These Terms of Use of EMODnet online services aim to provide users with a general understanding of what EMODnet offers in terms of data, data products and services, how these resources are published and how they can be used with appropriate acknowledgement references.
European Marine Observation and Data Network: approach and principles
The European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) is the European Commission (EC) in situ marine data service of the EC Directorate-General Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (EC DG MARE) and funded by the European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF). EMODnet consists of a network of >120 partner organisations and hundreds more wider stakeholders that collaborate to aggregate ocean observations and primary marine data from diverse sources, integrating these into Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) pan-European marine data layers, with data and accompanying metadata harmonized according to EU (e.g., INSPIRE) and International (e.g., ISO) standards. In addition, based on those data, EMODnet experts produce unique data products.
The EMODnet Portal (emodnet.ec.europa.eu) is the single access point to all EMODnet services, providing easy and free access to a wealth of in situ marine data, metadata, and data products covering seven disciplinary themes: Bathymetry, Biology, Chemistry, Geology, Human Activities, Physics, Seabed Habitats. The EMODnet map viewer offers the user seamless access to discover, visualise and download marine data and data products from one place, powered by a searchable catalogue.
EMODnet operates on the principle of open data and strives to ensure that data and data products are provided free of restrictions of use and free of costs. With the "collect once and use many times" philosophy behind the initiative we ensure to serve a diverse user base across various sectors including policy makers, academics, scientists, private industry and the public.
Find more information on EMODnet and its objectives under the About section.
Use of EMODnet material, data, data products and information
EMODnet is a data assembler and broker. This means that EMODnet does not take ownership of the data but assembles datasets from a variety of sources and providers, harmonizes them and make those marine data openly accessible from a single access point. Based on these datasets, EMODnet generates data products, which are property of the European Commission as per the EC Legal Notice. Unless indicated otherwise, data products created by EMODnet are owned by the EU and therefore licensed under Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0.
When using EMODnet data and/or data products in your products, please verify any metadata accompanying the downloaded datasets or data products through the map viewer and/or catalogue, and/or accessed through the web services, to properly cite the data originator and consult any use restrictions or licences of individual data originators, as noted in the metadata.
Disclaimer
The user must be aware that the quality of the different datasets can vary considerably and is the responsibility of the data originator. An indication of the (estimated) data quality, accuracy and completeness are progressively being incorporated in accompanying information along with the available datasets and data products. Where material, data and/or information on this website have been supplied by a third party, EMODnet does not control or endorse them in any way.
The user should independently assess the adequacy of any material, data and/or information on this website before relying upon it. Neither EMODnet nor the data originators are liable for any negative consequences following direct or indirect use of EMODnet Portal information, services, data products and/or data.
The absence of data from a particular geographical area or parameter in a data layer is not necessarily an indication that a feature or data do not exist, but rather that data may not be available or openly accessible at this point in time. Users should also take note that EMODnet services are under constant development, and that new datasets, data products parameters and services are made available regularly.
The EMODnet partners and the EC are not liable for users not respecting the specific data policy of the data originators who provide their resources via EMODnet.
Important: With any download and use of EMODnet online services, data and data products, you agree to be bound by the following Terms of Use and Privacy Statement. Kindly note the Terms of Use and the Privacy Statement will be periodically updated and without prior notice so please check each time you need to use and acknowledge an EMODnet dataset or product.
How to acknowledge EMODnet services and data originators
Users are requested to properly acknowledge EMODnet and/or its data originators/providers when using outputs based on its services, data or data products.
When referring to EMODnet information on the website, please use the following acknowledgement statement:
“Information used in this [type of derived work: e.g. publication/report/model/map, …] was made available by EMODnet (https://emodnet.ec.europa.eu/en/), founded by the European Commission Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (EC DG MARE) and funded by the European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF).”
When using one or more specific data record(s) or set(s), reference/acknowledgement is to be made to the data originator/provider, which can be found in the cited responsible party section of the metadata, using following phrase:
“This data was downloaded from the EMODnet Portal (https://emodnet.ec.europa.eu/en/). The data originator(s) is/are [name of the data originator + affiliation; Repeat for multiple data originators].”
When using one or more data products produced by EMODnet, please use the following acknowledgement statement:
“This data product was created by EMODnet (https://emodnet.ec.europa.eu/en/), and is owned by the EU and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.”
Some EMODnet partners have alternative acknowledgement statements with regards to their contract in their metadata. For example, for data products generated by EMODnet:
“This resource was generated in the framework of EMODnet Chemistry, under the support of DG MARE Call for Tender EASME/EMFF/2020/3.1.11/European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) - Lot 5 – Chemistry.”
Where the acknowledgement is for a data layer (e.g. map layer) it may not be possible to acknowledge all data originators as there may be multiple diverse data originators aggregated for one map layer. Users should verify the associated metadata for specific references or acknowledgement requirements for the data layer in question. This could for example be as follows for using a bathymetry dataset/layer:
"The data layers used for this work were [name of the dataset name or layer name, as used on the metadata file e.g. BATM11_FI352003020080_78953].”