PublicaMundi had its kickoff meeting in Athens! For two days (November 18-19, 2013), IMIS welcomed all project partners in the heart of Athens, to set the foundations for two years of extremely interesting collaboration and work.

The meeting was the first opportunity for most project members to meet in person, share their experiences in open data and geospatial data management, identify common research goals, as well as development directions.

The first day was a chance for everyone to focus again on the goals and ideas behind the PublicaMundi project. Through a series of use cases, we revisited the major issues hindering open geospatial data reuse and reaffirmed the potential impact of the project. In the following, our Work Package leaders took turns and presented the planned work, deliverables, and time-frame of each Work Package. To conclude the day, we examined all opportunities for collaboration and concentration with other FP7-funded projects, NGOs, institutions, standardization bodies, and community initiatives. After all this hard work, Ermou street in Athens gave us the opportunity to taste traditional and contemporary Greek delicacies!

The second day started with a brief presentation of the major tools and technologies we will use in the project. The goal was for all participants to get acquainted with the consortium’s software and competencies, which combined, cover the entire life-cycle of geospatial data. Vivid discussions took place, focusing on all aspects of data publishing, management, data APIs and services, and web mapping.

Having established our tools of the trade, a round of architectural design took place. It was a long process, where everyone contributed, but we managed to impress the major software components, dependencies, and development priorities for PublicaMundi. The formal version of the user requirements and architecture will be established in the upcoming months. A brainstorming session followed where all participants gave their individual comments, insight and ideas on how we can leverage our work in PublicaMundi.

Finally, the meeting ended with a rendez-vous for Montpellier, France!