Acronyms
At EEA and Eionet we have to deal with lots of complex subjects and therefore have created our own special language loaded with abbreviations and acronyms. Here their meanings are given. EEA also has a full glossary of all kinds of environmental terms at http://glossary.eea.europa.eu/.
- AMP - Annual Management Plan
- API - Application Programming Interface
An application programming interface (API) is a source code interface that a computer system or program library provides to support requests for services to be made of it by a computer program.
- Acronym - An abbreviation of several words in such a way that the abbreviation itself forms a word.
Btw., an anacronym is an acronym or an abbreviation so old or familiar that no one remembers what its letters stand for, such as "foobar".
- CDDA - Common Database on Designated Areas
See also: http://dataservice.eea.europa.eu/29430BDF-9AFB-4F1A-A529-7B4EF6D680D7.
- CHM - Clearing-House Mechanism
Originally, a clearing-house was the depository and discount warehouse for traders leaving a 16th century marketplace in England and wanting to go home without unsold surplus stock. The word was taken quite literally those days. It meant a place for clearance. Later, the word has been adopted to describe any network of information exchange. See also: http://www.cbd.int/chm/.
- CIRCA - Communication and Information Resource Centre Administrator
The software application developed for Eurostat by European Dynamics with the sponsorship of IDA
- CIRCLE - Centre of Information Resources for Collaboration on Environment
The electronic workplace of Eionet consisting of many interlinked, customised installations of CIRCA and other services linked to it, supporting it, and integrated by it.
- DEM - Data Exchange Module
A tool used to input and validate data for a harmonised data collection scheme
- DPSIR - Driving forces, Pressures, States, Impacts, Responses
Concept of the chain of causal links for environment adopted by the EEA (first developed as PSR by OECD).
- DTD - Data Type Definition
A definition for a harmonised representation of content in XML and SGML
- DW - Data Warehouse
A periodically refreshed copy (snapshot) of the data in a database, created specifically to allow external users to query the database.
- EC - European Community
The legal entity founded by the Treaty Establishing the European Community, formerly called the Treaty of Rome. See also: http://europa.eu.int/abc/obj/treaties/en/entoc05.htm.
- EEA - European Enviroment Agency or European Economic Area (Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein)
See also: http://www.eea.europa.eu.
- ETC - European Topic Centre
- EU - European Union
The political entity founded by the Treaty on European Union, also known as the Treaty of Maastricht. See also: http://europa.eu.
- EUNIS - European Nature Information System
The information system of the ETC on Biodiversity. See also: http://eunis.eea.europa.eu/.
- Eionet - European Environment Information and Observation Network
See also: http://www.eionet.europa.eu.
- FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
A knowledge base of recurring problems and their standard solutions typically faced by computer users. See also: http://nmc.eionet.europa.eu/faq/.
- GEOSS
Global Earth Observation System of Systems, intergovernmental programme; core architecture in alignment with OpenGIS Consortium (metadata/catalogue) standards.
- GIGAS
Support Action to the European Commission (EC) for identification and definition of needs to enable a full integration of INSPIRE, GMES, and GEOSS architectures.
- GIP - Global Implementation Plan
The key document required by sponsors such as IDABC for steering its projects.
- GIS - Geographic Information System
- GMES - Global Monitoring for Environment and Security
- HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language
HTML is the set of markup symbols or codes inserted in a file intended for display on a World Wide Web browser page. The markup tells the Web browser how to display a Web page's words and images for the user. Each individual markup code is referred to as an element (but many people also refer to it as a tag). Some elements come in pairs that indicate when some display effect is to begin and when it is to end.
- HTTP - Hyper Text Transport Protocol
The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is the set of rules for exchanging files (text, graphic images, sound, video, and other multimedia files) on the World Wide Web.
- IDA - Interchange of Data between Administrations
- IG - Interest Group
Collaboration areas for projects in CIRCA.
- INSPIRE - Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe
Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and Council establishing the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community. Normative implementing rules and informative guidance documents on the aspects of metadata, interoperability, network services, data and service sharing are or will be adopted.
- ITTAG - Information Technology and Telematics Advisory Group
- JRC - Joint Research Centre
The Joint Research Centre is the European Union's scientific and technical research laboratory and an integral part of the European Commission. See also: http://www.jrc.it/.
- LDAP - Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) is a software protocol for enabling anyone to locate organizations, individuals, and other resources such as files and devices in a network, whether on the Internet or on a corporate intranet.
