Working Group on Geographical Information Systems for Statistics

Transcription

1 Working Group on Geographical Information Systems for Statistics Joint meeting with the National Statistical Institutes and the National Mapping Agencies on 8 and 9 March 2010 in Luxembourg, BECH building, AMPERE room 1

2 First day 0. Introduction The chairman, Mr Gunter SCHÄFER, head of Eurostat Unit E-4, Regional Statistics and Geographical Information, welcomed the participants. He introduced himself as the new head of the unit in charge of GISCO. Mr Pedro Diaz Munoz, in charge of Eurostat Directorate E since May 2009, then introduced the Working Party on Geographical Information Systems for Statistics. Geographical information was naturally linked to statistics. In principle, all statistics were linked to geographic entities, which made geographical information important to statisticians and vice versa. Traditionally, such information had been primarily at country level but also covered specific aspects such as transport networks. Recent developments had increased the importance of statistical information on smaller geographic entities such as regions, cities and, as a fairly new concept for statistics, grid-based systems. Eurostat s work with geographical information was based on the following principles: 1) The traditional use of GIS information with topographic information was very interesting for illustration and analysis purposes. For statistical purposes, however, some further steps were needed. 2) There was a need for more detail on the spatial level. In cooperation with the Member States, Eurostat had, for example, launched the GEOSTAT project (ESS-Net) in order to obtain information on a grid (1 km²) basis. 3) The need to carry out more spatial analysis in order to derive statistically relevant information from geographical information. For example, the recent Stiglitz Report GDP and Beyond illustrated some of the issues to be tackled. 4) The need to make GIS and its statistically relevant use cases more accessible, and to introduce it to a much wider group of users than was currently the case. INSPIRE and GEOSTAT were key projects for Eurostat. They had the potential to enhance the link between statistics and geographical information in important aspects. The working party was an important venue for information exchange and achieving progress. First of all, a number of important contributors to GIS and statistics were represented: ESPON (European Observation Network for Territorial Development and Cohesion), important policy DGs at the Commission (DG MARE, ENTR with the GMES Programme, ENV with SEIS and the JRC as a key partner in INSPIRE) as well as the EFGS (European Forum for Geostatistics). The working party was also an important forum for cooperation with National Mapping Agencies. Eurogeographics played a key role in these contacts. The importance of the agenda item on INSPIRE reflected its importance for professionals. With a series of implementation regulations and technical guidelines produced for INSPIRE Annex I, an important milestone in the INSPIRE process had been reached. The focus would now be on the implementation of architectural components, in particular the Geoportals, but also on the preparation for the Annex II and III programme of work. The generous scope given in the agenda to the GEOSTAT project was welcomed. The project was currently at the start of its operational activities. Eurostat would attentively observe its 2

3 progress. Of particular interest would be examples of spatial analysis possible with GEOSTAT, especially in densely populated areas. The future of statistics depended on its link to geospatial information, and the GISCO Working Party had an important role to play in this evolution. 1. Adoption of the agenda The agenda was adopted with one modification. A presentation from Hungary on the implementation of INSPIRE in Hungary was added. The agenda is available at: 0903_geographical/room_documents/rd-gis-100-agenda-2010pd/_EN_1.0_&a=d 2. Minutes of the 2009 meeting of the Working Party on Geographical Information Systems for Statistics (Document D/GIS/101/EN) The minutes were adopted without modification. They are available at the following address: 0903_geographical/room_documents/d-gis-101-minutes-wp-gis/_EN_1.0_&a=d Session 1: Reports on activities of the European Commission and other European organisations in Spatial Information and Geostatistics 3. GISCO progress report (Eurostat) The GISCO team maintained relations with the user community and actively participated in the work of the European Forum for Geostatistics and COGI on INSPIRE. Communication and dissemination remained a focus and Eurostat had launched a new GISCO website in The website provided a download platform with improving dissemination capacity. The main publication Regional Yearbook 2009 edition had been downloaded more than times. Downloads were from Documents (7 %), Datasets (28 %) and Maps (65 %). The INSPIRE@EC geoportal for data sharing in the Commission had now been developed. Data sharing solutions had been added, such as new map services, now part of the GISCO site, and a mapping tool for Urban Audit cities. In addition to the annual update of existing datasets, new datasets had been created (Exclusive Economic Zones, Ports 2008). Question: What data had been used for producing marine municipalities? Answer: Coastline, elevation data, communes and population figures. 0903_geographical/presentations/day-1-item03-gisco-progr/_EN_1.0_&a=d 3

