1.3.3 INSPIRE

From Geostandards

Contents 1 General 2 Basic principals 3 Implementing rules 4 Themes 5 INSPIRE and the Dutch geostandards 6 Planning 7 Presentation 8 Documents

General

One of the basic principles of the European Union is that people, products and services can move freely from one member state to another. This process of European integration began in 1948, the year in which the Benelux was formed. Now, after a handful of treaties and six accession rounds, the European Union consists of 27 member states. The European Commission (EC) has to try and find a balance between the need on the one hand, for harmonization on a European scale and the necessity, on the other, of retaining regional identity. Geo-information can undoubtedly make a positive contribution here. After all, the success of any policy depends entirely on the availability and quality of basic information, including cross-border information. This is certainly important for environmental policy, and every environmental problem has a clear spatial and often cross-border dimension.

In 2001, the Directorate-General of the Environment (DG-ENV), Eurostat and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission conceived the plan to set up a European geo-information infrastructure for the environment, the infrastructure for spatial information in Europe (INSPIRE). On 15 May 2007, the European framework directive with that name came into force. This directive forms the legal basis for a collective provision of geo-information within the European Union.

In a nutshell, the purpose of this directive is to ensure that good quality geo-information is available, accessible and usable, and that there is coordination between the member states on the content; in other words that it is harmonized. In order to do this, a network will be set up consisting of European and national Internet portals and network services. Not only the public sector, but also citizens and companies will have access to geo-information via the INSPIRE network. Environmental considerations were responsible for the setting up of INSPIRE, but thanks to its wide applicability, it can be used as a general European geo-information service. The themes can easily be used for spatial planning, and for aspects of civil order, national security and public health.

Basic principals

INSPIRE employs the following basic principles to organize the European geo-information infrastructure:

• geo-information will be stored, managed and made available on one suitable level;
• geo-information coming from different sources in the European Union can be combined in a consistent manner and exchanged between different users and applications;
• geo-information that has been collected from one public sector level can be exchanged with other public sector levels;
• geo-information will be made available in such a way that large-scale use of the system will not be unnecessarily impeded;
• any available geo-information can easily be looked up, and the suitability and user conditions can easily be checked.

INSPIRE is only concerned with existing geo-information. Member states are, therefore, not required to gather any missing geo-information.

Implementing rules

The basic principles are described in the seven chapters of the directive. In addition to general provisions, there are chapters on:

• Metadata: the information on (or knowledge of) geographical data and services, such as theme, quality and owner; allows the correct geo-information in Europe to be found;
• Specifications for geographical data and services: harmonization of geo-information with regard to content (definitions and characteristics of, for example, rivers) and position (good link-ups between highways at the borders of member states, for example);
• Network services: the technology and standards under which geo-information and metadata are made available via the Internet, including the European and national portals;

• Sharing of data and services: the conditions, including those under which geo-information is made available;
• Monitoring and reporting: monitoring and reporting (as carried out by each member state) of the implementation of INSPIRE.

Each chapter of the directive will be worked out in detail into one or more implementing rules. This process began in 2007 and will continue until 2012. The stage at which the implementing rules will be ready and will legally come into force (and therefore will have to be implemented in the member states) varies for each rule.

The implementing rules and guidelines can be found at http://inspire.jrc.ec.europa.eu/reports.cfm

Themes

INSPIRE contains 34 geo-information themes. These themes are subdivided into different groups according to the time that the metadata and geo-information, respectively, should become available, in combination with the degree to which the geo-information needs to be harmonized. They are included in the directive as three appendices.

Appendix I

1. Reference systems using coordinates
2. Geographical grid system
3. Geographical names
4. Administrative units
5. Addresses
6. Land Registry plots
7. Transport networks
8. Hydrography
9. Protected areas

Appendix II

1. Hight
2. Soil use
3. Ortho-image production
4. Geology

Appendix III

1. Statistical units
2. Buildings
3. Soil
4. Land use
5. Human health and safety
6. Utilities and public sector services
7. Environmental protection services
8. Facilities for manufacture and industry
9. Facilities agriculture and aquaculture
10. Population distribution — demography
11. Area management, areas where limitations apply, regulated areas and reporting units
12. Areas with risks to the natural environment
13. Atmospheric conditions
14. Meteorological and geographic characteristics
15. Oceanographic, geographic characteristics
16. Maritime regions
17. Bio-geographic areas
18. Habitats and biotopes
19. Distribution of species
20. Energy sources
21. Mineral sources

First of all, INSPIRE ensures that it is clear what geo-information is available. In order for this to happen the member states should make the metadata from the themes in Appendices I and II available in 2010 and in 2013 the metadata of the themes in Appendix III. Subsequently, INSPIRE will ensure that the geo-information itself becomes available. This will also happen in phases; in 2011 for the themes in Appendix I and in 2014 for the themes in Appendices II and III.

Harmonization involves the data-providers translating the content of their geo-information into the specifications that INSPIRE has set up for each theme. This does not mean that INSPIRE compels them to adapt their source data. The degree to which the geo-information in the themes should be harmonized will vary. INSPIRE requires that the themes in Appendices I and II are strongly harmonized but in Appendix III they only need to be harmonized to a limited extent. Limited harmonization means that the geo-information is available in the European coordination system and the geographical objects have a classification and definition. An example of this would be the Key to the symbols on a map. The requirements for Appendices I and II are the same as they are for Appendix III, with the addition of requirements for position (a good linkup, for example, of roads at the borders of member states), unique identification, relationships, attributes, lists of domain values and rules for version management. This strong harmonization can be compared to the Dutch information models included in the basic model geo-information (NEN3610) such as IMRO, IMWA and TOP10NL. The rules regarding implementation provide detailed specifications for each theme.

 

INSPIRE and the Dutch geostandards

What does INSPIRE mean in relation to the Dutch geostandards? To a great extent, INSPIRE will determine what the Dutch geostandards will look like.

INSPIRE is a large standardisation program. The parts concerned with metadata, data specifications and network services deal with standards. These are translated into implementing rules and the accessory guidelines. These guidelines act as profiles for the OGC and ISO standards which have to be observed within INSPIRE. INSPIRE’s division into three sections i.e. metadata, data specifications and network services matches the framework of the geostandards.

In the image above, the INSPIRE architecture has been worked out. Drafting Teams (DT) work out the implementing rules. The DT involved with the Metadata has submitted its work and implementation rules for the Metadata, with guidelines, have come into force. The DT concerned with Data specification works out the specifications (information models) for the 34 themes. The DT for Network Services is working on the architecture and services; the implementing rules for search engines and reference services are currently being submitted.

Planning

The most up to date plan of INSPIRE is listed at http://inspire.jrc.ec.europa.eu/inspire_roadmap.cfm. In the plan a distinction is made between the deadline for the submission of the implementing rules and guidelines, and the time that part of the INSPIRE-infrastructure should be implemented.

Presentation

The following (Dutch) presentation gives insight into INSPIRE: Presentatie INSPIRE

Documents

The formal INSPIRE documents are listed at http://inspire.jrc.ec.europa.eu/reports.cfm. Please make sure you read the most up to date versions of the document. Information and documents about the implementation of INSPIRE in the Netherlands can be found at http://www.geonovum.nl/dossiers/inspire.

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