INSPIRE vision Data should be collected once and maintained at the level where this can be done most effectively it should be possible to combine seamlessly spatial information from different sources across Europe and share it between many users and application it should be possible for information collected at one level to be shared between all the different levels, detailed for detailed investigations, general for strategic purposes geographic information needed for good governance at all levels should be abundant under conditions that do not refrain its extensive use it should be easy to discover which geographic information is available, fits the needs for a particular use and under which conditions it can be acquired and used geographic data should become easy to understand and interpret because it is properly documented and can be visualised within the appropriate context selected in a user-friendly way

Examples of Problems Lack of use of standards incompatible information incompatible information systems fragmentation of information overlap Lack of co-ordination across boarders between levels of government that are the main data providers Lack of data Data policy restrictions pricing, copyright, access rights, licensing policy

Differences in national heights GI standardisation: Need of a European Vertical Reference System Differences between UELN heights and national heights in Europe (in cm) United European Levelling Network  (UELN)

Need for action: INSPIRE Required by 6EAP earth monitoring, policy evaluation, indicators, Aarhus Geographic information is increasing used to support environmental policy (knowledge-based approach) urban waste water, nitrates, thematic strategies, air quality monitoring, noise, ... Explicitly required by WFD Provide river basin characterisation in GIS format All this information is linked to the same thing: our territory, but without co-ordination, it will be very difficult to combine this information and a lot of its potential will be lost. The train has started with the WFD : we need to make sure it goes into the right direction Action: -> INSPIRE = legislation -> GMES is practical and financial support Without a co-ordinated framework: problems will persist !

Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe Technical Support to GI policy development Europe is moving 3cm/ year Different Policies and standards Standards implementation GI Institutional framework GI technical standards Different sea level in Europe Spatial Data Infrastructure Catchments Technical Support To data set creation GIS for Natura 2000 Spatial Information Services Meteo data Fundamental and thematic GI data sets GIS to manage Natura2000 sites Needs to create european spatial data sets eEurope : eGovernement on line Land Cover

The INSPIRE driving forces DG ENV COGI Main Commission DG’s (AGRI, TREN, REGIO, FISH, INFSO, …) European Spatial Planning Observatory Network (ESPON) is one of the twelve measures for implementing the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP). The aim of the Observatory is to provide the necessary database to encourage the harmonious development of the entire Community, as laid down in Article 158 of the EC Treaty, and to clarify the concept of territorial cohesion referred to in Article 16 of the Treaty. ESPON activities rely on networking between the Member States (research institutes, public authorities). The European Topic Centre on Terrestrial Environment (ETC-TE) is one of five Topic Centres designated by the European Environment Agency (EEA) for the period 2001 - 2003 to assist in its work of collecting, analysing, evaluating and summarising information relevant to national and international policies for the environment and sustainable development. The ETC-TE is currently co-founded by the Environment Department of Catalonian Government and the Spanish Ministry of Environment. The ETC-TE will concentrate on providing relevant information on past trends, current status and prospective developments relating to land and soil in Europe, in order to support legislative frameworks on sustainable land use, soil protection and integrated coastal zone management. These are priority issues, included in the 6th Environmental Action Programme and the Sustainable Development Strategy. They will be developed further through specific thematic strategies (on soil, land use and urban environment). INSPIRE Expert Group Member States Environmental and geographic information ministries, Accession countries, Regions, EFTA Countries, Umbrella organisations, ETC/TE, ESPON, UNEP

INSPIRE objectives Make relevant, harmonised spatial data available for Community Environmental Policy (formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation) and for the citizen ... … through the establishment of integrated spatial information services, based upon a distributed network of databases, linked by common standards and protocols to ensure compatibility.

INSPIRE Thematic Components COGI INSPIRE Expert Group Chair: ESTAT INSPIRE Expert Group Chair : DG ENV & ESTAT Phase 1: Environmental Sector Technical Co-ordination & Secretariat JRC Ispra - Institute for Environment and Sustainability ….. biodiversity soils seveso urban noise forest water Environmental components Common Reference Data & Metadata Chair : ESTAT Inter-sectoral co-ordination Chair: ESTAT Environmental thematic co-ordination Chair: EEA Architecture & Standards Chair : JRC Ispra Agricultural components Legal Aspects & Data Policy Chair : UK Agricultural thematic co-ordination Chair: Funding & Implementation structures Chair : SE Transport components Transport thematic co-ordination Chair: Impact Analysis Chair : NL Other components Other thematic co-ordination Chair: Horizontal Components INSPIRE Phase 2: other sectors

> 70 Experts mobilised today! INSPIRE Expert Group 2nd Meeting Vienna 2001-12-17 Action plan agreed Composition of Working groups decided > 70 Experts mobilised today!

INSPIRE timeline Orientation papers by Working groups April 2002 Orientation papers by Working groups June 2002 Position papers by Working groups and user requirements September 2002 Draft INSPIRE Framework Legislation December 2002 Proposal for INSPIRE Framework Legislation adopted by Commission 2003 Preparation of daughters 2004 INSPIRE Framework Legislation adopted Time is running

INSPIRE: Example of result Natura2000 sites Natura2000 db species, habitats LIFE Nature project locations Areas eligible for Structural Funds (Ob. I,II) CORINE Land Cover Administrative Regions Agri-environment schemes Scale 1/100 000 explain concept of layers LIFE Nature Projects – e.g. LIFE99/NAT/UK/6086 – point locations of projects funded under the LIFE Instrument (often, but not always, linked to Natura2000 sites) Countryside Stewardship schemes – a type of Agri-Environmental measure, which for the UK have been georeferenced as points -> given by MS Special Protection Areas – the sites which should become part of the Natura2000 network as defined by the Birds Directive – 2 examples of which can be seen here – Breighton Meadows and Humber Flats (Site Code UK9006111). In this application, this code was used as the link to the Natura2000 Descriptive Database, in which information about the site characteristics (administrative and ecological are stored). Structural Funds – these areas, defined by DG Regional Policy, can be used as a check for cross compliance between Regional initiatives and Nature Protection. (GISCO) Commune boundaries and CORINE are presented as examples of the few European background datasets currently available – these are essential to give geographic context to the display of the Natura2000 sites. What is equally important from an INSPIRE point of view is the data that are missing at this scale at European level (roads, rivers, elevation etc.).

http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/geo/index.htm

http://www.ec-gis.org/inspire/