4 The progress report is available at: 0903_geographical/room_documents/gisco progress-r/_EN_1.0_&a=d 4. European Atlas of the Seas (DG MARE) The Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP) as implemented by DG MARE aimed to maximise the sustainable use of the oceans and seas, build a knowledge and innovation base for further developments, deliver the highest quality of life in coastal regions, promote Europe s leadership in international maritime affairs and raise the visibility of Maritime Europe. A marine knowledge base, the EU Atlas of the Seas MARATLAS, had been developed with the aim of raising public awareness of maritime issues, clarifying the spatial dimension of EU maritime policy and legislation, including fishery policies, and promoting the identity of maritime basins. The target audience was the general public, Member States and stakeholders. The Atlas was web-based, dynamic and public. Available on the DG MARE website, it would contain mainly maps, but also texts and pictures. The atlas was primarily focused on Europe, and developed in line with the sea basin approach. The ATLAS would be launched in the spring of A public consultation would be held in May 2010 (with Interactive Policy Making). Question: Did the Atlas include tools for dynamic analysis, dealing with such phenomena as the leaching of fertilisers into the Baltic Sea? Tools for exploring processes reaching out into the seas were needed. Answer: The objective had been to provide a map. It was not the intention to develop analysis tools. Once the Atlas was launched, further discussions on its development could be initiated to define new activities and ways to expand it. Comment: It might be meaningful to agree on a common geographic grid for land and marine areas. Question: What technology was used? Answer: The Atlas was based on ArcGIS server software and was hosted by DIGIT. Flash technologies were embedded in the interface. Question: How much work had been needed to collect the data and how much time was expected to be needed for its maintenance? Answer: The data had been collected for a while. According to the inventory of available data, only 20 % of the collected information was currently available through the Atlas. Depending on the use of the data, maintenance and updating could be different. Question: There were countries that did not border on seas or oceans. Nevertheless, water was an issue as they suffered from severe flooding caused in 95 % of cases by waters originating in other countries. Could this be presented in the Atlas? Answer: This could be explored in a later version. 0903_geographical/presentations/day-1-item04-mare-atlas-/_EN_1.0_&a=d 4

5 5. ESPON activities The ESPON Programme aimed to provide comparable information on territorial dynamics that could reveal territorial capital and potentials. For the Structural Funds, the role of ESPON was to support policy development with evidence on European territorial structures, trends, perspectives and policy impacts. ESPON had the following agenda for 2010: Applied research on different themes of European territorial dynamics finalising 5 ongoing project themes and starting 11 new themes, selected in February Targeted analyses of the use of ESPON results in practice as in the past, ESPON results would be used for decision making at different national and regional levels in many countries of the EU. Scientific platform development among the activities scheduled for 2010 was the development of territorial indicators/indices. Map updates and trend analyses would also be carried out. Exploitation of ESPON results a new ESPON website, report workshops and seminars were planned for So far, the progress of ESPON activities could be summarised as follows 17 applied research projects ongoing or completed; 18 ongoing targeted analyses; 2 (of 3) major scientific platform projects running; 5 scientific tools under development; 5 territorial trend analyses (map updates) made; (up to) 5 transnational networking activities (ECP) under way. The presentation are available at: 0903_geographical/presentations/day-1-item05-espon-dibia/_EN_1.0_&a=d Session 2: The GEOSTAT project 6. Activities of the European Forum for Geostatistics (EFGS) The European Forum for Geostatistics (EFGS) had been created in 1998 as a Nordic network for cooperation on geostatistics with the focus on developing a common population map. Currently, the EFGS aimed to harmonise methods and data sets at European level through exchanging knowledge and expertise. The current management structure of EFGS was as follows: 1) General Assembly, 2) Steering Committee and President, 3) Executive Director and office. The General Assembly was the main decision body of the EFGS. It elected the eight members of the Steering Committee and its President. Day-to-day work was managed by the Executive Director, Mr Lars Henrik Backer, and his office. Membership comprised: 1) organisational membership, 2) active membership, 3) associated membership 5

