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International Conference on Cartography and GIS
Nessebar, June 2010
Spatial Data Infrastructures
Spatial Data Infrastructures:
Introduction
Ulrich Boes
AGISEE
Association for Geospatial Information in South-East Europe

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International Conference on Cartography and GIS
Nessebar, June 2010
LOGO
Outline
nDefinition
nComponents
nTypes
nStandards
nINSPIRE
nOpen questions

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International Conference on Cartography and GIS
Nessebar, June 2010
LOGO
What is an SDI
nSDI is about data sharing and cooperation
n‘INFORMAL’ DEFINITION:
The basic arrangements for combining, processing and making available spatial data in forms and
ways which meet user needs and capacities.
n‘FORMAL’ DEFINITION:
The technology, policies, standards and human resources necessary to acquire, process, store,
distribute and improve utilisation of geospatial data’ (GSDI Cookbook).
nAn SDI differs from:
¡WEB GIS: GIS facilities over the Web
¡GIS with Web facilities: desktop GIS that connects to web servers

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International Conference on Cartography and GIS
Nessebar, June 2010
LOGO
Why SDI ?
Access and data sharing, Interoperability, Local Management, Portability.
Build once, use many times!

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International Conference on Cartography and GIS
Nessebar, June 2010
LOGO
Components of an SDI
nFramework of spatial data, metadata, users and tools that are interactively connected in order to
use spatial data in an efficient and flexible way.
Access Network
Policy
Standards
People
Data
Source: A, Rajabifard

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International Conference on Cartography and GIS
Nessebar, June 2010
LOGO
Development of an SDI
Source: B.C. Kok and B. van Loenen

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International Conference on Cartography and GIS
Nessebar, June 2010
LOGO
Types of SDIs
nGlobal
nNational
nRegional and Local
nThematic
Top Down
Bottom up

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International Conference on Cartography and GIS
Nessebar, June 2010
LOGO
The need for standards
The OGC Specification Program is a formal consensus process to arrive at approved (or "adopted")
OpenGIS® Specifications.

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International Conference on Cartography and GIS
Nessebar, June 2010
LOGO
INSPIRE
inspire
nINSPIRE lays down general rules to
establish an infrastructure for spatial information in Europe
¡for the purposes of Community environmental policies and
¡policies or activities which may have an impact on the environment.
¡
nINSPIRE to be based on the infrastructures for spatial information established and operated by the
Member States
¡INSPIRE is a distributed infrastructure.
¡
nINSPIRE does not require collection of new spatial data
nINSPIRE does not affect existing Intellectual Property Rights
n
nEntry into force of the Directive: 15 May 2007
nTransposition the Framework Directive by May 2009
n

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International Conference on Cartography and GIS
Nessebar, June 2010
LOGO
Scope INSPIRE Directive
nSpatial data held by or on behalf of a public authority operating down to the lowest level of
government when laws or regulations require their collection or dissemination
n
nINSPIRE covers 34 Spatial Data Themes laid down in 3 Annexes

INSPIRE only addresses data held by public authorities (or by a third party on behalf of a public
authority)
INSPIRE will only affect public authorities which are the custodian of relevant data that needs to
be reported, collected or disseminated to a higher level of administration. Data collected for
local purposes only falls not under INSPIRE.
INSPIRE covers in its scope 34 themes of data, which, as you will recognise, are used for
developing information systems for a wide variety of applications.

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International Conference on Cartography and GIS
Nessebar, June 2010
LOGO
Why is INSPIRE important ?
nDirective: transposition important
nBase for other legal frameworks and initiatives
¡GMES, SEIS, ….
nHarmonisation of data: social and economic dimension
nCost savings
nStep towards integrated, cross sectoral approaches
nWider use and higher quality of government data

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International Conference on Cartography and GIS
Nessebar, June 2010
LOGO
INSPIRE : Key elements
nMetadata
nInteroperability of spatial data sets and services
nNetwork services (discovery, view, download, invoke)
¡Made available through the European geo-portal
nData and Service sharing
¡Rules governing access and rights of use to spatial data sets and services
nCoordination and measures for Monitoring                                            & Reporting
INSPIRE is a Framework Directive
Detailed technical provisions for the issues
above will be laid down in Implementing Rules
Once adopted, Implementing Rules become European legislative acts and national law in 27 Member
States and in some EFTA countries

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International Conference on Cartography and GIS
Nessebar, June 2010
LOGO
Open Questions
nGovernance
nPromotion of data sharing
nEnabling platform for accessing spatial data and to deliver related services
nCapacity building
nEvaluation and Assessment
nRoadmap for SDI implementation
¡Building an SDI is a long term task

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International Conference on Cartography and GIS
Nessebar, June 2010
LOGO
Thank you for your attention !
agiseebcub