Si Keeble, director of Blue Lobster IT presents the design and plan for the development of an innovative European Digital Twins of Ocean (DTO) Marketplace and Interactive Environment (IE).
During the 2nd General Assembly of the EU's flagship Digital Twin of the Ocean project (Iliad), Si ran a workshop dedicated to the design and development of the Iliad DTO Interactive Environment. The workshop, which took place on 24th January 2023 at the Sapienza University of Rome, was attended by members of the Iliad science and stakeholder consortium.
The Iliad DTO Interactive Environment will supersede the current Iliad project website to become a product-focused web platform. The new Interactive Environment will provide access to the Iliad products and services including the Digital Twins (DTs), Marketplace, Project information, Iliad Academy, and TwinLab.
The designs and concepts were based on user research and a review of existing systems featuring front-end interfaces with strong UX and UI elements. User research on User Experience (UX) and User Interfaces (UI) was carried out during a dedicated workshop, which was held at the Iliad Plenary Meeting, 7-9 June 2022, Athens, Greece. The review of existing systems was carried out by fellow Iliad Partner, Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUAS).
The design conforms to the Iliad brand identity, which was developed by Blue Lobster who also leads the project's outreach and communication work package. The design adheres to accessibility standards and is designed to be easy to use for a good User Experience.
The Digital Twins (DTs) developed through the Iliad project will be available through the fully integrated Marketplace. They will be discoverable through a comprehensive search functionality and easy to explore through a simple categorised navigation and filtering system.
In addition, registered users will be able to contribute DTs or their components to the Marketplace or TwinLab. The Marketplace will host mature DTs, whilst the TwinLab will provide a space for collaborative development and co-design of DTs and the sharing of components of DTs as new pilots are developed.
Mock-ups of the Iliad DTO Interactive Environment Homepage, Marketplace, and TwinLab were presented. The next steps will be to build a prototype and gather user feedback and evaluation through the process of user testing.
About Iliad
Iliad is a 3-year, EU-funded project that will provide Digital Twins of the Ocean (DTOs) to represent marine systems in virtual environments, accessible through a central marketplace and demonstrated through key innovative pilots.
The DTOs provide real-time, interactive access to integrated data, tools and information from marine monitoring platforms, services and models, allowing complex analysis, simulation and predictive management scenarios. The DTOs support planning and decision-making on conservation, environmental and socio-economic objectives for various stakeholders and end-user groups.
Iliad is funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.