Open-Earth-Monitor Global Workshop 2026

As FAIR principles become increasingly central to open science and research data stewardship, a persistent gap remains between their broad endorsement and their consistent practical validation in real-world repositories. This challenge is particularly visible for geospatial datasets, where domain-specific requirements such as spatial formats, metadata richness, and interoperability standards are not always captured by general FAIR assessment approaches. In this work, a structured FAIR assessment was applied to datasets produced within the Open-Earth-Monitor Cyberinfrastructure (OEMC) project. To support the evaluation, we developed a FAIR assessment tool tailored to geospatial data entries published on Zenodo, while designing the underlying framework to remain flexible and transferable to other repository environments. The assessment identifies both strengths and recurring gaps in current data publication practices and provides actionable recommendations for improving the long-term usability, transparency, and scientific value of geospatial datasets.

In alignment with the European Green Deal’s strategies, forest monitoring is crucial to fill the existing information gaps and create a comprehensive forest knowledge base. Based on the 4th Spanish National Forest Inventory collections updated in 2017, we assessed remote sensing data derived from various sources as complementary information to support forest ecosystem monitoring in Catalonia over the last decade. Our study areas focused on regional natural parks designated by Natura 2000 where deciduous tree species (Fagus sylvatica, Castanea sativa) are well represented to analyse key biophysical variables known as Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) such as LAI and FAPAR. The data products compared in this study include high-resolution vegetation maps with new algorithms provided through cloud-based platforms such as Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem and Google Earth Engine. Specifically, we referenced Sentinel-2 based EBVs from BioPAR by VITO and World Reforestation Monitor by ETH Zurich. In discussion our challenges and opportunities associated with data interoperability and quality are addressed.