AEDA, a Unique Data and Information Management System for the Environmental Sciences

Abstract

The Agricultural and Environmental Data Archive (AEDA) combines the advances in Open Linked Data with Research Data Management approaches to manage a variety of digital objects from documents, images and video to GIS layers and scientific datasets. The subject focus of the Freshwater Biological Association (FBA) initiative is inland waters, their catchments and the agricultural and other environmental influences on their biology, chemistry and ecology. AEDA consists of a data model that meets the needs of long-term digital curation whilst complying with the requirements of the EU INSPIRE Directive on data sharing and compatibility. AEDA also uses a specific controlled vocabulary in order to ensure that all data and other digital information stored within it uses a common language and can therefore be published as Open Linked Data and made available via AEDA’s Linked Data API (currently in development). AEDA represents a combined data and information archival and publication platform.