6 4) personal membership. The work of the EFGS was supported by expert groups and GEOSTAT task forces in fields such as: Geostatistics and metadata standards, Geostatistics and disaggregation models, Geostatistics and the scientific community, Geostatistics and business models, Geostatistics and user needs, Geostatistics and database management plus other. Having the National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) as the primary EFGS partners would ensure a formalised link between the NSIs and Eurostat, and provide a professional reference group on all issues related to geostatistics. The EFGS held annual conferences, and the first European conference had been held in The EFGS Steering Committee would organise the EFGS Conference 2010 on 5 8 October 2010 in Tallinn, Estonia, hosted by Statistics Estonia. Discussion topics would include the GEOSTAT project, the organisation of the EFGS, and small-area statistics. The deadline for registration was 30 July The EFGS workshop 2009 had been held on 5 7 October 2009 in The Hague, the Netherlands. 33 experts from 15 European countries participated, including members of EU institutions and GISCO. The programme included discussions on small-area statistics, socioeconomic and environmental research, the GEOSTAT project, and web mapping technologies. Question: Was there more information on the composition of the expert groups and the task forces? Answer: Wide participation was welcomed. The expert groups were intended to serve as a forum for all interested in GEOSTAT. They tapped into the expertise of experts and the academic community, promoting research. The groups were intended to establish a link between experts and GEOSTAT, a goal that could otherwise be hard to achieve. The groups supported university activity and were creating a library of research papers available to all. The presentations are available at: 0903_geographical/presentations 7. The GEOSTAT project (EFGS) The main aim of the GEOSTAT project was to create EU-wide population grid maps from the 2011 census and to develop a methodological framework for geo-coding population mapping and an infrastructure to share, publish and access geostatistical population data. The project would build on the network and work of partners in the European Forum for Geostatistics (EFGS, ). In close cooperation with EUROSTAT, through publications and direct communication, the EFGS would present an overview of the EU census on km grids along with maps, diagrams, tables, narratives and practical illustrations of its benefits and practical use. The GEOSTAT IA project started in February 2010 as the first in the GEOSTAT project family. GEOSTAT IA&B aimed to provide the foundations for a statistical population-grid infrastructure in Europe by February The projects would be implemented by the EFGS. 6

