6th EC GI & GIS Workshop GI and GIS: Eurostat activities Gilles Decand - Unit E4 - Regional accounts and indicators, population and geographical information system

6th EC GI & GIS Workshop Eurostat mandate: b management of the Commission reference database (GISCO) b participation to the co-ordination of Commission initiatives b promotion and co-ordination of the use of GIS within the European Statistical System

6th EC GI & GIS Workshop GISCO reference database GISCO Today b Gisco as it is today is the first step towards a homogeneous European set of base data for the Commission b It is a collection of what is available at a reasonable quality/price ratio

6th EC GI & GIS Workshop GISCO reference database Main problems (1) b difficulties to access information b different projections and scales b observation date rarely stated b prohibitive cost

6th EC GI & GIS Workshop GISCO reference database Main problems (2) b lack of standardised transfer format b lack of standardisation in codes b data quality b no long-term solutions b...

6th EC GI & GIS Workshop Co-ordination of Commission initiatives Interservice Committee for Geographical Information (COGI)

6th EC GI & GIS Workshop WHY b Lack of co-ordination on GI/GIS within the Commission b Lack of awareness on the potential benefits of using GI/GIS b Lack of consistency of data policy b Poor visibility of EC activities b Who is doing what within the Commission ?

6th EC GI & GIS Workshop COGI b Joint initiative Eurostat/INFSO b First meeting in November 1999 b Chaired by Eurostat DG b All services invited b Participants: Eurostat, INFSO, ENV, REGIO, RDT, JRC, EEA

6th EC GI & GIS Workshop Mandate (1) b Improve the availability of GI within the Commission services mainly by proposing joint acquisition of basic GI complying with common specifications and needs b Improve the level of awareness on GI/GIS amongst Commission management b Project a coherent image of the Commission’s GI activities to the outside world

6th EC GI & GIS Workshop Mandate (2) b Develop a data policy applicable to all Commission services to better share existing in house GI and facilitate its dissemination to outside users at the lowest possible price thereby stimulating the market for value added services building on this data

6th EC GI & GIS Workshop Mandate (3) b Reduce duplication of effort through better co-ordination between individual activities b Exchange of best practices and experiences between departments and thereby contribute to extending and maintaining an in-house expertise and know-how on GI/GIS

6th EC GI & GIS Workshop Co-ordination within the European Statistical System b yearly working group with NSI b yearly joint working group with NSI/NMA