Synthesized Data Quality Requirements and Roadmap for Improving Reusability of In-Situ Marine Data

Background: In-situ marine data has a low reusability rate, primarily due to differences in data usage objectives among stakeholders in data ecosystems. The extreme cost of collecting and maintaining in-situ marine data threatens the sustainable usage of the ocean. Aims: This paper provides an overview of current data and data quality (DQ) requirements. We also investigate limitations in the current practices that obstruct data reusability. The ultimate objective is to improve data requirements elicitation, leading to enhanced data reusability. Method: We interviewed 14 marine practitioners and researchers from 7 organizations with extensive experience in collecting, managing, and utilizing in-situ marine data. Results: We identify 9 representative use cases in the fishery, energy, and marine sciences industries, as well as their data and DQ requirements. The results give guidance to data producers to produce data meeting demands of a wider range of data consumers. At the same time, data consumers can refer to the compilation to identify existing data suiting their needs. Furthermore, we recommend a roadmap taken into account during requirements elicitation to improve 6 limitations in the current practices that obstruct data reusability.