EUROSPEC - A CORNERSTONE FOR THE BUILDING
OF THE EUROPEAN SPATIAL DATA INFRASTRUCTURE
Claude Luzet, Nick Land, Haico van der Vegt, EuroGeographics
KEY WORDS: Spatial Infrastructures, Interoperability, Reference Data, GIS, Mapping, Integration, Specifications
ABSTRACT:
The European Spatial Data Infrastructure (ESDI) has long been
a dream lost in the far future, and only heard from in a small
community of a few visionaries and missionaries. Their preaching has finally been heard, and the INPIRE initiative, launched by the
European Commission in autumn 2001 has given much press to the concepts that underlay the ESDI.
One of the main concepts is th
at of the Common Reference Data as a key to interoperability, and one of these early and dedicated
missionaries was EuroGeographics (or rather its early avatars CERCO and MEGRIN).
The unambiguous mission of EuroGeographics —
to achieve interoperability of European mappin
Europe's Association of National Mapping and Cadastre Agencies (NMCAs) — is
g and other GI data. From the perspective of the data providers this is an ambitious
target but, from the perspective of the data users the need for interoperable geographic information is already a need — today.
The paper highlights the requirements, context and rationale for interoperable geographic information, with
a particular focus on the
delivery of reference data. It will then go on to describe how EuroGeographics plans to meet these requirements — in collaboration
with the other key players. This will include a description of the current ‘state of play’ in Europe's GI interoperability (including the
results of a recent survey and a summary of relevant ‘cross border’
The EuroSpec programme includes the identification of the key issues that nee
outcomes) of the EuroSpec project. It covers the process that will change the data integration/harmonization and prov
architecture, to on-line on-the-fly service based on distributed architecture and web services.
current centralized
1. EUROSPEC : THE CONTEXT
1.1 Introduction
The requirements for implementing the EuroGeographics core
mission (achieve interoperability of mapping and other GI data
within 10 years) and the initial steps envisaged by INSPIRE
(the European Commission initiative for developing the ESDI)
converge in recognising the need for common specifications for
reference data. This is the challenge that the EuroSpec project
has accepted to meet.
EuroSpec is a long term — 10 years — process that will be
developed in stages. The ultimate goal - interoperability of all
reference data, and other geolocated data, across boundaries,
themes and resolution ranges — will be aimed at by a step-by-
step approach. Practically, it is envisaged to focus firstly on
some themes and scale ranges, selected according to priority
user requirements, and to a realistic assessment of the
operational result expected in the short and medium terms.
These first stages will be based on the analysis of the current
state of the art, the sharing of best practice in the fields relevant
to the initiative, and on the assessment of what is realistically
achievable in that very ambitious programme.
1.2 Background
The growth in the use of geographic information is accelerating
at all levels within the public and private sectors and in
particular within Governments at all levels, European, national
and local. The power of geography can help us manage our
environment, our resources and our own day to day lives better
than we ever have done before. Geography knows no
boundaries, and therefore the demand is not just at national
initiatives). ;
d to be addressed; and the main activities (and
ision from the
level but extends to continents and global levels. Such
aspirations must, however, be tempered with reality and
justification since experience has shown that the creation and
maintenance of harmonised detailed geographic datasets is an
extremely challenging task.
Responibility of EuroGeographics’ Í
members |
Topography {
[7] Topography & Cadastre
|
EuroGeographics today: 44 organisations from 40 countries.
Already pan-European datasets exist, such as SABE developed
from the NMCAs official data through EuroGeographics; and
road databases by the private operators such as Tele-Atlas and
Navtech. Over the past 24 months the level of activity and pan-
European collaboration has reached unprecedented levels
through the INSPIRE initiative. The market demand for pan-
European data to underpin pan-European solutions is growing.
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