Conclusions of the EMWIS NFP data managers seminar

The 15th seminar of EMWIS National Focal Points (NFP) was organised for the data managers of the National Focal Points. It took place in Madrid from 13 November till 15 November 2006. This was the 4th meeting of the data managers since the operational launch of the Initiative at the end of 1999 (the last meeting of the data managers took place in November 2004). It was the occasion to review how to take the best benefits from the new web portal technology introduced by EMWIS and the use the common exchange standards. A specific attention was paid to water documentation management, the use and enhancement of the common multilingual thesaurus/glossary on water (English, Arab, French, Spanish and Italian) and further development of a comprehensive water projects database. The way forward of national water portals was also discussed with a self evaluation of services provided, review of user needs and technological and thematic watch services.