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  • NEW 1 February 2011

    IHCE2012 hosts session on Information Management

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  • 27 December 2011

    OpenMI evaluated for Dutch Deltamodel project

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  • 7 December 2011

    The British Geological Survey and Loughborough University have created an OpenMI composition to produce a prototype "plug and play" Catastrophe model for groundwater flooding in the Berkshire Downs

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Why was the OpenMI developed?

To understand the likely impact of both events and the policies to address them requires the ability to predict the behaviour of many interacting processes. The best prediction tools at present are models encapsulating our understanding of process behaviour. These however, tend to represent single or small groups of processes within a discipline. The OpenMI has been created to enable interacting processes to be modelled by linking models together. It provides a standard interface for the run time exchange of data between models and allows models from different disciplines and suppliers, based on different modelling concepts, using different terminologies and running at different spatial and temporal scales to be linked.

Why use the OpenMI?

There are a number of reasons why the OpenMI may be beneficial for your project. Adopting OpenMI will mean that:
  • There is no need to develop an internal project standard - a costly and time-consuming process.
  • The OpenMI is supported by a range of tools for making models linkable and then linking and running them.
  • You will receive the benefit of the €12M investment in developing the OpenMI
  • You will be able to link to other existing OpenMI-compliant models. There is a fast growing list of such models.
  • Models developed within your project may be more easily re-used once the project is completed.
Whatever your role, before you consider using the OpenMI, you may want to know that:
  • The OpenMI can be used in most integrated modelling situations.
  • The OpenMI is an Open Source and royalty-free standard.
  • The OpenMI is generic and can enable cross-disciplinary model linking.
  • The OpenMI has been developed by an international consortium of commercial model developers, institutes and universities.
  • The OpenMI is backed by the OpenMI Association, a legal organisation.
  • The OpenMI will be maintained and will continue to be developed by the OpenMI Association.
  • You can become a member of the OpenMI Association and influence its future development.
  • The OpenMI is used by major developers, including DHI Water Environment and Health, Wallingford Software Ltd. and Deltares (formerlyWL Delft Hydraulics).
How the OpenMI can support your project depends upon how the participants see themselves:
  • Integrated modellers and researchers
  • Modelling framework developers
  • Code developers for models and modelling tools in companies, institutes and universities
  • Consultants: advisors to the water and environmental managers
  • Water and environmental managers

Integrated modellers and researchers

The OpenMI will...
  • Help you to improve the ease of collaboration between research groups and enable cross -disciplinary models to be linked.
  • Enable you to look at 'big science' questions that can not be explored by stand alone models.
  • Enable a more modular development approach to be used, making model substitution simpler when changing scale or undertaking uncertainty or sensitivity analyses.
  • Facilitate integrated modelling for which there is an implicit requirement, for example to implement the Water Framework Directive.
  • Enable you to link models developed as part of your project to existing research and proprietary models.
  • Simplify the construction of Decision Support Systems (DSS) by reducing the time involved.

Modelling framework developers

The OpenMI will...
  • Provide you with the linking technology that will allow components running within your framework to be exchangeable.

Single domain model code developers and researchers

The OpenMI will...
  • Help you to make models linkable to others.
  • Help you to develop models in isolation that can be guaranteed to connect to other models.
  • Help you to reduce the effort required to produce a marketable product. You can play to your strengths and link to other suppliers components where they do represent part of your core business.
  • Enable models produced as part of your current project to be reused in future projects.

Consultants

The OpenMI will...
  • Help you to give more informed answers (than the competition) for the same (or lower) costs and faster.
  • Allow you to combine models owned or licensed by different organisations - i.e. choose the best components for the job.
  • Change the market from one for large proprietary systems to one for components.

Water and environmental managers

The OpenMI will...
  • Help you to predict the wider implications of policies and projects, as required by integrated approaches to environmental management.
  • Help you to better understand and model how environmental, social and economic processes interact, leading to greater efficiency when planning operations.
  • Simplify sensitivity and uncertainty analyses by allowing the easy substitution of one model with another.
  • Simplify the construction of decision support systems.