ODIS Steering Group Reviews Development Sprint Progress and Draft Work Plan

The ODIS Steering Group met in two virtual sessions on 20 and 21 August 2026, to review progress on the ODIS work programme and preparations for IODE-29. The group welcomed substantial progress achieved through the ODIS Development Sprint: the harvesting and indexing solution is largely complete, the new search interface has reached a functional beta stage, and documentation for both the IODE Committee and ODIS users is well advanced. It was agreed that the interface will be clearly identified as a beta version during testing, with a beta banner to be added, and that testing and dissemination will proceed progressively — starting with the technical team, then the Steering Group, ODIS nodes, and the wider IODE network, before eventual public release.

The Steering Group also reviewed the draft ODIS Progress Report, Work Plan and Budget for 2028–2029, expressing general support for its direction while identifying areas for further refinement ahead of IODE-29, including alignment with GOOS, the emerging IOC Data Architecture, and evolving data principles and readiness frameworks. Members were invited to complete their review of both the draft work plan and the ODIS communications piece by 27 August 2026. The next Steering Group meetings are scheduled for 17 and 18 September 2026. Full meeting details are available on OceanExpert. The full meeting report can be accessed here, and the draft Progress Report, Work Plan and Budget can be accessed here.