INSPIRE ePSIplus National Meeting 30 th October 2007 David Lee UK INSPIRE policy team

Agenda Background Route map Opportunities Challenges What the UK is doing to prepare

What is INSPIRE? INSPIRE is an EC Directive to create a European Spatial Data Infrastructure (ESDI), which will be built on Member States’ SDIs; Accompanying the Directive will be a series of Implementing Rules on metadata; data specifications; network services; data and service sharing; and monitoring and reporting. These are currently being developed by a series of drafting teams under the direction of the European Commission; Article 19(2) of the Directive requires Member States to “designate a contact point to be responsible for contacts with the Commission in relation to this Directive.” This contact point will be supported by a co-ordination structure across the different levels of government. Defra is the UK contact point; INSPIRE applies to public authorities, defined in Article 3(9) of the Directive as, “any government or other public administration, including public advisory bodies, at national, regional or local level…”.

INSPIRE Implementing Rules Organisations or groups can register as Legally Mandated Organisations or Spatial Data Interest (thematic) communities; LMOs and SDICs can participate in review of the Implementing Rules; The first draft Implementing Rules were released for LMO and SDIC review at the beginning of February 2007; The draft Implementing Rules are publicly available, but only registered LMOs and SDICs can initially comment; Defra has been encouraging organisations, particularly those in the public sector to register as SDICs and / or LMOs if they haven’t already done so. It is important that the UK actively seeks to influence the Implementing Rules; The Implementing Rules will be adopted in a phased manner: May 2008; November 2008; May 2009; November 2010; and May 2012.

The Information Trinity INSPIRE’s relationship to other legislation PSI DirectiveEIRINSPIRE

What data are covered by INSPIRE? INSPIRE will initially be populated with environmental spatial data, but will be extended in due course to encompass other data themes. It is a broad definition of environmental data and covers the spatial data themes below: Annex I: Co-ordinate reference systems; Geographical grid systems; Geographical names; Administrative units; Addresses; Cadastral parcels; Transport networks; Hydrography; Protected sites (9 themes). Annex II: Elevation; Land cover; Orthoimagery; Geology (4 themes). Annex III: Statistical units; Buildings; Soil; Land use; Human health and safety; Utility and governmental services; Environmental monitoring facilities; Production and industrial facilities; Agricultural and aquaculture facilities; Population distribution – demography; Area management/restriction/regulation zones and reporting units; Natural risk zones; Atmospheric conditions; Meteorological geographical features; Oceanographic geographical features; Sea regions; Bio-geographical regions; Habitats and biotopes; Species distribution; Energy resources; Mineral resources (21 themes).

Route map July 2004 – Commission publishes proposal for Directive 2004 to 2006 – negotiations by Council and European Parliament November 2006 – agreement reached February 2007 – Directive adopted May 2007 – Directive enters into force May 2009 – Directive transposed into national legislation 2008 to 2012 – Phased adoption of implementing rules 2010 to 2019 – Phased compliance with implementing rules

INSPIRE as an opportunity INSPIRE will facilitate improvements in the sharing of spatial information between public authorities to support [Community] environmental policies and provide improved public access. In essence, INSPIRE will create a spatial data infrastructure that will… … improve the sharing of and access to spatial data supporting… … the development and delivery of better environmental policy resulting in … … better environmental outcomes. INSPIRE will be extended to other themes in due course.

INSPIRE and the UK Location strategy Drivers INSPIRE: improved sharing of environmental spatial data leading to more informed policies and better environmental outcomes. UKLS: effective use of location information to support delivery across the public sector. Scope INSPIRE: environmental data sharing between public authorities and improved public access to data. UKLS: all public sector information with a locational element.

Challenges in implementing INSPIRE and a UK Location Strategy Ensuring effective, representative and inclusive governance arrangements are in place; Ensuring adoption of consistent standards – need to strike a balance between the ability of organisations to comply, but also ensure the standards deliver tangible improvements; Acting in the common interest and encouraging collaboration; Different parts of the UK are at different stages; Funding, of (1) both INSPIRE and the UK Location Strategy and (2) how we deliver tangible improvements in data sharing whilst also ensuring sustainable funding and financing of fit for purpose data.

What might INSPIRE and the UK location strategy deliver? There are currently a range of initiatives including… INSPIRE and the UK Location Strategy should encourage such initiatives but deliver improved co-ordination MAGICOS PGAWhat’s in your backyard?Nature on the Map Maps on TapSPIREGigatewayGEN-i Online DNF Need to build on what we have

Summary of Status: what is the UK doing? Defra has established a Transposition Project Board; Defra co-ordinates an INSPIRE UK Government Leads (Working) Group to ensure consideration of views across government; Defra has been liaising with the GI Panel and is considering how the governance proposed for the UK Location Strategy can be made to fit with the intended governance arrangements for INSPIRE; Defra continues to liaise with UK-based experts on the INSPIRE drafting teams and encourage UK-based SDICs and LMOs to participate in the review process. Defra represents the UK on the INSPIRE Committee; Raising awareness and encouraging participation by giving presentations at conferences etc.

Summary of Status: current focus Establishment of cross-government Transposition Project Board; Developing communications plan (Defra, IDeA and LGA to lead); Developing strategy to influence development of Implementing Rules (Defra, EA, HMT and OS to lead); Producing an initial list of areas of the Directive where we need to develop a policy position (Defra, EA, CLG and LGA to lead).

Thank you David Lee Tel: For more details on INSPIRE please visit the Commission ( and IGGI ( websiteshttp://inspire.jrc.ithttp:// For more details on the UK Location Strategy please visit the GI Panel website (