Data Spaces Symposium
Minimal Interoperability
Mechanisms and data spaces

Michael MulquinOASC

Data space – the interoperability challenge▪ A data space supports an existing ecosystem oforganisations that are already working together todeliver on common priorities▪ The individual organisations continue to hold their data,but make it available for sharing within the ecosystem

The challenge:▪ The organisations collect and manage their dataaccording to legacy processes designed to support theirindividual goals.
It is not practical to expect them to change all theirprocesses overnight to follow detailed commonstandards

Many obstacles to data sharing
between agencies!

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How to ensurecommon datamodels?

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How to manage
data security?

Alignment is needed to enable interoperability?
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Interoperability

The capability of systems or units toprovide and receive services andinformation between each other,and to use the services andinformation exchanged to operate
effectively together in predictableways

Degrees of interoperability

MinimalInteroperability

The capability of systems or units toprovide and receive services andinformation between each other,and to use the services andinformation exchanged to operate
effectively together in predictableways with minimal user intervention

MinimalInteroperability
Mechanisms(MIMs)

The MIMs came from early projects where cities werebeginning to experiment with using the data from IoT todevelop applications such as smart parking.
The challenge was to identify a common way for cities
to collect and manage the data to enable applications
developed for one city to be easily ported to another
Also, to enable data coming from one application in acity to be used in other applications in that city

The MIMs are developed by Open & Agile Smart Cities& Communities (OASC) and by the Living-in.EU
movement▪ MIMs address the practical challenges of
supporting data sharing between organisations
that may use different standards or proprietary
solutions in the way they collect and handle
data.

What areMIMs?

▪ Rather than require all organisations to change
their existing practices, MIMs propose simple
modifications that will enable “good-enough”
interoperability.

▪ Their use simplifies the task of aligning data
sets coming from different organisations andenables a useful data space to be speedily andeasily put in place.

MIM

Function

MIM1: Context

Data sets/streams can be linked according to context

MIM2: Data Models

All data sets/streams use consistent data models

MIM3: Contracts

The MIMs being
developed byOASC

MIM4: Trust
MIM5: Transparency
MIM6: Security
MIM7: Places
MIM8: Indicators
MIM9: Analytics
MIM10: Resources

Appropriate data sets/streams can be found, andagreement can easily be reached for their appropriate use
Citizens can take charge of how data about them is used sothat it can benefit themselves and their community
Decision making algorithms will use data appropriately tomake fair and transparent decisions
Data can be held and shared securely
Geo-temporal information can be accurately described inconsistent ways
KPIs can rely on consistent data from across the ecosystem
to enable reliable measurement of progress
Models and analytics used within the ecosystem can work
well with other models and analytics
Information about city related resources can beappropriately sharedThere will be otherMIMs later▪ The 10 MIMs are designed to help
data flow in a data sharing
ecosystem, but others will need tobe added as gaps are identified▪ For instance, with the increasing
implementation of local digital
twins and the CitiVerse, we need tosupport minimal interoperability
between models and not just data.

The format
for eachMIM

The twoMinimals

A minimal but sufficient set ofcapabilities and the functionaland quality requirements neededto achieve them.
A minimal but useful level ofinteroperability between two
different mechanisms that offer
alternative methods to provide
the capability to achieve thesame data-related objective.

1. Minimal set ofcapabilities▪ To achieve an objective completely might demand many different
capabilities, requiring the expenditure of significant time andresource.
▪ However, a much smaller set of requirements can often enable thekey aspects to be achieved quickly and affordably. Further
capabilities can then be put in place, as and when they prove
appropriate.
▪ By encouraging the organisations in a data space to implement
mechanisms that address the same set of key requirements, thiswill simplify the work needed to provide interoperability between
them.

Capabilities toachieve an objective
Let’s consider MIM 6: data security
The objective is:▪ That communities and the organisations thatserve them can implement affordable andeffective cybersecurity measures, especiallyrelating to the data coming from IoT devices
and data being shared between organisations
in a data space

Capabilities to achieve that objective▪ Imagine 20 possible important capabilities/requirements.
▪ Few organisations could implement all of them and so different
organisations might implement different combinations.

1Org
1915182Org
2711141Org
31214
19

How to bring interoperability between them??

7Org
4913165Org
56812

Let’s agree a common set of essential capabilities
Many organisations will implement additional capabilities, but all will
have at least the core set
1Org
1915181Org
2915181Org
3915
18

Much easier to align1Org
4915181Org
591518

2. Minimal Interoperability between mechanisms

Often some concepts and component standards are common within different
technology approaches. These can be considered as “Pivotal Points of Interoperability”
and they can simplify the development of interoperability between divergent systems.

MIMs – useful tools for dataspaces
For more information contact
michael@oascities.org