Blue-Cloud

Part of EU Open Research Repository
Published June 26, 2026 | Version 1
Project deliverable Open

Blue-Cloud 2026 - D4.5 VLabs results, users feedback and applications

Authors/Creators

  • 1. ROR icon Flanders Marine Institute

Contributors

  • 1. Portuguese Hydrographic Institute
  • 2. SOCIB
  • 3. IEEE
  • 4. University of Liège
  • 5. CMCC Foundation
  • 6. Flanders Marine Institute
  • 7. National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics
  • 8. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia
  • 9. Nubisware S.r.l.
  • 10. Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute
  • 11. Institut de recherche pour le developpement
  • 12. Institute of Computer Science-FORTH
  • 13. SeaScape Belgium

Description

User feedback collected across hackathons, consultation surveys, webinars, and an open survey between January 2025 (first beta release of the VLabs) and June 2026 (report delivery) reflects a broadly positive reception of the Blue-Cloud 2026 VLabs, while providing a consistent set of actionable recommendations for improvement.

Across all five VLabs, accessibility and ease of navigation were rated positively by the large majority of participants. The platform was widely recognised for the value it delivers to marine research communities, bringing together ready-to-use datasets, pre-configured environments, and integrated analytical tools in ways that save researchers significant time. Scientific relevance was consistently affirmed: individual VLabs were identified as directly applicable to research on coastal ocean dynamics, fisheries monitoring, carbon-plankton modelling, marine environmental indicators, and climate change impact assessment, including their potential contribution to Digital Twin Ocean capabilities. Several VLabs were also highlighted as valuable for teaching and capacity building.

Recurring technical limitations centred on resource intensity, with users experiencing latency during job execution and storage-related errors preventing the re-running of certain notebooks. Collaborative features and workspace management might require attention, particularly around joint access to VLabs and file transfer performance.

Documentation was generally well regarded, supported by the VLab handbooks and Ocean Teacher Global Academy courses, though users requested more granular guidance at the individual VLab level during hackathon and dedicated troubleshooting resources. Notebook-level improvements were also requested, including better error handling, additional inline comments, and greater flexibility for advanced users to adapt workflows to their own case studies.

All feedback raised at the individual VLab level was addressed by the respective development teams and the corresponding improvements have been implemented in the latest release of the VLabs, published in January 2026. Taken together, the feedback and responses confirm that the VLabs infrastructure delivers strong scientific and operational value, and that the iterative development process has meaningfully enhanced the user experience across the platform.

Files

D4.5._VLabs_results_users_feedback_and_applications.pdf

Files (10.0 MB)

Additional details

Related works

Is compiled by
https://data.d4science.org/ctlg/Blue-Cloud2026Project/blue-cloud_2026_-_d4_5_vlabs_results_users_feedback_and_applications (URL)

Funding

European Commission
Blue-Cloud 2026 - A federated European FAIR and Open Research Ecosystem for oceans, seas, coastal and inland waters 101094227