From Geostandards

Contents 1 Overview 2 Spatial data vs "business data" 3 Affected spatial data sets 4 Annex I 4.1 Coordinate reference systems 4.2 Geographical grid systems 4.3 Geographical names 4.4 Administrative units 4.5 Addresses 4.6 Cadastral parcels 4.7 Transport networks 4.8 Hydrography 4.9 Protected sites 5 Annex II 5.1 Elevation 5.2 Land cover 5.3 Orthoimagery 5.4 Geology 6 Annex III 6.1 Statistical units 6.2 Buildings 6.3 Soil 6.4 Land use 6.5 Human health and safety 6.6 Utility and governmental services 6.7 Production and industrial facilities 6.8 Agricultural and aquaculture facilities 6.9 Population distribution — demography 6.10 Area management/restriction/regulation zones and reporting units 6.11 Natural risk zones 6.12 Atmospheric conditions 6.13 Meteorological geographical features 6.14 Oceanographic geographical features 6.15 Sea regions 6.16 Bio-geographical regions 6.17 Habitats and biotopes 6.18 Species distribution 6.19 Energy resources 6.20 Mineral resources

Overview

INSPIRE has a broad thematic scope 34 spatial data themes ("themes"). The themes are separated into three annexes due to different requirements with regard to their content and schedule.

Requirement	Responsible party	Annex I	Annex II	Annex III
Expected availability of the Implementing Rule / Data Specification	European Commission	December 2009	May 2012	May 2012
Relevance of Article 8 requirements	n/a	Yes	Yes	No
Availability of metadata for spatial data sets	Member States	December 2010	December 2010	December 2013
Availability of spatial data sets in conformity with the Implementing Rule	Member States	2 or 7 years after adoption of implementing rule for the theme

For each theme, the Directive contains a definition, which is shown below. A more detailled preliminary and informative description of the scope of each theme is documented in the report Definition of Annex Themes and Scope.

Spatial data vs "business data"

An important principle is that the scope of INSPIRE is spatial data. I.e., most non-spatial aspects of the themes are out-of-scope of INSPIRE data specifications. The Generic Conceptual Model emphasises that INSPIRE should not aim at being the information infrastructure for all data relevant for environmental applications. Much of the data in this context will have some relation to space and time, but the scope of INSPIRE is mainly focussed on the spatial aspects and at providing consistent spatial (and temporal) information for relevant real-world phenomena in each theme. It is out-of-scope of INSPIRE to model all information to execute business processes, scientific simulations, or comply with reporting requirements.

Naturally, there is a grey area where the scope of INSPIRE ends in terms of which real-world phenomena should be included and with which information. For example, at least for the themes in the annexes I and II key characteristics of the spatial objects are within scope of INSPIRE. The Generic Conceptual Model specifies that as a general guideline INSPIRE should focus – at least for now – mainly on reference systems as well as spatial object types that are widely used in environmental applications or widely referenced to provide location information. Where practicable, spatial object types that are important for key environmental applications should be included, too. This is illustrated in the figure below.

In some themes, for example transport networks or hydrography, there are also many different types of spatial objects and it is impracticable to try and model them all, at least at this stage. The priority in the development of the data specifications for the current annex I themes has been to include those spatial objects that are in universal use and provide examples how the specification can be extended by user communities.

Affected spatial data sets

Whether an existing spatial data set is within scope of the INSPIRE Directive or not depends on several conditions (Article 4(1)):

• the data relates to an area where a Member State has and/or exercises jurisdictional rights;
• the data is in an electronic format;
• the data is held by or on behalf of a public authority (this is somewhat simplified, for more details see Article 4(1)(c), 4(5) and 4(6));
• the data relates to one or more of the themes described below.

INSPIRE does not require collection of new spatial data.

Annex I

The first two themes (coordinate reference systems and geographical grid systems) are special in that they are not represented by spatial objects (or spatial data sets), but provide basic concepts so that spatial objects in the other themes can be referenced spatially.

Coordinate reference systems

Systems for uniquely referencing spatial information in space as a set of coordinates (x, y, z) and/or latitude and longitude and height, based on a geodetic horizontal and vertical datum.

See Coordinate reference systems.

Geographical grid systems

Harmonised multi-resolution grid with a common point of origin and standardised location and size of grid cells.

See Geographical grid systems.

Geographical names

Names of areas, regions, localities, cities, suburbs, towns or settlements, or any geographical or topographical feature of public or historical interest.

See Geographical names.

Administrative units

Units of administration, dividing areas where Member States have and/or exercise jurisdictional rights, for local, regional and national governance, separated by administrative boundaries.

See Administrative units.

Addresses

Location of properties based on address identifiers, usually by road name, house number, postal code.

See Addresses.

