Is Copernicus benefitting from INSPIRE? Henrik Steen Andersen, EEA

A simple question Is Copernicus benefitting from INSPIRE, e.g. regarding spatial data discovery, accessibility, and usability? Yes, of course, but …

Copernicus & INSPIRE The Copernicus programme and its users consider the timely implementation of INSPIRE to be important as a key source of in situ data. With the implementation of INSPIRE, the number of available data sets and services relevant for the Copernicus services is expected to increase, and discovery and access operations will be made considerably easier.

Some project objectives Identify currently published INSPIRE data sets that meet Copernicus in-situ data needs (CEMS, CLMS); Identify possible gaps and assess if these gaps are expected to be closed in pace with the continued implementation of INSPIRE; Collect information concerning the implementation of harmonized INSPIRE data.

Some project objectives The project will result in a clarification of the current usability of INSPIRE resources for Copernicus implementation, allowing to better manage risks and to avoid duplicate development; The project can highlight focus areas where it already makes sense to build on INSPIRE infrastructures. We want to clarify and document the interface between INSPIRE and Copernicus, and in particular Copernicus’ current and future use of INSPIRE and its dependency on the timely implementation of INSPIRE.

EEA’s main cross-cutting activities Maintain an overview of the Copernicus in situ component Improve access to selected in situ data Raise awareness about the Copernicus in situ component The EEA links data and requirements to Copernicus products and thus to end user needs

CORDA is still moving forward Since last workshop: More that 1000 additional datasets; Links to open LPIS data included; Focus on CEMS specific agreements; New explore tool; Usage monitoring. Improve access to selected in situ data

Copernicus needs pan-European coverage

Copernicus needs pan-European coverage Harmonisation of datasets allows them to be combined and used as one dataset; in the context of geospatial information, harmonisation entails removing mismatches in geometry and semantics of the data. Compliance indicates conformance to regulations, standards and other requirements, laid down by the INSPIRE Directive. Interoperability enables systems to work together on a technical basis, by implementing common protocols, formats and other mechanisms.

INSPIRE compliant datasets in CORDA 17% 8.7% 2.1% 23 datasets contained GML files, all of them were compliant* to the 1089/2010 regulation. *based on dataset’s own declared conformity

Metadata discovery issues During each step, we had to account for numerous problems, such as multi-language keywords, spelling errors, encoding errors (e.g. for dashes), incomplete information and incomplete URLs. If we had strictly applied our interpretation of the INSPIRE Implementing Rules and Technical guidance, the analysis would have been based on less than 1% of the registered data sets.

Selected results In addition to issues with the metadata, another issue is that a large number of registered services don’t seem to be available. Even if we assume that all exceptions are due to errors in the requests we generate, less than 30% of all download services that are listed in the metadata were accessible.

Important trends Fit-for-purpose analysis and simplification: The objective is to realign Implementing Rules (IRs) and Technical Guidelines to today’s technical and policy requirements, and to shed unnecessary complexity in the TG; Focus on key use cases: Copernicus can benefit from this development through quicker, more complete access to specific themes. Copernicus to also inform these discussions with their data set priorities; Value beyond INSPIRE: Ensure that national or regional policy and procedures also benefit from the INSPIRE infrastructure by building on top of INSPIRE or by using compatible systems. This can help Copernicus by enriching INSPIRE infrastructure and can at least punctually help to cover requirements that are otherwise not covered;

Important trends More efficient implementation: Using cloud technologies and less individual solutions will also help the speed and efficiency of implementation a lot. Copernicus can benefit from improved interoperability, faster availability and better adherence to the INSPIRE Quality of Service requirements; Alignment with Open Data Initiatives and Principles: An increased number of INSPIRE instances on a national and regional level becomes part of Open Data initiatives, or in some cases, Smart City initiatives. This is encouraging as it provides both resources to the implementation (technical and financial) and a permissive licensing framework that typically allows data to be used freely. A more permissive licensing framework means that Copernicus can easily use data in different environments and scenarios. Growing number of resources: Quantitative trends show that the number of data sets and services still rise quickly. Between April 2017 and September 2017, more than 15.000 resources were added to the central INSPIRE catalogue.

A few concluding remarks INSPIRE and Copernicus share key requirements. They both use spatial data harmonised across borders to be able to use and exchange spatial data seamlessly; Implementing INSPIRE takes more than 10 years. It is expected to be ready for most of the data in 2020 – Annex 1 already now. Usable data will only become available stepwise, especially interoperable data, since data harmonization is one of the last steps to implement INSPIRE. Because currently not all data are harmonised yet, added value for Copernicus might still be lacking; A key issue is alignment of providers and users of harmonised data. The providers are responsible to reach interoperability through harmonisation. This could be enforced by joint efforts (tooling and Apps), which also enable easier use; Content and geometry need to be harmonized and connected. Semantic alignment is relatively easily supported by tooling (ETL tools) and well addressed by INSPIRE. Aligning geometry is less easily automated. Eurogeographics’ European Location Service is building on INSPIRE to achieve this.

Copernicus in situ website The new Copernicus in situ website was launched in April 2017. News and events; Reports and fact sheets; General information about the Copernicus In Situ Component;

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