7 The forthcoming GEOSTAT II A&B projects were intended to produce a mature infrastructure and to improve the datasets and dissemination technology, which were to be completed by the end of GEOSTAT IA would be split into the following work packages: WP1: Vision Vision for user needs from a data user and data producer perspective. WP2: Data Establishing the basis for iterative evolution of the ESS-net dataset, WP3: Infrastructure Visions for infrastructures, WP4: Distribution, dissemination, exploitation Establishing channels for direct communication between users and producers, WP5: Examples None proposed for this stage of the project. The challenge of the project was to develop a new disaggregation strategy, since the potential of CORINE Land Cover combined with NUTS statistics for disaggregation was currently considered exhausted. The disaggregated data currently available at EU level combined bottom-up aggregation and top-down disaggregation and were therefore not harmonised, which was considered a serious disadvantage. The strategy would look for post-corine pan- European initiatives, and would address the needs of National Grid initiatives. A methodology to handle mixed mode harmonisation challenges should be developed, too. Dissemination was another challenge for the project. Tools for online presentation and dissemination of the data would be developed and, following the joint agreement of the NSIs, the datasets could be made public. Access to the actual data would remain the prerogative of the Member States. The current priority was to have the essential components for a complete solution in place by February These would include 1) The new approach to disaggregation Tasks and deliverables for WP2 and WP4, 2) Concrete solutions for WSS on the EFGS portal Tasks and deliverables for WP3 and WP4, 3) A set of good examples, and 4) Formalisation of the entire project. Partial reports would be delivered at the EFGS conference 2010 and GISCO WP The final draft report would be presented at the EFGS conference Work Package 1 focused on the collection and analysis of user needs (public authorities and market needs) and the preconditions and possibilities in various countries, with the aim of providing technically sound data specifications as input for work packages 2 to 4 for the harmonised transnational grid and a vision for future development. WP1 was divided into two sub-tasks. SubTask 1.1 aimed to provide specifications required for work packages 2-4, in terms of map projections, scales, coding systems, confidentiality, spatial analysis and delineation. SubTask 1.2 would develop a vision for the future integration of geo-referenced data not linked to grid structures such as INSPIRE data themes (Annexes I-III), integration of geography and statistics, and foundations for policies, programmes, plans and projects for sustainable development. Both WP1 tasks had been started in January 2010 and were to be completed by October Work on WP2 had started in January 2010 and was to be completed in November The objectives were to improve the GEOSTAT Population Map 2010, to promote the production and help improve the quality and content of grid-based datasets, to propose tools for harmonised population grid data for Europe, to prepare guidelines for compiling gridded population statistics, to demonstrate the building of harmonised European population grid data, and to propose common terms for the dissemination of grid-based data. 7

8 WP2 would deliver guidelines and examples for the production and dissemination of population grid data, a description of the available population grid data for Europe (metadata), an improved population grid map of Europe, and preliminary terms for the dissemination of population grid data for the whole of Europe WP3 aimed to give users the opportunity to find, explore, select and view grid data on a web browser. A web portal would be created, rules for data and metadata exchange would be prepared and a business model would be developed as part of its activities. Work would start in August 2010 with a report on data and metadata exchange, and the grid data and metadata would be made available on the Portal in March To formally launch the GEOSTAT 1B project, Member States were invited to express their interest in the project. A quick survey among the participants showed that the group concerned with the GEOSTAT 1A project was interested in participating in the GEOSTAT 1B project as well. In addition, HU, RO and LT expressed an interest. Other NSIs interested in the project should formally express their interest to EUROSTAT (daniele.rizzi@ec.europa.eu). Comment (Eurostat): Eurostat was initiating a call for proposals, but the NSIs would have to take the initiative and prepare and submit proposals. Question: ESPON would be happy to use the data produced by the GEOSTAT project. What were the plans for dissemination of the data? Answer: The policies of the NSIs varied, but they would rule on the handling of the data. The plans were to publish the datasets that could be made available following a joint agreement. The disaggregated datasets were available. The actual data could be obtained only from the Member States. The conditions for obtaining and using the disaggregated data and the actual data were quite different. Question: Disaggregated data were already available and a map had been produced. Was it reasonable or possible to use these data? Answer: The disaggregated dataset available included two types of data provided by the countries data derived through bottom-up aggregation and through top-down disaggregation. The dataset was therefore not harmonised. The usefulness of this dataset had been explored by DG REGIO in terms of its accessibility to airports, schools and others, but the data were not considered to have the quality needed for professional use. The next disaggregated dataset expected in 2011 would not be useful either due to the same problems, but the disaggregated data derived from the next census might prove to be of good quality. An additional problem was that the data provided by the NSIs were not accompanied by any quality description at this stage. They could be assumed to be of better quality than the JRC data, but no more than that. Question: Which data set was used by Eurostat for its analysis? Answer: For the work carried out by GISCO, Eurostat preferred to use the JRC data based on the 2001 data. These were consistent in their inconsistency. This also illustrated the shortcomings of the pure disaggregated approach. The presentations are available at: 0903_geographical/presentations 8

