PortalU

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PortalU , the environmental portal Germany , was an online service of the environmental administrations of the federal and state governments. It offered the interested public simple and user-friendly access to environmentally relevant websites, metadata and specialist databases of the authorities, institutions and organizations involved (e.g. ministries, federal and state offices) at federal, state and municipal level. The portal that went online in 2006 was shut down at the end of 2014.

background

For the citizen, the web portal offered a central, simplified and systematic entry point to nationally distributed environmental information. The environmental administration thus fulfilled an important requirement of EU Directive 2003/4 / EG on public access to environmental information. PortalU was an instrument for the implementation of the Environmental Information Act , which obliges authorities and organizations to provide environmentally relevant data and information in an understandable and easily accessible form. PortalU offered the authorities themselves the opportunity to provide this information with relatively simple means and thus to minimize processing-intensive citizen inquiries, a main intention of e-government .

PortalU was the successor system of the German Environmental Information Network (GEIN) and the Umweltdatenkatalog Software (UDK) online since May 2006. The environmental portal made it possible to use a large number of search functions (including map-based) to access information systems and specialist databases that could not be reached with conventional search engines . The offer ranged from special topic pages, maps, measured values, current news and service pages to historical environmental events. The coordination office PortalU, based in the Lower Saxony Ministry for Environment and Climate Protection in Hanover, was responsible for the technical and content-related support of PortalU . PortalU was shut down on December 31, 2014.

Function overview

Search engine

The core component of PortalU was the search engine. With their help, more than two million websites and database entries from over 300 authorities and organizations close to authorities could be searched. To optimize search queries, an interactive technical dictionary was integrated, which is made available via the Semantics Network Service (SNS) of the Federal Environment Agency in Dessau . This web service establishes the connection between colloquial German and the vocabulary of environmental experts. In addition to the websites of authorities and organizations close to authorities, various specialist and metadatabases were also integrated in PortalU, such as various federal and state environmental data catalogs . In order to be able to access local environmental information via a nationwide information system such as PortalU, it was also possible to restrict the search space. This could be done by directly entering place names or via an interactive map of Germany.

Despite the large number and the heterogeneity of the data sources involved, the user received a uniform hit list sorted according to content relevance. A special database interface was developed for PortalU as a technical requirement for the joint ranking of hits from websites and databases. This data source client (DSC) can be placed directly on specialist information systems and databases. The DSC creates an index of the respective data source locally and thus makes it available for the PortalU search engine. Databases and specialist information systems that were previously not accessible on the Internet can also be linked in this way. The most diverse sources of information were searched centrally from the PortalU homepage, regardless of which authorities, in which networks and in which locations they are located. In addition, PortalU had other interfaces such as the OGC-compliant CSW-2.0 interface. This serves on the one hand to integrate external geodata catalogs and on the other hand to pass on information from PortalU to the geodata infrastructures (GDI-DE / INSPIRE).

Thematically structured access: rubric ENVIRONMENTAL TOPICS

In addition to the PortalU search, the PortalU topic pages offered thematically structured access to environmentally relevant information. Particularly interesting websites could be searched for a total of 21 topics, from waste to water . The search for topics and federal state or federal state could be specified using selection lists. For example, with just a few clicks of the mouse, an overview of the legal provisions relating to contaminated sites in Baden-Württemberg could be created.

Digital map service: MAPS section

Environment-related issues are often prepared and illustrated as thematic maps. This data is increasingly also available as digital map services directly over the Internet. In PortalU digital maps could be displayed in the form of web map services and the attached attribute data could be queried as a web feature service . For the analysis of specific questions, individual map services could be found using the PortalU search and displayed in the PortalU map viewer. If necessary, several map services could be called up at the same time and linked to complex map displays for specific tasks. PortalU used the OSGeo project Mapbender for this .

Current environmental measurements: MEASUREMENTS section

PortalU offered direct links to the various environmental monitoring networks and programs of the federal and state governments. The corresponding websites were listed under the heading MEASURED VALUES . The pages could be sorted according to environmental media and their regional reference so that the measured values ​​required for a specific location can be found as quickly as possible.

Daily news: column NEWS

Daily news from the press offices of the environmental authorities involved were displayed on the PortalU homepage (RSS feeds). This gave the user a comprehensive overview of the development of current environmental issues across Germany.

Event information, press releases and publications: SERVICE section

Lists with current publications, event notices and news archives from the participating organizations could also be viewed via the service area of ​​the portal.

Current and historical environmental events: rubric UMWELTCHRONIK

The environmental chronicle was a collection of current and historical events that have significantly influenced our environmental situation. In addition to the key data, the environmental chronicle provided a brief description of the events. The chronicle was a service of the Federal Environment Agency (Semantic Network Service (SNS)).

The PortalU data catalog

In addition to websites and databases, it was also possible to research environmentally relevant data catalogs in PortalU. These include the federal and state environmental data catalogs and the Bavarian environmental object catalog . The environmental data catalogs have been maintained and published since 2008 using software integrated in PortalU, the InGridCatalog. The InGridCatalog is ISO 19115 and ISO 19119 compliant.

The PortalU software was based on open source software components. The PortalU software and thus also the InGridCatalog can be used license-free for institutions at federal, state and municipal level. In 2007 PortalU was nominated for the European eGovernment Awards (www.epractice.eu/cases/portalu/) and was awarded the “Good Practice Label” at the eGovernment Ministerial Conference in Lisbon. In addition, PortalU was mentioned in the EU's SEIS communication as a positive example of the implementation of SEIS (Share Environmental Information System).

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ GDI-NI Newsletter 2/2014