting,

Feeding, Resting), Migratory Pathways, Demographic

Information, Population Status, Cumulative Impacts

Analysis, Survey and Monitoring Design, Adaptive

Management/Structured Decision, Risk Assessment

10. 10. Energy Resource Mapping (Wind, Solar,

Geothermal): Wind Potential and Existing Development,

Solar Potential and Existing Development)

11. Geographic Location: State, Bird Conservation Region,

Physiographic Province etc.

12. Functionality: Clipping, Cutting, etc., Reporting

functions, Permitting & Policy Application

13. Metadata

14. Data Access: Downloadable data, Data Source

Indicated, Free Data

15. Type of Data Included: Resolution (Spatial, Spectral,

Temporal, Radiometric, Vector, Raster), Satellite/Aerial/

Remotely Sensed

16. Interoperability: With other similar or related tools? Can

data generated or used by this tool be used directly by

another tool and vice versa?

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DSTCCP: Questions for User Feedback

1. Informs Decision Making – actionable information, strengths and weaknesses?

2. Support for variety of end user skill levels - support a wide variety of end user skill levels?

3. Interactivity and accessibility - tool’s ability to allow the end user to upload and download data, create reports, and easily manipulate data?

4. Documentation –user manual - data origin and age, data layers, data formats, metadata, certainty, methodology of collecting data?

5. Use cases and Case studies –analysis, relevancy, risk and uncertainty, prioritization, user recommendations etc?

6. Data Exchange Capability –ability to confidentially exchange private and public data, use without privacy concerns about their data.

7. Needs Addressed – needs well defined, “measure of success”, desirable outcomes?

8. Clarity of Communication - value of this tool, has the tool developer defined the terms they use such as “tool,” “system,” and “data.”

9. Lifecycle – sustained use, latest available technologies, inform obsolence of a release

10. Feedback Mechanism – user forums to share information, obtain user feedback and opportunities for collaboration? 10

Benefits to Stakeholders

Renewables Site Selection

• Address interoperability of tools with those from other agencies and organizations, and enable community supported solutions

• Enable transparency of data sources

• Facilitate dialog among users, developers, and stakeholders

Other Applications

• Use the platform for other applications

• Leverage networking and community supported platform

• Improve Utilization and productivity

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Next Steps / Discussion

• Community of practice development

• Integration with USGS ScienceBase and Data.gov effort

• Coordination with WGA Wildlife Council

• NASA SERVIR and USAID Application

• DST for Extreme weather/climate events

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Contacts

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Name Title & Organization Contact Info

Taber Allison Director of Research and Evaluation, American Wind and Wildlife Institute (AWWI)

202.330.3191 [email protected]

Richard Eckman Manager, Atmospheric Modeling and Analysis, Earth Sciences Division, NASA HQ; Co-chair, ESIP Energy and Climate WG

202-358-2567 [email protected]

Shailendra Kumar

Consultant; Co-chair, ESIP Energy and Climate WG

512-626-2339 [email protected]

Carol Meyer Executive Director, Foundation for Earth Science

919-870-7140 [email protected]

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Appendix

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04/22/2013 18

AWWI Landscape Assessment Tool

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Developed in partnership with The Nature Conservancy

to provide preliminary wind-wildlife sensitivity screening

Landscape Assessment Tool (LAT) American Wind and Wildlife Institute’s Landscape Assessment Tool (LAT)

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FWS-USGS Rapid Assessment Methodology

Decision Tool Functions •Data Management •Mapping and Visualization •Alternative Scenario Development and Analysis •Management Measures Design and Evaluation •Stakeholder participation and collaboration •Adaptive management and assessment of achieving objectives

Query for data available and pertinent to geographic region/

site location

A risk score; relevant information; and next

steps

Region or location considered for wind project development

User Entry Processing Tool Output

Pilot Area

26 04/22/2013

Fish and Wildlife Service

Decision Tool Functions •Data Management •Mapping and Visualization •Alternative Scenario Development and Analysis •Management Measures Design and Evaluation •Stakeholder participation and collaboration •Adaptive management and assessment of achieving objectives

Information, Planning and Conservation System (IPaC) tool

27 04/22/2013

06/05/2013 28

Western Governors Wildlife Council: Crucial Habitat and Corridors Identification*

*Source: http://www.environment.fhwa.dot.gov/ecological/webinars/webinar_02142012.pdf

Western Governors’ Wildlife Council: Crucial Habitat Assessment Tool (CHAT)*

Decision Tool Functions • Fn 1 • Fn2

West-wide CHAT

displaying wildlife information at relevant scales across the entire

Western U.S.

State-based geospatial tools in increasing numbers of states

Identification of crucial habitats for fish and

wildlife including wildlife corridors and

connectivity across Western states

CHAT in 2013

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*Source: http://www.environment.fhwa.dot.gov/ecological/webinars/webinar_02142012.pdf

CHAT Benefits to Planners*

• Informative: Better equips decision-makers to analyze proposed infrastructure projects.

• Relevant: Inspired by the need to develop new infrastructure across the West and plan at a regional level. Initial work funded by U.S. DOE to incorporate wildlife considerations into regional transmission planning.

• Proactive: Provides a common starting point, to proactively obtain important wildlife information at regional scales.

• Desirable: Offers greater predictability and efficiency by combining unique wildlife information from multiple states into a single, user-friendly system of coordinated, vetted and pre-qualified data and maps.

• Regional: Depicts priority areas for wildlife and habitat consistently across political jurisdictions

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*Source: http://www.environment.fhwa.dot.gov/ecological/webinars/webinar_02142012.pdf

ESIP Vision

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To be a leader in promoting the collection,

stewardship and use of Earth science data,

information and knowledge that is responsive to

societal needs.

ESIP Community

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