6.2.1 Background and history

From Geostandards

In September 2001 an E-ESDI Expert group, representing geoinformation experts of the European Commission, the European Environmental Agency, and Member States’ environmental and national mapping bodies started elaboration a proposal for European directive to establish an European Spatial Data Infrastructure (ESDI). The adoption of the proposal for a directive on establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) by the European Commission in July 2004 marked the first important step on the way to a European-wide legislative framework to achieve an European Spatial Data Infrastructure.

On February 2005, the Commission published the INSPIRE work programme for the INSPIRE preparatory phase (2005-06). This work programme also provided a first overview on an organisational and a process model for INSPIRE. The concept of Spatial Data Interest Communities (SDIC) had been introduced to provide stakeholders the mechanism to participate in the development of the implementing rules. In 2005 five drafting teams have been nominated, each been mandated to draft implement rules according to the five components of INSPIRE.

In March 2007 the INSPIRE proposal has been adopted as Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, the Directive was published in the official Journal on the 25th April 2007 and the INSPIRE Directive entered into force on the 15th May 2007. The INSPIRE work programm was updated to address the INSPIRE transposition phase (2007-09).

The INSPIRE directive does not only address policy related issues concerning the development of an European Spatial Data Infrastructure but also dedicates three chapters to the technical requirements that have to be fulfilled by the member states to establish the European Spatial Data Infrastructure. These three chapters are on Metadata, Interoperability of spatial data sets and services, and Network services. Under these chapters the proposal list general requirements on these issues as well as it formulates the requirement to adopt appropriate implementing rules. INSPIRE is complementary to national SDI activities, it shall build upon the existing and upcoming SDIs in the Member States.

INSPIRE does (only) address spatial data of public administrations, that is already (or will be in future) available in a digital format. INSPIRE is complementary to related policy initiatives, such as the Directive on the re-use of public sector information (Directive 2003/98/EC) and the Directive on public access to environmental information (Directive 2003/4/EC). INSPIRE is expected to provide an umbrella for European Environmental Directives asking for reporting geospatial data (as for instance the Water Framework Directive, the Habitat Directive, etc.).

INSPIRE is ambitious. The initiative intends to trigger the creation of a European spatial information infrastructure that delivers to the users integrated spatial information services. These services should allow the users to identify and access spatial or geographical information from a wide range of sources, from the local level to the global level, in an inter-operable way for a variety of uses. The target users of INSPIRE include policy-makers, planners and managers at European, national and local level and the citizens and their organisations. Possible services are the visualisation of information layers, overlay of information from different sources, spatial and temporal analysis, etc.

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