Good information provision begins with good data collection. Eye on Earth can provide the necessary linkages across a vast ocean of existing information to help keep much more of it in one place. This includes information from official environmental sources, as well as sectoral information relevant for the environment that remains isolated and un-shared, making access and use difficult (e.g. for assessments or comparisons). Information from GMES services based on satellite observations and in-situ monitoring, now being made available through GMES pre-operational services, could be fed into Eye on Earth. EEA also realizes that its database needs to go wider than official sources to understand the fast pace of environmental change today -- that’s why Eye on Earth will help fill important gaps in our knowledge base with data from the public.