9 10. CENSUS 2010/11 (Eurostat) In November 2009 a consultation on geo-referencing of data from the 2011 censuses of population and housing was launched by a Eurostat letter addressed to the EU-27 and EFTA states plus Croatia. The letter highlighted the importance of geo-referenced statistics, stressed the unique opportunity of the 2011 census, encouraged Member States to geo-reference the census results beyond their legal obligations, and asked Member States to inform Eurostat of planned actions and national legislation. Replies were received from 27 countries, allowing an overview of the present state of registries and future commitments. Comment (BE): A registry of the buildings in Belgium would be completed within several months. The presentation is were available at: 0903_geographical/presentations/day-1-item10-geocensus-p/_EN_1.0_&a=d The survey report is were available at: 0903_geographical/room_documents/estat-georeferencing-cen/_EN_1.0_&a=d 9. Spatial data in the Polish territorial identification registry (Statistics Poland) The Surveyor-General of Poland had been appointed as national contact point for the transposition of the INSPIRE Directive, and an Inspire Implementation Council had been created. The Central Statistical Office (CSO) was actively participating in implementation. Legislation on spatial data infrastructure had been drafted to regulate the creation and operation of spatial data infrastructure in Poland. The Central Statistical Office had been appointed to lead activities on two spatial data themes in appendix III: 1) Statistical units and 2) Population distribution / demography. As a cooperating unit, the Central Statistical Office would be working on a further two themes from appendix I: 1) Administrative units and 2) Addresses. The Central Statistical Office had recently set itself the goal of ensuring the clear identification of territorial objects to different levels of detail at the following administrative levels: voivodship, county, municipality, town, village, statistical district, census region, street, building and dwelling, with the address as the universal connector for administrative data. Detailed preparatory work on both administrative and technical matters had already been completed. Building upon the positive experience with the 2009 agricultural census, a trial National Census would be held from April to May 2010, during which innovative techniques for geo-coding would be used. Good cooperation between the statistical services and the keepers of spatial data registers was crucial for the integration of administrative data for statistical purposes. 0903_geographical/presentations/day-1-item09-spatstat-po/_EN_1.0_&a=d 11. GISTAT Geographical database for the Italian Census (Statistics Italy) All the spatial (geographical) data were stored in a DBMS. A GIS DB was used for spatial data management and was integrated with the database. A specific feature was the design and 9

10 implementation of a national spatial continuum. This solution allowed the use of geodata for different provinces without merging the data into a single database. The advantage was easy concurrent editing of the same data, using DBMS versioning and reconciling techniques. There were advanced GIS tools for both client- and server-side systems. The systems were enhanced by web-based software to support interaction with the municipalities to validate the database. Question: How did Italy deal with changes in communal borders? Was there an official decision from Italy on the role that ISTAT should play? Answer: This was a very complex issue. There was no mapping agency dealing with the issue of communal boundaries. A geographic layer was produced each year. There had also been no official decision on the role of ISTAT. Question: In the presentation, addresses were not mentioned. Was there a special reason? Answer: It was intended to geocode the addresses of some municipalities before the census. This work would continue after the census. 0903_geographical/presentations/day-1-item11-censusdb-it/_EN_1.0_&a=d 12. Presentation on the implementation of INSPIRE in Hungary (Statistics Hungary) FÖMI (Institute of Geodesy, Cartography and Remote Sensing), Budapest, was participating in a number of INSPIRE-related projects at European level such as the Humboldt project (EU FP6 programme), the ESDIN project, the GIS4EU project and the EURADIN project from the EU econtent+ programme FÖMI was also actively involved in the implementation of INSPIRE in the INSPIRE Committee, together with 22 public bodies and the INSPIRE secretariat, and would participate in the voluntary INSPIRE Scientific Council under the Hungarian Academy of Science. Question: If the state did not provide a budget, how would FÖMI finance this project? Answer: No state budget had been received for implementing INSPIRE. The institute sold GIS data to partly fund its activities. The sale of data was regulated by the state. 0903_geographical/presentations/day-1-item12-inspire-nma/_EN_1.0_&a=d Second day Session 3: INSPIRE 1. Update on INSPIRE (Eurostat) As regards the current situation in the INSPIRE project, the diversity of data policies had been a particular obstacle to sharing data in Europe. By creating an EU Geoportal and establishing a framework for data and service sharing, INSPIRE would greatly improve the situation. 10

