Digital revolution – Solutions for understanding water resources

Published on 05/15/25

On 17 May, World Telecommunication and Information Society Day will focus on gender equality in the digital transformation.

At OiEau, women and men put their talents to work for balanced water management at all levels, drawing on four areas of expertise.

Knowledge of the resource and the environment is essential for decision-making, particularly through the collection, analysis, structuring and provision of reliable data and information.

Laurène and Sandrine, OiEau experts, focus on two data valorisation and information management solutions developed by OiEau.

Laurène, Geomatics Engineer at OiEau, specialising in the Water Data and Reference Management Service (SANDRE)

‘Geomatics’ is a combination of the words “geography” and ‘informatics,’ a term that encompasses all the tools and methods used to acquire, represent, analyse and integrate geographical data. It therefore includes all activities related to the collection, processing and dissemination of geographical data. When geographical data is combined with business and statistical data, it can be used to create powerful decision-making tools.

OiEau provides technical secretariat services for the Water Data and Reference Service (SANDRE), whose mission is to establish and make available the water data repository for the French water information system (SIE). Acting as an interface between water professionals and IT specialists, the aim is to develop data models on various water-related topics. Then, in accordance with these models, to collect, check and publicly disseminate geographical reference data on water (hydrographic network, hydrometric stations, hydrogeological entities, etc.).

This work contributes to the opening up of water data, i.e. making it available, sharing it and reusing it. It facilitates environmental studies and the implementation of environmental policies.

Sandrine, Documentalist at OiEau, responsible for the Water and Biodiversity Knowledge Base

Recently launched online, the Water & Biodiversity Knowledge Base developed by OiEau with the support of the OFB is the result of a joint effort with members of the Documentary Skills Network. These specialists in document management and knowledge capitalisation have pooled their expertise to reach a new milestone by making new digital resources available and enriching them.

The objectives of this Water & Biodiversity Knowledge Base are to share and disseminate reliable, high-quality digital information on the themes of water and biodiversity, and to provide support services for research and information processing using artificial intelligence (AI).

Unlike a traditional search engine, which provides a list of references to be explored one by one, the experimental conversational agent in the Water & Biodiversity Knowledge Base responds to questions asked in natural language by users and displays written answers accompanied by scientific and technical references that it has selected from the Knowledge Base, and only from the Knowledge Base. AI also enables the translation (into English for the time being) of queries and summaries of results.