Table 1.

Exemplar database linkages/mashups of climatic and environmental with human health data.

Institution/Project	Brief Description and Links
EVO	The Environmental Virtual Observatory (EVO) is a proof of concept project with NERC funding that has been created to demonstrate that linking data, models and expert knowledge will provide cost effective answers to vital wide-ranging environmental issues, initially in the soil-water system. The project exploits cloud computing to develop new applications for accessing, filtering and synthesising data to develop new knowledge and evaluation tools. It investigates possible structures for the cloud environment and develops exemplars at a local and national scale to demonstrate how the EVO could make environmental monitoring and decision making more efficient, effective and transparent to the whole community. http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/programmes/virtualobservatory/
ECDC E3 Geoportal	The objective of European Centres for Disease Control (ECDC) E3 Geoportal is to promote geospatial infectious disease modelling in Europe and its integration in public health. There are many different determinants of infectious disease transmission but they are often highly dispersed and/or difficult to obtain. The E3 Geoportal will facilitate the collection and exchange of these datasets in a user-friendly manner. It is an inventory of information and resources which are collected, maintained, and managed by a collaborative effort under the European Environment and Epidemiology Network. https://e3geoportal.ecdc.europa.eu/SitePages/Home.aspx
SAIL (Wales)	The Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank is a large scale data warehouse technology. The SAIL system links together the widest possible range of person-based data using robust anonymisation techniques on the College of Medicine’s IBM supercomputer and bespoke data transportation fabric to a wide range of NHS systems in Wales, allowing for future data mashups. SAIL is continually expanding, both in types of dataset and in geographical coverage, and many additional organisations have since provided, or agreed to provide, their datasets. Through the robust processes that have been developed and implemented, this growing databank represents a valuable resource for health-related research and service development, whilst complying with the requirements of data protection legislation and confidentiality guidelines. http://www.ehi2.swansea.ac.uk/en/sail-databank.htm
URGENCHE Project	Urban Reduction of GHG Emissions in China and Europe (URGENCHE) is a FP7 funded project bringing together a team of internationally recognised scientists to develop and apply a methodological framework for the assessment of the overall risks and benefits of alternative greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction policies for health and well-being in China and Europe. http://www.urgenche.eu
NOAA MATCH	NOAA Metadata Access Tool for Climate Change and Health (MATCH) is a publicly accessible, online tool for researchers that offers centralized access to metadata (standardized contextual information) about thousands of government-held datasets related to health, the environment, and climate-science. http://match.globalchange.gov/geoportal/catalog/main/home.page
PULSE-Brazil	NERC-funded project involving the University of Exeter, the Met Office and Brazilian partners. PULSE-Brazil brings together health data (especially respiratory health) and environmental data. It uses different kinds of data (e.g. satellite records on fires in the Amazon) and it has a different main output (a tool to support decision makers, rather than a platform to aid researchers). Both projects can learn from each other across a range of technical, methodological and theoretical issues. http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/project/E994D2D9-6A89-4F14-9C70-28076CCFBBBE
ESCAPE	EU funded project on long-term health risks to air pollution exposure. ESCAPE concentrates on respiratory, cardiovascular, cancer and pregnancy-related risks. The project’s communications strategy concentrates on producing material for use with patient groups. http://www.escapeproject.eu
AVOID	The Met Office Hadley Centre has datasets produced under the DECC/Defra funded Avoiding Danger Climate Change (AVOID) Programme. Includes observations programme to measure salinity, current velocity and temperature in the upper oceans. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/avoid/
EO2HEAVEN	EO2HEAVEN (Earth Observation and Environmental Modelling for the Mitigation of Health Risks) was a research project co-funded by the European Commission as part of the 7th Framework Programme (FP7) Environmental theme. EO2HEAVEN contributed to a better understanding of the complex relationships between environmental changes and their impact on human health. The project monitored changes induced by human activities, with emphasis on atmospheric, river, lake and coastal marine pollution. The result of this collaboration was the design and development of a GIS-based system upon an open and standards-based Spatial Information Infrastructure (SII) envisaged as a helpful tool for research of human exposure and early detection of infections. http://www.eo2heaven.org
EXPOSOMICS/HELIX	EXPOSOMICS is an EU funded project, led by Imperial College, and involving institutions from six other countries. It aims to predict individual disease risk from examining drinking water and air-borne contaminants; health data (long-term cohorts) and environmental data will be analysed together. HELIX project is an EU funded project, led by the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL) involving institutions from eight other countries. It is focused on the early life exposome since pregnancy and the early years of life are well recognized to be periods of high susceptibility to environmental damage with lifetime consequences. http://www.projecthelix.eu/en/news/item/4-ec-fp7-exposome-programme-launch-at-who-iarc