Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ADMS (Proof of Concept – Arctic Data Management System Beta version – capacity building for interpretation and data management system of the Arctic-related data and knowledge (Arctic Data Management System))

Teaser

The Arctic is estimated to hold as much as 30% of the Worlds unused resources including oil, gas and minerals. The ice in the Arctic is reducing faster than ever predicted due to climate change making year round Trans-Arctic shipping a near possibility. Predictions are that...

Summary

The Arctic is estimated to hold as much as 30% of the Worlds unused resources including oil, gas and minerals. The ice in the Arctic is reducing faster than ever predicted due to climate change making year round Trans-Arctic shipping a near possibility. Predictions are that shipping through the Arctic will increase fast; first periodically and that by 2030 could be as much as all container traffic in the World today. At the same time, destinational shipping is increasing fast, servicing developments and communities, as well as fishing vessels and not least tourism shipping. Interest and awareness about the Arctic and its Global importance, economically and environmentally, is rising fast in a Global context. The Arctic is a region of opportunities and threats.
Concerns related to environmental impact of human activities as well as search and rescue and response preparedness capacities are a growing issue. To be able to utilize the opportunities and minimize the threats, it is essential to have access to reliable and current information and data and the expertise and tools to process those into relevant stakeholder knowledge.

Rapid climate changes, environmental concerns and economic globalisation together call for reliable data solutions for sustainable and society supportive business operations in the Arctic region and are the basis for the Arctic Data Management System (ADMS). The primary users of the ADMS services are defined as parties that make strategic plans and/or decisions concerning the development in the Arctic or decide on investments, critically important for Arctic and Global societies.
Furthermore, the market analysis indicated there is a growing interest from stakeholder companies in the sectors of mining, oil and gas, media, as well as shipping industry, inline with growing sociatal concern and awareness. Presently, services as specialized as ADMS exist only at an initial stage, hence targeted market research outlining current situation and forecast are not available.

The overall objective of the project is to design a proof of concept of an Arctic Data Management System. This is the first phase necessary for the implementation of the ADMS, which is a system of interpreting and managing Arctic-related data and knowledge. ADMS identifies and retrieves Arctic-related information from multiple databases, adapts it to a common standard and provides interpretation, visualization and retrieval of the standardized data to the end-user. ADMS is based on state-of-the-art data intelligence tools including geographic information systems, meta data catalogues, and interpretation and visualization tools. In the interpretation of data, the system combines the highest level of technical and human elements to provide end-users with the highest quality and most appropriate data solutions. The proof of concept is a realization of a method to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed data management system and to verify that customers will use the system.
The company’s strategic objective is to become the main data solutions provider and knowledge consultant on the Northern regions in the global context. Improving the existing data management system and providing services of interpreting and managing Arctic-related data and knowledge based on a state-of-the-art system of retrieval, analyzing and visualizing of data from multiple databases, as well as further-adapting the system to a common standard and providing interpretation to the end-user constitutes the key point of company’s innovation strategy.

Work performed

The following specific tasks were addressed during the PoC phase of the project:
• analysis of user needs including identifying potential of data products to generate stakeholder relevant new (processed from combination of data sets) products;
• detailed specifications to improve usability of data sets and web-based interfaces for workflows requirements of the science community;
• application of the statistical methods and modern scientific calculation and quality assessments to data processing and interactive map generation;
• expert feedback and usability tests to improve visualisations of data and bring them in the format established as standard and required in the scientific and stakeholder community;
• interaction between the SME and science and stakeholder community (conferences, communication, publications, data management). The project and the initial proof-of-concept has been introduced to potential partners and investors for feedback and for exploring investments and partnerships. Partnerships and spin-off projects have already materilized.

Work has been done in accordance with the workplan.

A personal development plan (PDP) has been developed and implemented. The implementation of PDP has been formulated using the SMART criteria, making it Specific, Measurable, Applicable, Realistic, and Time-bound. The IA took online courses on GIS systems and web development. Further the associate took part in specific international high level and relevant seminars and cooperation activities on data management.

Demonstrating Proof of Concept - Beta Version to investors
This task has not been carried out fully, as the system is being revized based on initial investor feedback and is not ready yet in a updated, simplified or more targeted, version. The project and the initial proof-of-concept has been introduced to potential partners and investors for feedback and for exploring investments and partnerships. Though the result is to revise the initial proof-of-concept and simplify new partnerships and spin-off projects have already materilized that will benefit the project and the company.
We are working on implementing revised functionality and system structure based on expert feedback. The system will be presented again to investors as soon as it is complete as revised proof-of-concept, expected within the next 6 months. In the meanwhile, we are updating the project’s website and a revised business plan. We intend to launch/introduce both by the end of this year.

Final results

The project has advanced the ADMS system and revealed its strengths and weaknesses. One year was definitely not enough time to achieve all the goals.

Our vision of the project has considerably changed and now we see new perspectives and opportunities. We determined some obstacles and developed the ways to bypass them. Overall positive expert feedbak encurages us to continue working on the system and to bring it to the production state.

New international partnerships and spin-off projects have already materilized and other are in the making, as a result of the increased knowledge and experience the process has given the director and the associate and the increased specialized knowledge the associate brought to the company, to the benefit of our company and our partners.

The associate has signed a three year contract to continue the development of the ADMS system.

Website & more info

More info: http://adms.arcticportal.org.