Process and Future of Data Integration within the European Earthquake Engineering Laboratories

Abstract

In common with many scientific disciplines, earthquake engineering research is increasingly focusing on large international collaborations to address complex problems. Data integration is a key requirement to facilitate joint research efforts and improve experimental outcomes. Development and implementation of a novel virtual database is presented, linking 22 leading European earthquake engineering research institutions, making data integration possible at a European level without the need for a large, centralized repository. The importance of establishing appropriate work methodologies to succeed in a distributed and highly heterogeneous work environment involving many dispersed institutions is described. The future of earthquake engineering data integration is considered, highlighting Semantic Web technologies as the main technological foundation to lead this integration.