- MDIAR - Monitoring, Data, Information, Assessment and Reporting value chain of the EIONET
- MS - Member States of the European Union
This is a different set from the EEA member countries that also include Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and from the beginning of 2001, also the 13 candidate countries from Central and Eastern Europe.
- Meta - Metadata vs. metainformation
The word meta derives from Greek, meaning "among, with, after, change" and the prefix carries the meaning of "more comprehensive or fundamental".
In most IT contexts it means "an underlying definition or description." Thus, metadata is a definition or description of data (such as an entity-relationship data model), and metainformation is a definition or description of information (such as the Dublin core element set, or CIRCA library attributes, which are attached to documents).
The above examples use the word in its "dictionary aspect" (what is). It sometimes also used in a "registry aspect" (where is).
- NFP - National Focal Point
- NMC - Network Management Centre
The organisation appointed to maintain the EIONET telematics network and provide helpdesk services for EIONET users. See also: http://nmc.eionet.europa.eu/.
- NRC - National Reference Centre
- OGC
OpenGIS Consortium leading the development of standards for geospatial and location based services.
- PCP - Primary Contact Point
PCPs are responsible at national level for coordinating requests or invitations coming from EEA or ETCs for specific topics. The initial correspondence (email, fax or traditional mail) concerning requests and invitations must be sent to the PCP with a copy to the National Focal Point. Member countries decide on a topic by topic basis whether the PCP is a National Reference Centre or the National Focal Point.
- ROD - Reporting Obligations Database
See also: http://rod.eionet.europa.eu/.
- RSS - Rich Site Summary
An XML data type definition that describes a channel used in portals.
- Reportnet - Common tools for reporting
Suite of IT tools optimised to support the business processes of a data collection network building on a shared information infrastructure.
- SEIS - Shared Environmental Information System
- SERIS - State of the Environment Reporting Information System
See also: http://www.eionet.europa.eu/seris/.
- SISE - Single Information Space in Europe
- SLA - Service Level Agreement
A contractual document adopted by a service provider and a customer or users about the quality of services and responsibilities of the parties.
- SQL - Structured Query Language
SQL is a standard interactive and programming language for getting information from and updating a database. Although SQL is both an American National Standards Institute and an International Organization for Standardization standard, many database products support SQL with proprietary extensions to the standard language. Queries take the form of a command language that lets you select, insert, update, find out the location of data, and so forth. There is also a programming interface.
- SVN - Subversion
Repository for computer source code with version control
- TED - Tenders Electronic Daily
See also: http://ted.europa.eu.
- TESTA - Trans-European Services for Telematics between Administrations
TESTA II is the backbone of IDA's IP network.
- Telematics - An information system that combines telecommunication and information processing
Nowadays telematics is mainly used to mean customised systems that communicate with moving vehicles. Before Internet era, it was often used to describe any network. What we know today as e-EIONET was once called "EIONET's telematic network".
- UML - Unified Modelling Language
Unified Modelling Language is a standard notation for the modelling of real-world objects as a first step in developing an object-oriented program.
- WEBDAV - Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning
A set of extensions to the HTTP protocol, which allows users to collaboratively edit and manage files on remote web servers.
- WFD - Water Framework Directive
- XHTML - Extensible HyperText Markup Language
The Extensible HyperText Markup Language, or XHTML, is a markup language that has the same depth of expression as HTML, but with a syntax that conforms to XML syntax.
- XML - Extensible Markup Language
XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a flexible way to create common information formats and share both the format and the data on the World Wide Web, intranets, and elsewhere. For example, computer makers might agree on a standard or common way to describe the information about a computer product (processor speed, memory size, and so forth) and then describe the product information format with XML. Such a standard way of describing data would enable a user to send an intelligent agent (a program) to each computer maker's Web site, gather data, and then make a valid comparison. XML can be used by any individual or group of individuals or companies that wants to share information in a consistent way.
- XSL - Extensible Stylesheet Language
XSL is a language for creating a specification that describes how data sent over the Web using the Extensible Markup Language (XML) is to be presented to the user. For example, in an XML page that describes the characteristics of one or more automobiles for an insurance company, a set of open and close "" tags might contain the name of an auto manufacturer. Using XSL, you could tell the Web browser that the auto manufacturer name should be displayed, where to display it on a page, and that it should be displayed in a bold font. XSL is based on and extends the Document Style Semantics and Specification Language (Document Style Semantics and Specification Language) and the Cascading Style Sheet (Cascading Style Sheet, level 1) standards.
- e-Eionet - The electronic network that supports the functioning of the organisational Eionet
Earlier also known as Eionet's telematic network.
