Geographic Information Metadata standard for Commission departments Meeting of the Working Party "Geographical Information Systems for Statistics" P.C. Smits Joint Research Centre, European Commission, Italy

Outline Introduction Metadata for Geographic Information EC’s metadata activities Current status and needed future steps

Introduction Joint Research Centre The mission of the JRC is to provide customer-driven scientific and technical support for the conception, development, implementation and monitoring of EU policies. As a service of the European Commission, the JRC functions as a reference centre of science and technology for the Union. Close to the policy-making process, it serves the common interest of the Member States, while being independent of special interests, whether private or national

COGI Commission inter-service group on Geographic Information Mandate COGI is to co-ordinate the use of GI and to assure the application of common technical GI standards within the Commission services to improve the efficiency and cost effectiveness of European policy monitoring that require an spatial analysis of the European territory at European and Global level. Chairmanship: Director General EUROSTAT JRC providing the technical input and expertise

Actions list (2000) Line 1: improve the availability of GI within the Commission services Update the document “EC User needs in GI and GIS”, Market survey on the available sources of GI. Preparation of technical specifications for the Call for Tender or the regulation, Follow-up of the implementation of specific GI projects such as Image-CLC-2000,.. Line 2: improve the level of awareness within Commission creation of a common GI//GIS web site, organise seminars, production of posters and newsletters at regular intervals,.. Line 3: project a coherent image of the EC GI activities to the outside world European reference system (ETRS89), Set of European projection systems, European grid system in a statistical context, GI metadata standard (in liaison with ISO), .. Line 4: develop a data policy applicable to all Commission services for projects partly or totally funded by the Commission, to be used inside the Commission in Commission's funded projects, to give external users access to the Commission's data,..

What is the ESDI? European Spatial Data Infrastructure Europe is moving 3cm/ year Technical Support to GI policy development Needs for a European Reference System Different Policies and standards GI Institutional framework GI technical standards Spatial Data Infrastructure Different sea level in Europe Catchments GIS for Natura 2000 Meteo data Fundamental GI data sets Spatial Information Services Land Cover eEurope : eGovernement on line Needs to create european spatial data sets GIS to manage Natura2000 sites

The GI&GIS project - Overview GI reference center. To support the European GI policy development as a part of new communication on eGovernment Information Strategies. Formalisation of the user requirements for the EGII (European GI Infrastructure). GI core data and market. Creation of new thematic networks. Standardisation (Reference systems, Metadata, projections, ..) Contribute to the set-up of an interoperable European GeoStatistical system. Technology watch and Dissemination (www.ec-gis.org) for EC. Pan-European dbs development. To support and monitor the spatial component of EU policies (Natura2000, Image2000/CorineLC2000, Agro-Meteorology, Catchments, etc.). Conception, creation and harmonisation of spatial layers Set-up of spatial information services. Applied Research. To investigate methods for integrated assessment and study the applicability of technology. Geomatics, Spatial analysis, Interoperability. GI & GIS: Towards an Integrated Spatial Framework for European Policies Pan-European data sets (CORINE, NATURA2000, IMAGE2000) IT Support Methodological Issue for data analysis & integration Dissemination Strategy & Data policies

Geographic Information: Relevance to EU policies Access to Public Sector Information Underpinning EU policies with a spatial impact European Geographic Information Infrastructure Policies’ implementation Developing harmonised databases Standards Methods

Metadata for Geographic Information Why is spatial so special? Some ISO 19115 metadata elements 11. Geographic Location (by four coordinates or geographic identifier) (M) 14. Category (M) e.g. cadastral, cultural, demographic, etc. 16. Scale of the dataset (O) 17. Dataset Format Name(O): e.g. VPF 117. Topological consistency 118. Positional accuracy 122. Temporal accuracy 188. Reference System 191. Coordinate system 217. Projection system parameters

Metadata for Geographic Information How it will work User applications Clients Possible ways in which metadata is delivered: Paper catalog (On-line) databases Web pages Text files … Access to transformed data, pictures, maps Service chaining Metadata search and retrieval Middleware Geo-processing Services Direct data access Catalogs Metadata update Servers Content Repositories Other data Coverages Features Digital Earth reference model

Metadata for Geographic Information Various initiatives to build GI metadata standards All converting towards IS 19115 IS 19115 FGDC CEN TC287 Input CEN IS 19115 endorsed by CEN Future versions of FGDC metadata standards will become profile of IS 19115 OpenGIS Consortium Ltd. Consistency ISO-OGC metadata

EC’s GI metadata activities The European Commission has an interest in standardizing metadata As the initiator and promoter of initiatives like eContent, eGovernment As a user of information residing at national and local levels As a direct and indirect producer of information Through the years, some European Institutions have developed their own metadata “standards”, or adopted draft standards (e.g., CEN 287) e.g., Eurostat’s GISCO office, EEA, … Time has come to agree on metadata standards And to adopt and implement them!

EC’s GI metadata activities Funding of projects through the Framework Programmes CLEAR: Spatial Clearinghouse Saar-Lor-Lux ESMI: European Spatial Multimedia Infrastructure GEIXS: European multilingual metadata service for the geological surveys GISEDI: Electronic Trade for Geographic Information LaClef: Unlocking GI in the public sector though e-commerce Madame: Methods for access to data and metadata in Europe ETeMII: European Territorial Management Information Infrastructure GINIE, GeoServe, Midas, GIPSIE, etc. See also http://www.ec-gis.org

EC’s GI metadata activities JRC Institutional project GI&GIS project Work carried out by external contractors Exploratory research Implementation Internal awareness raising Commission Inter-service working group on GI (COGI)

EC’s GI metadata activities Some approved COGI recommendations on GI metadata (based on results of ETeMII and Madame projects) Metadata management to be integrated into "workflow" of all future EU funded projects Information resource has a spatial component? Use core elements of DIS 19115 AND Dublin Core for cross-IT searching so as to increase the visibility of the resource. Much of the metadata management can be automated. Metadata acquisition and publication tools have to be used as they come available. Recommend to ISO/TC 211 to arrange for IS 19115 to be made freely available as a "foundation" standard.

Current status and needed future steps COGI adopted recommendations on IS 19115 Now, appropriate measures are expected from DG’s ….and metadata should become part of all EC funded projects! Open issues Continue awareness raising of importance of metadata Without neglecting organizational and technical aspects Fully support Dublin Core (DC) initiative And CEN/ISSS MMI-DC Adopt IS 19115 as soon as it comes available (Jan. 2002) Introduce realistic plans for migration from current “standards” to DC and IS 19115 Offer practical, user-guide level support where necessary Liaise with ISO and DC to ensure that guidelines on cross mapping are provided authoritatively.