NFDI4Earth - Common Standards

Our Mission

Our main aim is to foster reproducibility and reusabilty of research data in NFDI4Earth by both humans and by machines in close alignment with the FAIR principles. Together with our partners, we draft and develop a network of FAIR-enabling data models and services to implement the required policies, rules and procedures for FAIR with the key objective to integrate and mobilize ESS data into European (EOSC) and global data spaces.
At the moment we are involved in two core products/services:

The NFDI4Earth Ontology and Knowledge Hub

We coordinate the development of the data model of the NFDI4Earth Knowledge Hub, which is jointly developed by a broad range of experts from the different member institutions of the consortium. This involves consideration of relevant (meta)data standards, protocols and technologies. The NFDI4Earth Ontology and metadata schema is reusing well-established standards and ontologies (like DCAT, FOAF, PROV-O, ...) and is accessible at https://nfdi4earth.de/ontology/.

The ontology provides the foundation on which the NFDI4Earth Knowledge Hub is based on. The Knowledge Hub is the backend for the NFDI4Earth Onestop4All, interconnects with existing registries (like re3data, ROR, ...) and showcases the power of linking research data and knowledge graphs. It is accessible at https://knowledgehub.nfdi4earth.de/.

NFDI4Earth Label

The NFDI4Earth Label encapsulates key requirements for infrastructures and services to facilitate integration into the NFDI4Earth ecosystem. It provides a dedicated interface for repository providers to interact with and a public-facing web interface highlighting services which have successfully obtained the Label.

Developed specifically for the ESS domain, the Label supports transparency, trust, and interoperability across research data repositories. It is based on a semi-automated evaluation process that combines metadata harvested from re3data, a self-assessment by repository representatives, and automated FAIR evaluations using the F-UJI tool. Unlike conventional certification schemes, the NFDI4Earth Label lowers entry barriers by aligning with ESS-specific requirements and enabling participation even by smaller, discipline-focused infrastructures.

Our Reports

The NFDI4Earth Label - Concept Overview (NFDI4Earth White Paper) - Tim Schäfer, Ronny Gey, Jonas Grieb, Christin Henzen, Claudia Müller, Markus Stocker, Claus Weiland, Stephan Frickenhaus
First draft of resource information types (protocols, vocabularies, metadata schemes) in use in NFDI4Earth (NFDI4Earth Deliverable D3.2.1) - Jonas Grieb, Claus Weiland, Ronny Gey, Markus Stocker, Auriol Degbelo, Christin Henzen, Freya Thießen
NFDI4Earth Label Status Report (NFDI4Earth Milestone MS3.2.1) - Jonas Grieb, Tim Schäfer, Stephan Frickenhaus, Ronny Gey, Claus Weiland
Implementing FAIR Agrobiodiversity Workflows for the Destination Earth Data Lake - Claus Weiland, Daniel Bauer, Desalegn Chala, Dag Endresen, Jonas Grieb, Marcella Orwick Rydmark, Gabriela Zuquim
AI4WildLIVE: Integrating Biodiversity Monitoring and Earth Observation - Jonas Grieb, Claus Weiland, Alexander Wolodkin, Daniel Bauer, Maya Beukes, Matthias Biber, Martin Jansen, Karsten Wesche

Our team at the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung

Our Participants

Ronny Gey
Helmholtz zentrum für Umweltforschung (UFZ)

Markus Stocker
Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB)

Muhammad Haris
Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB)