Plan4all (econtentplus project) Karel CHARVAT 1, Tomáš MILDORF 2 1 Help service remote sensing, Ltd., Černoleská 1600, 256 01 Benešov u Prahy, Czech Republic charvat@bnhelp.cz 2 Department of Mathematics - Section of Geomatics, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Univerzitní 22, 306 14 Pilsen, Czech Republic mildorf@centrum.cz Abstract The harmonisation of spatial planning data according to the INSPIRE Directive based on the existing best practices in EU regions and municipalities and the results of current research projects is the main focus of the econtentplus project, Plan4all. The expected results are European forums for SDI in spatial planning, a database of best practices and analysis of best practices in terms of organisation, sharing, harmonisation and SDI building recommendations for spatial planning. The whole sector should profit from the availability of understandable and more transparent planning information in Europe. Although there are basically the same ideas and concepts behind spatial planning across Europe, the legal situation is completely fragmented. Current spatial planning laws are disjointed and even experts from one country might have difficulties to understand the planning regulations of a neighbouring country. For investors and decision makers it is almost impossible to compare planning regulations across Europe. Plan4all will significantly contribute to improve this situation. Keywords data harmonisation, INSPIRE, regional planning, SDI building, urban planning, Plan4all, Spatial Data Infrastructure, spatial planning. 1 Introduction Sustainable spatial planning development fulfils an important role. It is concerned with where people live and work, the location of social and economic activity and the way in which the limited resources we possess are exploited to achieve socio-economic objectives. National, regional and local authorities face important challenges in the development of territorial frameworks and concepts that balance and respect the needs of different stakeholders. They must also ensure economical development and environmental and risk protection. Modern approaches in spatial planning emphasise the need for strong involvement of all levels of government, stakeholders and citizens in the planning process. The currently available methods in spatial planning do not make effective use of shared data and web technologies that insure the best use of geographic data and support the interoperability of planned solutions together with the active participation of all stakeholders of the planning process. Governments are generally keen on evaluating quantitative and qualitative goals and measures against their territorial planning processes in order to improve the performance of the government itself.
Spatial planning and related information are important not only for national, regional and local development. They are important also for the international dimension, especially in Europe where the continuum of settlements characterises the transition between nations. Spatial planning is also strongly related to natural disasters prevention, which has in many cases a cross border or international character. Therefore there is a strong need for harmonisation of data used for planning and there is an absolute need for core data sets for planning purposes to guarantee that this information will be easily understandable across the whole of Europe. 2 Project Plan4all The Plan4all is an econtentplus "Best Practices Network" project starting in May 2009. It will last for 30 months. The econtentplus programme is a European Commission multiannual programme and its main aim is to make digital content in Europe more accessible, usable and exploitable. The Plan4all consortium consists of 24 partners from 13 EU Member States and Norway (see Fig. 1). It includes partners from data holders, software and planning organisations, SMEs, consultancy, research organisations and academia in European countries and international organisations. 3 Plan4all objectives Fig. 1 - Coverage of the Plan4all consortium within Europe. A primary objective of Plan4all is to build a network of local, regional and national public bodies; stakeholders; ICT industry organisations; organisations dealing with planning issues and regional development; universities; and international organisations. This network will be used to find consensus on the harmonisation of Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) for spatial planning according to the INSPIRE Directive. The project will also contribute to the standardisation of related Spatial Data Themes (hereinafter referred to as "Themes") from the INSPIRE Directive Annexes [2]. Plan4all will be an open network, which will cooperate also with other external organisations and related projects.
Spatial planning is defined as the comprehensive, coordinating and spatially-oriented planning in all spatial levels (from international to local). In contrast to the broad, comprehensive character of spatial planning, several sectoral planning authorities are in charge of single spatially relevant topics (e. g. forestry, water management, geological survey, landscape, transport etc.). Plan4all will focus on the implementation of the INSPIRE Directive into spatial planning processes. It will be based on building spatial planning data specifications and data models for selected Themes and implementing the recommendations of the INSPIRE Drafting Teams for Metadata and Network services. The project will use experiences coming from previous projects including ARMONIA, HUMBOLDT, c@r, NaturNet Redime, esdinet+, GIS4EU and EURADIN. Spatial planning is multidisciplinary and reflects many themes from various fields. It is not possible to cover all of them. In order to make the project achievable, Plan4all will cover following Themes: Land cover (INSPIRE Directive, Annex II) Physical and biological cover of the earth's surface including artificial surfaces, agricultural areas, forests, (semi-) natural areas, wetlands, water bodies. Land use (INSPIRE Directive, Annex III) Territory characterised according to its current and future planned functional dimension or socio economic purpose (e.g. residential, industrial, commercial, agricultural, forestry, recreational). Land regulation is the general spatial planning tool at regional and local levels. Land use may be characterised as ordinary mapping of existing functions as an objective picture of the use and functions of a territory, but may also be plans characterising how land may be utilised at present and in the future. Utility and government services (INSPIRE Directive, Annex III) Includes utility facilities such as sewage, waste management, energy supply and water supply, administrative and social governmental services such as public administrations, civil protection sites, schools and hospitals. Production and industrial facilities (INSPIRE Directive, Annex III) Industrial production sites, including installations covered by Directive 96/61/EC of 24 September 1996 concerning integrated pollution prevention and control, water abstraction facilities, mining, storage sites. Agricultural and aquaculture facilities (INSPIRE Directive, Annex III) Farming equipment and production facilities (including irrigation systems, greenhouses and stables). Area management/restriction/regulation zones and reporting units (INSPIRE Directive, Annex III) Areas managed, regulated or used for reporting at international, European, national, regional and local levels. Includes dumping sites, restricted areas around drinking water sources, nitrate-vulnerable zones, regulated fairways at sea or large inland waters, areas for the dumping of waste, noise restriction zones, and prospecting. Natural risk zones (INSPIRE Directive, Annex III) Vulnerable areas characterised according to natural hazards (all atmospheric, hydrologic, seismic, volcanic and wildfire phenomena that, because of their location, severity, and
frequency, have the potential to seriously affect society), e.g. floods, landslides and subsidence, avalanches, forest fires, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions. 3 Workplan The workplan of Plan4all is structured into nine work packages (hereinafter referred to as "WPs"). The WPs are as follows: WP1 Project management and coordination It will ensure the proper organisation, implementation and orchestration of the project activities in order to monitor and evaluate the progress of the project. WP2 State of the art analysis - It will be focused on identification of leading regional and local administrations, identification of innovation challenges and a framework structure for analysing relevant technology developments and trends. WP3 Design of Plan4all metadata profile It will define a common metadata profile for European spatial planning in compliance with national legislations for spatial planning and INSPIRE profile. WP4 Plan4all data model definition It will be focused on national models and their combination and translation into common models covered by the selected INSPIRE Themes. WP5 Networking architecture It will extend the INSPIRE networking principles for the purpose of European spatial planning. WP6 Large scale testbed - It aims at using existing technologies and services that are already successfully implemented and operating in some regions by the project s technical partners in order to appropriately deploy them for the needs of Plan4all. WP7 Content deployment - It will populate the Plan4all spatial data repositories using semantically rich and multilingual metadata. WP8 Validation It will provide the quality framework for the evaluation of the outputs of Plan4all through pilot evaluation and validation activities to be performed within the targeted user organisations. WP9 Dissemination, clustering consensus building and sustainability planning It will include all activities planned to promote and valorise the project results.
4 Plan4all & INSPIRE The Plan4all project will implement INSPIRE principles in spatial planning practice. The INSPIRE initiative intends to trigger the creation of a European spatial information infrastructure that delivers integrated spatial information services to users. These services should allow users to identify and access spatial or geographical information from a wide range of sources, from the local level to the global level in an interoperable and interactive way for a variety of uses. The target users of INSPIRE include policy-makers, planners and managers at European, national and local levels and the citizens and their organizations. References [1] Plan4all project [online]. Plan4all Consortium, 2009. [cit. 2009-04-29]. URL: http://www.plan4all.eu/ [2] INSPIRE Initiative [online]. INSPIRE Team, 2009. [cit. 2009-04-29]. URL: http://inspire.jrc.ec.europa.eu/