FAQ

Data is only displayed if permission has been granted by the owner who has stored it at 3TU.Datacentrum.

We ensure that:

• You can quickly find the data you want. You can use a key-word search, but also an advanced search, using the name of an institute, researcher, date, collaboration, etc.
• You will obtain access to the data sets you find
• You will be able to navigate through them easily
• You can download your selected data, provided that it is not restricted by copyright
• You can easily reuse downloaded data or process it into your own document.

3TU.Datacentrum takes responsibility for the storage of the data sets, the sustainable maintenance and the data management. We also take responsibility for the procedures that guarantee access to and administration of the data sets. We ensure that only authorised users can download data sets. The quality of our service provision meets international standards and guidelines for digital archiving.

Sometimes, 3TU.Datacentrum uses OPeNDAP to make datasets accessible. We always contact the distributor of the data in such a case.

OPeNDAP means Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol. It’s a framework that simplifies all aspects of scientific data networking. Thanks to the software, local data is accessible to remote locations regardless of local storage format. The OPeNDAP software is freely available.

You can find more information about OPeNDAP on www.opendap.org and by our data browser.

Our own OPeNDAP server is to be found at http://opendap.tudelft.nl/thredds/catalog.html.

Decent online tutorials are to be found at the project Open Earth (Deltares).

Our data experts are happy to inform you about possibilities of OPeNDAP to open up your dataset.

In the archive, we store completed, valuable data sets from completed technical-scientific studies. In principle, your data does not have to comply with a particular format. For data that is still being worked on, we recommend the setting up of a data lab.

For further information on 3TU.Datacentrum and finding/storing data, please contact:
Miss P.M. (Ellen) Verbakel
T: +31.15.2787296
E:  p.m.verbakel(at)tudelft.nl

Disciplines do not all store data in the same way. Accordingly, 3TU.Datacentrum has developed a separate user interface per discipline or large collection of data sets. We do this in cooperation with the parties involved, so that you can subsequently upload your data easily. 3TU.Datacentrum provides professional assistance in this process. The data sets are supplied with all the information that is essential for sustainable data management.

Setting up a data archive while a research project is in progress offers many advantages, particularly where an (international) cooperation is concerned.

• All the data created in whatever format is retrievable, accessible and reusable by all the participants in the research, anytime, anywhere, which improves the cooperation.
• Description of the data sets during the research (metadating) leads to more accurate results. If this is done in retrospect, some information is often no longer retrievable, for example because staff members have left. Good metadating means good retrievability.
• It is possible to store data and yet screen it from the outside world.
• After completion of the research, the consolidated data sets can be immediately deposited in the data archive.

Please respond to:
Ellen Verbakel
Prometheusplein 1
2628ZC Delft
T: +31.15.2787296
E:  p.m.verbakel(at)tudelft.nl

Is your research group interested in setting up a dynamic data lab? Then we would like to hear from you.

We are especially interested in data sets from the following clusters:

• Technology and Construction. Disciplines: Civil Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, etc.
• Applied Sciences. Disciplines: Materials Engineering, Chemical Technology, Applied Natural Science, etc.
• Earth Sciences
• Design. Disciplines: Architecture, Product Development, etc.
• Biomedical Technology.

At a later stage, this will be extended to include the beta sciences.

Your cooperation will enable us to develop and test our procedures and technical infrastructure.

We are organising the pilot in such a way that it will only require a minimum of your time.

3TU.Datacentrum will intensively advise, assist and facilitate you in setting up a data lab. We provide an electronic working environment that can be used both for the work processes and for the storage of dynamic data. That environment consists of a set of tools on the researchers desktops. This will align as far as possible with the online collaborative environment that you already use.

Our most important task is the provision of advice on the organisation of the data lab. It is important to describe and store the data in such a way that it is easily retrievable, accessible and reusable, both during the research and later, when it has been transferred to the data archive. In this, our experts comply with the international standards and best practices for digital archiving. In describing the data sets, your material input is of course very important.

3TU.Datacentrum guarantees the authorisation of access to the managed data sets. After completion of the research, the data sets can be sent for long-term storage to the data archive. It is possible to restrict the data or to withhold it, for example if you have not yet published the relevant research.

By definition, dynamic databases are subject to change. Data is added and/or removed or replaced. As long as this is the case, the data sets cannot be included in the data archive.