1. 1 Aarhus Convention Task Force on Electronic Information Tools Sofia, Bulgaria 23-24 June 2003 Chris Jarvis Information Policy Manager

2. 2 Introduction 1. EA Experience 2. EA/UNEP Project 3. Information Delivery Framework

3. 3 Environment Agency Non Departmental Public Body responsible to Department of the Environment Wide range of duties and powers relating to environmental management 11,000 staff across England and Wales 8 Regional Offices, 26 Area Offices ~100 staff respond to >350,000 requests We place a high priority on the provision of information in achieving environmental goals

4. 4 1. EA Experience What’s in Your Backyard? Information Services Public Participation

5. 5 EA Experience What’s in Your Backyard?

6. What’s in your backyard?

7. 7 EA Experience What’s in Your Backyard?

8. 8

9. 9

10. 1010

11. 1

12. 1212

13. 1313

14. 1414

15. 1515

16. 1616 EA Experience What’s in Your Backyard? Information Services

17. 1717 Information Services: property search Providing Environmental Information of direct importance to a decision-making situation Highly tailored service Developed to meet a specific need User led development Environmental benefit

18. 1818 Information Services: property search request Customer Contact Log + track Acknow ledge Distribute for answers Up to 12 funct ions Compile response Send out and log cheque Area/ Regional Finance reconcili ation exceptions Re-allocation of resources Receipt Confirmation of payment it costs us a lot of time and money to provide different information at the wrong time

19. 1919 Electronic transaction Solicitor Prints Report Web Service Nationally maintained data layers Information Services: property search

20. 2020 But not quite that easy...

21. 2121 EA Experience What’s in Your Backyard? Information Services

22. 2 EA Experience What’s in Your Backyard? Information Services Public Participation

23. 2323 Public Participation: Public Registers ApplicationAdvertConsultation Responses LicenceMonitoringAction... Public Register

24. 2424 Public Participation: Does it Work? Are people aware? Are paper files convenient? Is the information presented meaningfully? Is location in offices convenient? Do we reach a wide cross-section of society? Could we do better?!

25. 2525 Engaging Citizens Make information relevant to everyday lives Link Information Systems to Participation Systems Provide access without effort, where and when required Use novel techniques to reach all of society (Please tell us how to do it!)

26. 2626 Our Way Forward: Electronic access to actual documents Real time ‘flagging’ of live decisions

27. 2727 Public Participation: Public Registers ApplicationAdvertConsultation Responses LicenceMonitoringAction... Public Register

28. 2828 Our Way Forward: Research into social aspects of engagement Partnerships with local community groups Electronic ‘open forums’ Record interests and provide relevant information Assess impacts on our own organisation Electronic access to actual documents Real time ‘flagging’ of live decisions

29. 2929 DEFRA EC VARs WIYBY V2 Documents eRegisters Education What’s happening/have your say, local data to analyse, etc. Communities e.g. libraries - what’s happening in your area Individuals FoI Scheme Local Government Registers, planning etc. Insurance, Consultancies and other spin offs Land Development Commercial Residential Data Property Search + Environmental Messages + SIC Specific Guidance + SIC Specific Guidance Business Info. DUNS No. Financial Investment Financial Services

30. 3030 2. EA/UNEP Project: Backgound EA/UNEP collaboration since 2000 Building upon experience Senior Support

31. 3131 Project: Current Status ‘Seedcorn’ funding Bid to UK FCO funding Seeking Partners … and advice, comments, information...

32. 3232 Project Proposal Capacity Building Develop pilots/proof of concepts Deliver a framework –common requirements –engender consistency –identification of funding streams –identification of user needs … linked to EU ‘INSPIRE’ initiative

33. 3 Environments do not respect political boundaries The INSPIRE objective: The preparation of a framework legislative act aimed at making available relevant, harmonised and quality geographic information for the purpose of the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of Community environmental policy-making

34. Complementary. Public Sector Information Environmental Information INSPIRE Enabled Access Copyright Databases Data Protection Ratification of Aarhus WFD Habitats Noise

35. 3535 INSPIRE Principles (1) Data should be collected once and maintained at a level where this can be done most efficiently It should be possible to combine spatial information from different sources across Europe in a seamless way, and to share it amongst many users and applications It should be possible for information collected at one level to be shared with other levels

36. 3636 INSPIRE Principles (2) Geographic information needed for good governance at all levels should be readily available It should be simple to discover which geographic information is available and under what conditions it can be acquired and used Geographic data should be easy to understand and interpret, i.e. user-friendly

37. 3737 3. EA/UNEP Project Framework From Inspiration to practice... Reference Data and Metadata Architecture & Standards Environmental Thematic Data Implementation Structures & Funding Impact Analysis Data Policy & Legal Issues

38. 3838 Architecture and Standards Interoperability

39. 3939 What is interoperability? Interoperability: –‘capability to communicate, execute programs, or transfer data among various functional units in a manner that requires the user to have little knowledge of the unique characteristics of those units’ [ISO 2382-1]

40. 4040 What is interoperability? In other words: –‘the ability of systems to talk to one another in an agreed manner’ Adoption of standards is the keystone to interoperability (SOAP, WMS, WFS, SQL, HTML, XML)

41. 4141 Interoperable GIS? Interoperable GIS –Spatial components and standards that allow the communication described above. A standardised manner of discovering, querying, retrieving, and disseminating digital geographic information

42. 4242 But what does this mean? Routes and Timetables (MapInfo) Local Maps (ESRI SDE) Registers (ORACLE) Mobile Work Home Hazards (Intergraph) Local Government Environmental Services Transport Services Central Government School Standards Network

43. 4343 Why do we want interoperable GIS? Greater access to decision support information –Opening-up isolated data islands Better customer/citizen service –Real-time access and delivery of a wider range of data sources and services

44. 4 Why do we want interoperable GIS? More efficient system implementations –No re-invention of the wheel Reduced reliance on proprietary/vendor specific platforms, data sources, and components –Ability to swap-out components in best-of-breed architectures

45. 4545 Drivers - Simple Accessibility Interoperability can be the glue that binds multiple, complex resources into more simple views Data Providers Commercial Services N.G.O’sSchools Service Agencies Government Departments Local Authorities InteroperabilitySOAP - XML - GML - WFS - WMS - HTTP- ISOInteroperability Planning PortalINSPIREGI Gateway

46. 4646 Data - Standards Data interfaces that conform to defined model standards allow diverse systems to...

47. 4747 Finally... … Semantic Interoperability

48. 4848 Data ? Raw Data Basic Data Primary Data Operating Data Core Data Non-core Data Key Data Essential Data Fundamental Data Reference Data Framework Data Core Reference Data Thematic Data Core Thematic Data Product Data Statistical Data Catalogue Data Temporal Data

49. 4949 Oh, yes... well Spatio-temporal Data Value-added Data Public Data Personal Data Private Data Commercial Data Tradable Data Business Data Cadastral Data Metadata Spatial Data Geospatial Data Topographic Data Geodetic Data Map Data Raster Data Vector Data Territorial Data

50. 5050... it all depends. Geodata Quality Data Processed Data Geoinformatic Data Census Data Large scale Data Small scale Data Environmental Data Event Data Archive Data Re-usable Data Geomatic Data Heritage Data Sectoral Data Public Sector Data Library Data

51. 5151 I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realise that what you heard is not what I meant. Alan Greenspan Chair of the US Federal Reserve … who happily admits that since he became a central banker, he has learnt to mumble with great incoherence