The RODEO Project – Making European Meteorological Data Open for all Users

Historically, organisations from the United States trying to access data from Europe have found the process far more restrictive than they are used to. This is due to the difference in data policies between the United States and Europe that meant European data could be chargeable. However, this is about to change drastically.

The European Union (EU) Directive (2019/1024) on Open Data and the Reuse of Public-sector Information with its Implementing Regulation will boost the re-use and combination of open public data across the EU. The Implementing Regulation defines High Value Datasets (HVD) for six thematic categories of public data of which weather observation data, climate data, warnings, weather radar data and Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) data are defined as meteorological High Value Datasets. These HVDs shall be shared free of charge, under the conditions of the Creative Commons BY 4.0 licence or a less restrictive open licence, and will be openly accessible via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), machine-readable and bulk downloadable.

The three-year EU funded RODEO project is a joint effort by 11 European meteorological institutions, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and the network of 31 European National Meteorological and Hydrological Services, EUMETNET. The project will strengthen the capacity of the European meteorological data providers by

• Developing a single user interface and a data catalogue for making all the data discoverable;
• Developing APIs, using open licences, for accessing weather observation data, climate data, weather radar data, warnings, and AI datasets;
• Engaging with the data owners and user communities;
• Supporting the deployment of national data portals and APIs; and
• Including a comprehensive user engagement strategy involving
• A Project External Advisory Board, composed of public and private sector partners
• Frequent communications updates through several channels.

The project contributes not only to the overall EU and Digital Europe Programme (DEP) objectives but also to objectives of the global meteorological community. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Unified Data Policy commits WMO Member Nations to supporting free and open exchange of meteorological data. The RODEO project builds upon the WMO and EUMETNET long-term plans for exchange of meteorological data under the WMO Information System 2.0 (WIS 2.0).

The RODEO project will vastly increase availability of European-wide real-time meteorological data available for the public, business, and other governmental institutions worldwide, opening business opportunities for several sectors and application areas. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will benefit from the greater data availability by creating new digital products and services and eventually attract new investors. Data will also support research and better-informed policymaking, especially in actions mitigating climate change. Overall, better data availability leads to better warnings, forecasts, and services to the public and weather-critical industries which contributes to the safe and efficient functioning of society with multiple benefits across the economy, industry, and society.