European LTDP Common Guidelines: Scope and application

The European Long Term Data Preservation (LTDP) Common Guidelines collect the best practices and experience in EO data preservation from experienced EO data owners.

The scope of Long Term Data Preservation as intended in the guidelines is not limited to the preservation of the data in the archives but also of the capabilities to generate products from the archived data and includes therefore also processing aspects. The insurance and facilitation of access, respecting the individual entities applicable data policies, and exploitation of the archived data are also part of the guidelines. Data access policies are on the other hand not part of the European LTDP Common Guidelines.

The Long Term Data Preservation Working Group with representatives from ASI, CNES, CSA, DLR and ESA formed at the end of 2007 produced a draft LTDP guidelines document reviewed by all ESA member states in the DOSTAG and presented and debated during the first Earth Observation Long Term Data Preservation workshop in May 2008. All the participants identified and agreed the draft LTDP Common Guidelines presented at the workshop as a first concrete and fundamental step to move ahead in creating the Long Term Data Preservation Framework.

A consolidated LTDP Common Guidelines document was produced on the basis of the comments and feed-backs received during the LTDP workshop.

An extensive public review process of the guidelines document was announced in June 2009 during the 2nd Ground Segment Coordination Body (GSCB) workshop with the goal to collect additional comments and feed-backs from the EO space data owners and archive holders and to issue a commonly agreed version of the document by the end of 2009. The review period lasted until the end of October 2009 and an updated document (European LTDP Common Guidelines Issue 1.0) was generated by the LTDP Working Group on the basis of the comments received and formally approved by GSCB. The issue of this version, generated as result of a public review, can be considered a major achievement in Europe and a fundamental milestone for the consolidation of a European LTDP framework aiming at ensuring the preservation and accessibility of all European EO space data. European LTDP Common Guidelines Issue 1.1 has been generated at the end of September 2010 on the basis of the previous document but with a better alignment to the OAIS standard.

The LTDP guidelines constitute a basic reference for the long term preservation of EO space data. Their application by European EO space data owners and archive holders is fundamental in order to preserve the European EO space data set and to create an European LTDP Framework. The application of the identified guidelines is not a requirement or a must for European EO space data owners and archive holders but is strongly recommended also following a step-wise approach starting with a partial adherence.

The LTDP Common Guidelines document will be periodically updated to reflect the advances of activities carried out in the LTDP area and will be submitted, in the framework of the periodical updates, to public reviews to collect feedback and comments. The updated versions of the document will be formally issued after approval by the Ground Segment Coordination Body.