Next Generation Data Infrastructure for Europe

Evaluating the use of Gaia-X federation services for sharing geospatial data in heterogeneous cloud environments

Gaia-X is a multinational project of European Member States, in line with the European Data Strategy and co-funded by the European Commission, that supports the development of European Data Spaces by piloting architectural concepts, governance mechanisms, best practices and tools for data sharing and federation of cloud services. 52°North is an active institutional member of Gaia-X AISBL, the coordinating body of the Gaia-X Initiative.

One of the key drivers behind Gaia-X is the need for data sovereignty, i.e., the ability to control what happens to data when it is shared and processed in cloud environments within and across data spaces. Federation services (GFSX) are used to manage identities and verifiable credentials of participants, to conclude smart contracts, and to manage trust based on common policies and a labeling framework.

In this project, 52°North explored the architectural patterns of Gaia-X and maped them to the concepts, technologies, and workflows used to share spatial data and spatial data services in Spatial Information Infrastructures. Furthermore, our team investigated additional dataspace initiatives (e.g., the Mobility Data Space) and technologies (e.g., the Eclipse Dataspace Connector).

After wrapping up significant parts of the conceptual work in 2023, we focused on completing technical prototypes, writing the final report, as well as producing a summary webinar in 2024. In conclusion, 52°North helped to advance the understanding of emerging data space concepts as well as their relevance in future SDI developments.

con terra GmbH, Germany

Esri, USA