11 Concerning the implementing rules for metadata, the metadata for Annex I data themes would have to be available by the end of Discovery and view services had to be available by October The implementing rules on data and service sharing were still at an early draft stage. They would focus on access to data and would require a plausible calculation of charges. The implementing rules on monitoring and reporting had come into force in June Monitoring was based on indicators while reporting was qualitative and would be required every three years. The first reporting and monitoring round was due in The state of play with the INSPIRE project showed that implementation in most of the Member States was very satisfactory. Comment (EFGS): Annex III was particularly important as a package of information models describing our environment. Question: How would this package of information from Annexes I, II and III be converted into a information system for decision making? How would the lack of statistical expertise in the development of these data specifications be mitigated? Answer: INSPIRE was above all about creating an infrastructure and did not have the immediate purpose of creating meaningful content for that infrastructure. Hence, INSPIRE should not be seen as a tool for better decision making but for making information more easily accessible. Expert systems to support decision making could profit greatly from INSPIRE, but would have to be developed with the particular purpose in mind, e.g. GMES with a focus on disaster and crisis management. Regarding the second question, EUROSTAT was very eager to involve the NSIs more in INSPIRE. The Commission would do everything to encourage them to participate. Comment (SI): A more direct involvement of the Slovenian Statistical Office had been discussed at senior management level. It had been decided that this was not a core activity. This decision was partly motivated by a lack of understanding on the part of the INSPIRE national contact point as to how important the link between INSPIRE and statistics was. The involvement of the NSIs in the national INSPIRE processes was not ensured by national contact points. EUROSTAT should make an extra effort to increase the visibility of NSIs in national INSPIRE processes. Answer: The important role played by Eurostat in the INSPIRE process is well founded, as the vast majority of statistical data were actually spatial data. Awareness among statisticians should be enhanced and the importance of INSPIRE for statistics on sustainable development should be better communicated. INSPIRE and its connection to statistics would be a topic for the ESS committee with the aim of better involving managers in the NSIs. 0903_geographical/presentations/day-2-item1-inspire-upda/_EN_1.0_&a=d 2. Results of the call for experts for the INSPIRE thematic working groups on Annexes II and III (JRC) Daniele RIZZI on behalf of the JRC presented an overview of the recent call for experts for thematic working groups. The work on Annex I was now almost complete. The corresponding regulations had been adopted at the end of 2009, but would not enter into force before the end of 2010 since a common code list had to be developed first. 11

