International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Vol XXXV, Part B6. Istanbul 2004 
also a framework, which can be provided by geodetic reference systems and core topographic data. 
With that we see the role of topographic information changing it is no longer the production that is the 
key problem for national mapping agencies but the delivery of these data and derived products and 
services in a geo-spatial data infrastructure. This development was the reason why OEEPE had to 
redefine its role for the spatial information community and see how we could best support new 
developments in this field. This new role should be embedded in our tradition of experimental studies 
in projects where academia and organisations involved in spatial information production and 
dissemination cooperate and the focus should be on the provision of core data. The definition of this 
new role went though three stages: 
e The formulation of a New Long-term Strategy 2000 document, approved at the 95" Steering 
Committee meeting in Paris, France, November 1999. 
e The formulation of a New Mission and Strategies statement, approved at the 96" Steering 
Committee meeting in Longyearbyen, Norway, June 2000. 
e Implementation of the new Mission and Strategies in the Rolling Research Plan 2001-2003, 
which defines the framework within which the research of the organisation is performed. This 
rolling plan has been approved at the 97^ Steering Committee meeting in Ankara, Turkey, 
November 2000. (EuroSDR, 2000) 
Finally amendments to the 1953 agreement have been formulated and the organisation decided to 
modernise the name to the present EuroSDR. 
2  EUROSDR VISION AND MISSION 
In these documents EuroSDR formulated the vision that it wants... 
....10 be the European research platform for National Mapping Agencies (NMAs), Academic 
Institutes, Private Sector, Industry and User's Groups, on issues related to the implementation of 
technology developments in view of optimising the provision (collection, processing, storage, 
maintenance, visualisation, dissemination and use) of core data (data serving as a spatial 
framework for organisations involved in monitoring, management and development) in a 
Geoinformation Infrastructure (GII) context. 
This vision clearly states that the organisation wants to address an audience wider than the present 
NMAs and academia. The world of geo-spatial core data provision is changing rapidly with new 
relationships developing between the players in this field. This is due to several reasons like the 
revolutionary development of technology, the changing role of government, the globalisation of 
markets, the liberalisation of markets, etc. 
Certainly the last twenty years governments are outsourcing many tasks especially production tasks. 
In this line many NMAs have outsourced activities like data acquisition and map data production and 
a new industry develops for the provision of geodata based services and added value products. 
At a European level EUROGEOGRAPHICS is developing interesting projects the create pan 
European datasets, to tackle cross boundary issues and harmonise the production of geo-spatial core 
data. These are product and result oriented initiatives. It is quite obvious, however, that realisation of 
these projects will meet many technical and other problems that need to be solved. Many of these 
problems will require (experimental) research to find strategic solutions. 
Furthermore we see that users of geodata and thus of core data are required to pay for these data and 
services and this of course implies that they want to have a say in the specification of the products. 
This means a more intensive interaction between the different parties involved in geoinformation 
infrastructures. We see a rapid transformation from a supply driven to demand driven market. 
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