Cadastral parcels

Areas defined by cadastral registers or equivalent.

See Cadastral parcels.

Transport networks

Road, rail, air and water transport networks and related infrastructure. Includes links between different networks. Also includes the trans-European transport network as defined in Decision No 1692/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 1996 on Community Guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network and future revisions of that Decision.

See Transport networks.

Hydrography

Hydrographic elements, including marine areas and all other water bodies and items related to them, including river basins and sub-basins. Where appropriate, according to the definitions set out in Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy and in the form of networks.

See Hydrography.

Protected sites

Area designated or managed within a framework of international, Community and Member States' legislation to achieve specific conservation objectives.

See Protected sites.

Annex II

Elevation

Digital elevation models for land, ice and ocean surface. Includes terrestrial elevation, bathymetry and shoreline.

Land cover

Physical and biological cover of the earth's surface including artificial surfaces, agricultural areas, forests, (semi-)natural areas, wetlands, water bodies.

Orthoimagery

Geo-referenced image data of the Earth's surface, from either satellite or airborne sensors.

Geology

Geology characterised according to composition and structure. Includes bedrock, aquifers and geomorphology.

Annex III

Statistical units

Units for dissemination or use of statistical information.

Buildings

Geographical location of buildings.

Soil

Soils and subsoil characterised according to depth, texture, structure and content of particles and organic material, stoniness, erosion, where appropriate mean slope and anticipated water storage capacity.

Land use

Territory characterised according to its current and future planned functional dimension or socio-economic purpose (e.g. residential, industrial, commercial, agricultural, forestry, recreational).

Human health and safety

Geographical distribution of dominance of pathologies (allergies, cancers, respiratory diseases, etc.), information indicating the effect on health (biomarkers, decline of fertility, epidemics) or well-being of humans (fatigue, stress, etc.) linked directly (air pollution, chemicals, depletion of the ozone layer, noise, etc.) or indirectly (food, genetically modified organisms, etc.) to the quality of the environment.

Utility and governmental services

Includes utility facilities such as sewage, waste management, energy supply and water supply, administrative and social governmental services such as public administrations, civil protection sites, schools and hospitals.

== Environmental monitoring facilities

Location and operation of environmental monitoring facilities includes observation and measurement of emissions, of the state of environmental media and of other ecosystem parameters (biodiversity, ecological conditions of vegetation, etc.) by or on behalf of public authorities.

Production and industrial facilities

Industrial production sites, including installations covered by Council Directive 96/61/EC of 24 September 1996 concerning integrated pollution prevention and control (1) and water abstraction facilities, mining, storage sites.

Agricultural and aquaculture facilities

Farming equipment and production facilities (including irrigation systems, greenhouses and stables).

Population distribution — demography

Geographical distribution of people, including population characteristics and activity levels, aggregated by grid, region, administrative unit or other analytical unit.

Area management/restriction/regulation zones and reporting units

Areas managed, regulated or used for reporting at international, European, national, regional and local levels. Includes dumping sites, restricted areas around drinking water sources, nitrate-vulnerable zones, regulated fairways at sea or large inland waters, areas for the dumping of waste, noise restriction zones, prospecting and mining permit areas, river basin districts, relevant reporting units and coastal zone management areas.

Natural risk zones

Vulnerable areas characterised according to natural hazards (all atmospheric, hydrologic, seismic, volcanic and wildfire phenomena that, because of their location, severity, and frequency, have the potential to seriously affect society), e.g. floods, landslides and subsidence, avalanches, forest fires, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions.

Atmospheric conditions

Physical conditions in the atmosphere. Includes spatial data based on measurements, on models or on a combination thereof and includes measurement locations.

Meteorological geographical features

Weather conditions and their measurements; precipitation, temperature, evapotranspiration, wind speed and direction.

Oceanographic geographical features

Physical conditions of oceans (currents, salinity, wave heights, etc.).

Sea regions

Physical conditions of seas and saline water bodies divided into regions and sub-regions with common characteristics.

Bio-geographical regions

Areas of relatively homogeneous ecological conditions with common characteristics.

Habitats and biotopes

Geographical areas characterised by specific ecological conditions, processes, structure, and (life support) functions that physically support the organisms that live there. Includes terrestrial and aquatic areas distinguished by geographical, abiotic and biotic features, whether entirely natural or semi-natural.

Species distribution

Geographical distribution of occurrence of animal and plant species aggregated by grid, region, administrative unit or other analytical unit.

Energy resources

Energy resources including hydrocarbons, hydropower, bio-energy, solar, wind, etc., where relevant including depth/height information on the extent of the resource.

Mineral resources

Mineral resources including metal ores, industrial minerals, etc., where relevant including depth/height information on the extent of the resource.

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