12 Another field of activity concerned the technical guidance documents fleshing out the implementing rules. The process for Annexes II and III would essentially stay the same. A call for experts issued at the end of 2009 yielded a varying response, with some themes clearly understaffed and with poor representation from NSIs in relevant fields. 19 thematic working groups were established. There was still an opportunity to send experts and there were also other ways of taking part, e.g. uploading reference material, participating in discussion and reviewing specifications. It was planned to have a first draft of the specifications available in autumn 2010 with the possibility for registered organisations to comment. A second version was planned for spring 2011 followed by a review and testing phase during summer The results of this testing should feed into the final and third version of the specifications, to be presented as draft implementing rules to the INSPIRE committee in Comment (UK): For none of the Annex themes was the creation of new information required, and there would be room for further attributes later. Answer: This was a deliberate decision with the aim of not overburdening INSPIRE, which had to be seen as a framework and an infrastructure that could be filled with information gradually. Comment (BE): Member States could be reluctant to share information due to unresolved security problems. Answer: INSPIRE did not require the disclosure of sensitive information. The goal of INSPIRE was to achieve interoperability. Question: Were NSIs systematically involved in the INSPIRE process? Answer: Each Member State had a national contact point who in principle was responsible for sharing information within the country. The issue of the participation of organisations within countries and the neglected participation of NSIs would be brought up at the next INSPIRE committee meeting. Action Member State delegates were invited to raise awareness among their managers as to the importance of INSPIRE and in particular the involvement of NSIs. Delegates were encouraged to upload reference material for Annex II and III themes by the end of June on the INSPIRE website to be used in the specification phase. The Commission would invite national contact points to liaise systematically with NSIs and stress the importance of INSPIRE. 0903_geographical/presentations/day-2-item2-inspire-anne/_EN_1.0_&a=i 3. Thematic working groups on INSPIRE Annexes II and III Why participate? (Statistics Netherlands) INSPIRE had been transposed into national law in the Netherlands in 2009 and a national geoportal had already been set up. Work on Annexes II and III was shared by several organisations. CBS was responsible for statistical units, land use, production facilities, agriculture facilities and demography. It would participate in the thematic working group on land use. 12

13 The rationale of CBS was to be involved in the process at an early stage and thus shape its output. Pieter BRESTERS also presented the anticipated workload and personal benefits. Comment (Eurostat) Support from management was needed. Delegates should explain to their management that since INSPIRE was inevitable it was an advantage to be involved in one way or another. Comment (NL): The work on INSPIRE was considered useful for the NSI by management. 0903_geographical/presentations/day-2-item3-inspire-twg-/_EN_1.0_&a=d 4. GMES (GMES Bureau) The Commission proposal for a Regulation on a GMES programme and the rules for the implementation of GMES initial operations ( ) was adopted on 20 May Two main objectives for GMES activities were identified 1) setting up a European Earth observation programme in terms of scope, organisational arrangements, funding arrangements, data policy, and participation of third countries and 2) identifying activities needed and raising the additional funding required. The proposal outlined the GMES programme in terms of: 1) scope/architecture service component (land, marine, atmosphere, emergency response, climate change, security), space component and in-situ component; 2) initial operations emergency response, land monitoring, user uptake, data access, including support for in-situ data collection and space component; 3) continuity with research activities; 4) organisational arrangements; 5) data policy objectives and implementation mechanisms; 6) participation of third countries; and 7) budget ( 107 m allocated to implementation of the Regulation and another 43 m to be redeployed within FP7). Currently, the Regulation was in the co-decision procedure with Council and Parliament. The purchase of reference data was one of the current key issues. Harmonised reference data were vital for GMES services, in particular land monitoring, emergency response and security. As none of the current datasets sufficiently met basic user needs, further steps were needed to integrate various existing datasets to ensure INSPIRE compliance and convergence towards a single reference at EU level. EEA and JRC were particularly interested in upgrading hydrographical information and elevation data. The aim of acquiring new hydrographic reference data was to ensure homogeneous European-wide coverage for a hydrographical network that was fully connected, routed and with a geometrical accuracy consistent with the resolution scale (1: to 1: ). It should profit from existing datasets: EEA, ECRINS, EuroGeographics ERM, and Member State hydrographical datasets. The aim of acquiring elevation reference data was to ensure homogeneous European-wide coverage of elevation data at 30 x 30 m and an overall vertical accuracy of +/- 5 m. The data should profit from existing datasets: SRTM, EuroGeographics EuroDEM, Aster GDEM, Intermap NEXTmap high-resolution data, and Member State datasets. The first two contracts for the acquisition of hydrographic reference data had been awarded: Lot 1: Implementation of an initial GMES service for geospatial Reference Data Access (RDA) covering Europe; awarded for to Indra Espacio S.A. (ES); subcontractors: AGI (UAB Aerogeodezijos institutas) (LT) and Intermap Technologies GmBH (DE) Lot 2: Implementation of an initial GMES service for geospatial reference data access covering areas outside Europe; awarded for to SITI (Istituto Superiore sui 13

