W3C published a report from the Smart Descriptions & Smarter Vocabularies Workshop, held in Amsterdam, 30 November – 1 December 2016. The report summarizes the presentations given on, among others, data models, metadata standards and vocabularies for describing datasets in virtual research environments.

W3C Spatial Data on the Web Working Group has released a best practice document on how to how to publish spatial data on the internet. The document gives advice on publication and use of spatial data, and on use of Web technologies “as they may be applied to location”, and offers 17 best practices shifting focus from a traditional Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) model to a Linked Data approach. Read the document at https://www.w3.org/TR/2017/NOTE-sdw-bp-20170216/.

The international CODATA 2017 Conference, “Global Challenges and Data-Driven Science” will take place 8-13 October 2017, in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. The conference will address “fundamental issues relating to the availability, (re-)use and scientific analysis of data that relate to the most significant contemporary global challenges”. Read  more at http://codata2017.gcras.ru/.

The Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) 2017 will take place 31 March – 7 April, in Prague, and gather organizations working in Arctic research and exploitation, from all over the world. Read more at http://www.assw2017.eu/.