ECN Data Centre

The ECN Data Centre manages an integrated information resource, which stores all data and meta-data collected collected by the networks which supply data to it.  These data are held in standardised structures in order to support the cross-disciplinary analyses necessary for environmental change research.  The database uses the Oracle RDBMS with links to Arc GIS  for spatial data handling.  Data are regularly sent in from sites and are quality assured before being lodged in the database; a system of quality flags and codes ensures that the data are properly qualified in the meta-database.

Availability of data is central to the ECN Data Centre's success as a resource for environmental research, policy purposes and public information.  We promote the use of the data we manage through a number of different data access methods, including targeted data products, web developments and events to suit a range of users from scientists and policy-makers to students and the general public. Data are made accessible according to the ECN data policy.  The ECN Data Centre website provides a gateway to ECN data access.

For more information please see the ECN report, which provides a detailed description of the ECN Data Centre information system. 

For further information on the ECN Data Centre database and its access systems please see:

Rennie, S.C. (2007).  The ECN Information System.  ECN report.  Available online. 

Lane, A.M.J., Rennie, S.C. and Watkins, J.M. (2004).  Integrated Data Management for Environmental Monitoring Programmes.  In: Environmental monitoring, edited by G.B. Wiersma, 37-62. Boca Raton: CRC Press.

Rennie, SC. and Jackson, D. (2001). Using environmental data on the Internet. Teaching Geography, 26(1), 33-35.

Rennie, SC., Lane, AMJ. and Wilson, M. (2000). Web Access to Environmental Databases: a Database Query and Presentation System for the UK Environmental Change Network.. Proceedings of the 2000 ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, 2, 894-897.  Available online. 

Parr, TW. and Hirst, DJ. (1999). The UK Environmental Change network and the Internet: their role in detecting and interpreting environmental change. In: Advances in Sustainable Development. Environmental Indices: Systems Analysis Approach, EOLSS, 223-236.

Lane, AMJ. and Parr, TW. (1998). Providing Information on Environmental Change: Data management strategies and Internet access approaches within the UK Environmental Change Network. Proceedings of 10th International Conference on Scientific and Statistical Database Management, IEEE Computer Society, Los Alamitos, California.

Lane, AMJ. (1997). The UK Environmental Change Network Database. An Integrated Information Resource for Long-term Monitoring and Research. Journal of Environmental Management, 51 (1), 87-105.

Contact the ECN Data Centre at ecn@ceh.ac.uk |  Data Policy  |  Privacy and Cookies  
Website design and interface development by Susannah Rennie - srennie@ceh.ac.uk.