14 Sistemi Territoriali per l innovazione) (IT); subcontractor: ITHACA (Information Technology for Humanitarian Assistance, Cooperation and Action) (IT) In addition to data acquisition, the GMES service component would focus on 1) off-the-shelf hardware and software procurement based on open standards, including INSPIRE specifications, 2) middleware services development CSW, WMS, WCS, WFS, fully documented, tailored developments, 3) client showcase application for promotional purposes, 4) service integration, validation and transfer. GMES aimed to provide free data as much as possible, the intention being to provide free access to the GMES datasets. GMES was also not aiming to provide datasets to replace the CORINE Land Cover data in the immediate future. Question: The potential of CORINE as a dataset for spatial disaggregation was exhausted and a more detailed dataset was needed. The question therefore was whether GMES had plans to develop a large-scale land cover dataset at least for urban areas? Answer: The idea was to provide free data as much as possible, and the GMES data should be available free of charge. The European Commission should provide free access to the GMES datasets. The replacement of the CORINE Land Cover data was not planned for the near future and alternatives could not be indicated. 0903_geographical/presentations/day-2-item4-gmes-dufourm/_EN_1.0_&a=d 5. Eurogeographics and INSPIRE (Eurogeographics) In the recent call for tenders, Eurogeographics (EG) faced difficulties meeting the requirements of the European Commission. For instance, the proposal with EG as part of the consortium had not been selected for the GMES service (hydrographic network and DEM). EG was aware of some of its data shortcomings and had plans to remedy these by taking third parties on board. The situation with reference data in the different Member States as regards scale, accuracy, format and update cycle varied widely, and there was a huge need for streamlining, especially with regard to the scale 1: EG would focus on mid- and small-scale products and wanted to achieve interoperability here. The future advantages of having European spatial datasets were: Consistency across data themes Streamlined production chain from large- to small-scale data Quality assurance across country borders Unique identifiers Not all of these features were available yet in all the European products. EG wanted to introduce a free-of-charge policy for viewing its data. Regarding participation in INSPIRE Annexes II and III, mapping agencies were very active and sent numerous experts. In addition, many agencies participated in the ESDIN project with the aim of creating harmonised European data specifications from medium to small scale, helping the implementation of INSPIRE. All these activities needed funding, which should come partly from the European Commission. The current procedure through calls for tenders was difficult to manage for EG and its members, as most of the activities were projects where sustainability and continuation could not always be guaranteed. EG would prefer formal agreements between it and Mapping 14

15 Agencies on the one hand and the European Commission on the other, as was for example the case between NSIs and Eurostat. 0903_geographical/presentations/day-2-item5-inspire-eg-j/_EN_1.0_&a=d 6. INFSO, ongoing econtent + projects A number of geo-projects were ongoing under the econtent+ programme. Two examples were the EuroGeonames project, with the aim of creating a European gazetteer service maintained by national mapping agencies, and the Plan4All project, with the goal of better integrating INSPIRE principles within spatial planning processes. The 2009 call under the ICT (Information and Communications Technology) Policy Support Programme (ICT PSP) had attracted interesting proposals. The aim of this call was to accelerate the development of a competitive, innovative and inclusive Information Society. Theme 6 of the programme promoted the use of geographical information. Project calls should avoid duplication, e.g. the same INSPIRE Annex theme should not be covered by two different projects. Five proposals had been retained. In 2010, the ICT PSP programme would not have any geo-theme. More details on the econtent+ and ICT PSP programmes could be obtained from the website: Comment (Eurostat): Eurostat was grateful that DG INFSO was supporting the INSPIRE framework. 0903_geographical/presentations/day-2-item6-infso-geopro/_EN_1.0_&a=d 7. Closure of the meeting. The Chairman thanked all the participants, the GISCO team, the interpreters, and closed the meeting. 15