6.1.1 Spatial Data Infrastructures

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6 INSPIRE
6.1 Background and Motivation

6.1.1 Spatial Data Infrastructures
6.1.2 Requirements for a European SDI
6.1.3 Existing foundation for a European SDI

6.2 Overview and Context

6.2.1 Background and history
6.2.2 The five components of the Directive
6.2.3 Implementation, status and schedule
6.2.4 Groups and responsibilities within INSPIRE
6.2.5 INSPIRE Implementing Rules and INSPIRE Guidance Documents
6.2.6 European and Global initiatives in the context of INSPIRE

6.3 Technical Architecture Overview

6.3.1 Relationship between the different components, in particular spatial data, metadata, registers, and network services
6.3.2 Terminology

6.4 Interoperabilty of spatial data sets / INSPIRE data specifications

6.4.1 Requirements of the INSPIRE Directive
6.4.2 Interoperability of spatial data
6.4.3 INSPIRE data scope
6.4.4 Modelling Framework
6.4.5 Generic Conceptual Model
6.4.6 ISO 19100 series of International Standards
6.4.7 Rules for application schemas and feature catalogues
6.4.8 Identifier Management
6.4.9 Object referencing modelling
6.4.10 Coordinate referencing
6.4.11 Multi-lingual text and cultural adaptability
6.4.12 Data quality
6.4.13 Metadata for evaluation and use
6.4.14 Multiple representations
6.4.15 Consistency between data
6.4.16 Portrayal model
6.4.17 Conformance
6.4.18 Generic Network Model
6.4.19 Gazetteers
6.4.20 Encoding and data formats
6.4.21 INSPIRE registers
6.4.22 Annex I data specifications
6.4.22.1 Coordinate reference systems
6.4.22.2 Geographical grid systems
6.4.22.3 Geographical names
6.4.22.4 Administrative units
6.4.22.5 Addresses
6.4.22.6 Cadastral parcels
6.4.22.7 Transport networks
6.4.22.8 Hydrography
6.4.22.9 Protected sites
6.4.23 Outlook to Annex II/III data specifications
6.4.24 Extensions by countries or communities

6.5 Network Services

6.5.1 Network Service Architecture
6.5.2 View Services
6.5.3 Discovery Services
6.5.4 Download Services
6.5.5 Transformation Services
6.5.6 Invoke spatial data service services

6.6 Metadata

6.6.1 Requirements of the INSPIRE Directive
6.6.2 INSPIRE Metadata scope
6.6.3 INSPIRE Metadata elements
6.6.4 Metadata guidelines
6.6.4.1 Implementation according to ISO 19000 series
6.6.4.2 Implementation according to Dublin Core
6.6.4 Relationship to INSPIRE Discovery Services

The development of Spatial Data Infrastructures is a worldwide phenomenon. The US Federal Geographic Data Committee (http://www.fgdc.gov/ ) was one of the first bodies that has been legally mandated to set up a national Spatial Data Infrastructure (Executive Order 12906) This US Executive Order 12906 from 1994 also provided an SDI definition:

„…Spatial Data Infrastructure defined as the technologies, policies, and people necessary to promote sharing of geospatial data throughout all levels of government, the private and non-profit sectors, and the academic community.“

Better than by the above definition an SDI might be characterised by its goals.

Spatial Data Infrastructures aim on:

  • reducing the duplication of effort (costs, time, etc.) in sharing geographic information,
  • making up-to-date geographic information easily accessible thus helping in increasing quality of related analysis and decision making,
  • support seamless integration of geographic data from different sources, enabling to easily publish geographic information.


Throughout Europe a number of national and regional initiatives establish Spatial Data Infrastructures, most of them are driven by public administration or by public-private partnerships (see for instance Masser 20071 for an overview). Key components to these SDI initiatives are generally: - an organisational structure acting consensus based and confirming a sustainable and reliable operation of the infrastructure - an agreed set of rules and standards to govern the development and deployment of the Infrastructure - a mixture of distributed and centralised geodatabases and network services which technically establish the infrastructure (currently based on the Internet as the underlying information technology infrastructure)


1Masser, I (2007): Building European Spatial Data Infrastructures. ESRI Press, 2007, 104 pp. ISBN: 978-1-58948-165-7.

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