AquaINFRA Project Showcases FAIR Data Innovations at ICC 2025

The 32nd International Cartographic Conference (ICC 2025 https://icc2025.com) took place in Vancouver, Canada on 17–22 August 2025.

This major biennial conference, themed “Mapping the Future: Innovation, Inclusion, and Sustainability,” brought together cartographers, geospatial scientists, and mapping enthusiasts from around the world. It was an opportunity for a diverse group of participants, from seasoned mapmakers to the next generation of digital natives, to mingle, collaborate, and share the latest innovations in mapping and GIScience. With its international scope (the third ICC hosted by Canada, and the 32nd globally), ICC 2025 highlighted cutting-edge research and practices that are shaping the future of cartography.

All accepted presentations at ICC 2025 have their abstracts published in the official Abstracts of the ICA volume:

https://icaci.org/publications/abstracts/

Among the many talks on display, two presentations from the EU-funded AquaINFRA project, showcased how better data infrastructure can benefit marine and freshwater research across Europe. AquaINFRA (short for Infrastructure for Marine and Inland Water Research) is an initiative aimed at developing a virtual environment with FAIR data services: FAIR meaning Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable, to help scientists store, share, and analyze aquatic research data.

Making Marine & Freshwater Data Easier to Find with Smarter Searches

One AquaINFRA presentation (delivered on 19 August in the “Ubiquitous Mapping & Geospatial Semantics” session) tackled a common challenge: how can scientists more easily find the data they need about oceans, rivers, and lakes when different terms or keywords might be used by different data sources?

Titled “Making Marine and Freshwater Data FAIR: Refining Geospatial Search Requests Using Ontologies and Thesauri,” this talk was presented by expert Pekka Latvala of the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute (FGI/NLS), with co-authors Dr.  Markus Konkol (52°North, Germany), Prof.  Juha Oksanen (FGI/NLS) and Prof. Henning Sten Hansen (Aalborg University, Denmark).

The focus was on improving geospatial metadata searches in marine and freshwater contexts by enhancing keyword searches with the help of semantic tools.

In simple terms, the team showed how smart vocabularies and ontologies can make it easier to find data. When a researcher types in a keyword (for example, searching a data catalogue for “salinity” or “water temperature”), the system can automatically look up related terms and suggest them to the user.

This is done using an ontology-based thesaurus; a database of terms and their relationships. By leveraging semantic web technology (RDF data and SPARQL queries behind the scenes), the AquaINFRA system finds alternative or broader/narrower terms related to the user’s query.

These related terms are then offered in the search interface as selectable options, so the user can refine or expand their search with a click. For instance, if someone searches for a term like “algae,” the system might suggest “phytoplankton” or “chlorophyll concentration,” ensuring the search covers relevant datasets even if they use different terminology.

This approach aligns with the FAIR principle of making data findable. By refining geospatial search requests using controlled vocabularies, scientists are less likely to miss important datasets just because of differing descriptions. 

The presentation demonstrated how AquaINFRA’s Data Discovery and Access Service (DDAS) includes an ontology search component that suggests alternative search terms for a given keyword.

For the user, it feels like the search engine “understands” their query and speaks the language of oceanography or freshwater ecology. Ultimately, this means marine and freshwater research data become easier to discover, which is crucial when researchers are compiling data from multiple sources. The result is that data about our seas, coasts, and rivers is more readily found and shared – truly embracing the spirit of FAIR data to advance aquatic science.

An Open, FAIR Platform for Marine and Freshwater Research Data

A second AquaINFRA presentation at ICC 2025 (presented on 21 August in the “Geospatial Data Analytics” session) highlighted the Data Discovery and Access Service (DDAS)) and AquaINFRA Interaction Platform (AIP) – the technical backbone that makes AquaINFRA’s vision a reality.

Titled “OGC Standard Compliant Platform Following FAIR Principles for Marine and Freshwater Research,” this talk was given by Research Scientist  research scientist Hanna Lahtinen (FGI/NLS) with co-authors Milla Kelhu (FGI/NLS), Jaakko Kähkönen (FGI/NLS), Dr. Markus Konkol,Dr. Lassi Lehto (FGI/NLS), Panu Muhli (FGI/NLS), Prof. Henning Sten Hansen, and Prof. Juha Oksanen.

The presentation explained how the AquaINFRA platform is built and how it ensures that data and tools are findable and accessible to researchers under the FAIR guidelines.

The AquaINFRA platform is a one-stop digital gateway where marine and freshwater researchers can discover data, access analysis tools, and run workflows in a virtual environment. A key feature of the platform is that it adheres to open standards set by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC): https://www.ogc.org/

This ensures interoperability with other systems and services. The platform’s data catalogue and search functions use OGC API standards (like OGC API-Records for datasets) to query distributed repositories.

This design enables AquaINFRA to integrate multiple databases across Europe into a single interface. Users can search for datasets, services, or tools through the AIP’s search interface and filter by location, data provider, or theme.

The AquaINFRA platform

Beyond discovery, the AquaINFRA platform supports running analyses in a Virtual Research Environment (VRE). Researchers can execute workflows directly on the platform using tools like R, Python, or Galaxy (for reproducible workflows).

This allows scientists to reproduce analyses, share methods, and collaborate efficiently.

The AquaINFRA platform is built on the FAIR principles:

• Findable through robust search and metadata standards

• Accessible via open APIs

• Interoperable through OGC and EOSC standards (https://eosc.eu/)

• Reusable thanks to documentation and shared workflows

The platform also connects with related initiatives, such as Finland’s Digital Waters Flagship (DIWA) (https://www.digitalwaters.fi/) and the Geoportti research infrastructure (https://www.geoportti.fi/).

These synergies ensure AquaINFRA complements existing efforts, enhancing Europe’s open science ecosystem for water research.

Both AquaINFRA presentations at ICC 2025 highlighted how modern data infrastructure can accelerate marine and freshwater science. By refining how we search for data and by providing an open, standard-based platform to access and analyse it, projects like AquaINFRA are breaking down barriers between researchers and the information they need.

This work supports a vision of international collaboration on water science, where data from different regions and disciplines can be found, shared, and used together. With tools that make data FAIR, AquaINFRA is helping researchers focus on what matters most – understanding and protecting our planet’s aquatic environments.