The GEOSS user requirement registry: Linking users of GEOSS across disciplines and societal areas

The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) is implementing the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) as a user-driven service infrastructure responding to the needs of users in nine interdependent Societal Benefit Areas (SBAs) of Earth observations (EOs). The GEOSS User Requirements Registry (URR), which is part of the GEOSS Common infrastructure (GCI), is developed as a community-based infrastructure for the collection, sharing, and analysis of user needs and EO requirements. The data model of the URR has seven core relations for User Types, Applications, Requirements, Research Needs, Infrastructure Needs, Technology Needs, and Capacity Building Needs. Semantic aspects are handled by a Lexicon, which includes a number of controlled vocabularies. With the novel concept of a Links relation, the URR captures the interconnectivity of any pair of entries in the seven core relations. Information on the societal relevance and value of a link and its implementation status supports the identification of EO priorities. The URR provides a basis for the determination of observing priorities, gap analysis, and the measuring of relevance of datasets.