Towards an Open Modelling Interface (OpenMI) the HarmonIT project

摘要

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) poses an immense challenge to watermanagement in Europe. Aiming at a "good ecological status" of surface watersin 2015, integrated river basin management plans need to be in place by 2009,and broadly supported by stakeholders. Information & CommunicationTechnology (ICT) tools, such as computational models, are very helpful indesigning river basin management plans (rbmp-s). However, many scientistsbelieve that a single integrated modelling system to support the WFD cannotbe developed, and integrated systems need to be quite tailored to the localsituation and evolve during a collaborative planning process. As aconsequence there is an urgent need to increase the flexibility of modellingsystems, such that dedicated model systems can be developed from availablebuilding blocks. In the recent past a number of initiatives have been startedto develop an IT framework for modelling to meet the required flexibility.

In Europe the international project HarmonIT, which is sponsored by theEuropean Commission, is developing and implementing a standard interface formodelling components and other relevant tools: The Open Modelling Interface(OpenMI). This paper describes the HarmonIT project and objectives ingeneral. The current progress is described. It describes the roles fordifferent types of stakeholders in modelling, varying from software coders tonon-specialized users of decision support systems. It will provide insight inthe requirements imposed when using the OpenMI.