Providing access to national geographic information for a wide range of uses

“We have a mandate as national provider of geographic information to provide all users with geospatial data for the Republic of North Macedonia. We contribute to higher transparency and use of the geospatial information in the central and  local government, where spatial data is required for spatial planning, social services, and transport networks as well as forming the basis for various other activities.”

Boris Tundzev, Director, Agency for Real Estate Cadastre, Republic of North Macedonia

The Agency for Real Estate Cadastre, Republic of North Macedonia in 2020 redesigned the national geoportal.

Enhancements to the national spatial data infrastructure geoportal enable the review and use of spatial data through web-oriented services and interoperable infrastructure. More than 160 metadata services and 79 web services, including 82 collections of spatial data can be accessed following the redesign, which took into account the products available, the needs of users, administrative and business aspect, and strategic goals.

LiDAR scanning data is also available through the LiDAR portal. Products covering 46% of the Republic of North Macedonia are created using the data from

LiDAR scanning. The portal offers options for visualising Digital Terrain Models (DTM), Digital Surface Models (DSM), Hillshade DTM, Hillshade DSM, raster models for the slope of the terrain, and also metadata of the products. The second phase of the LiDAR project to prepare products for the rest of the territory of the country is now underway with the support of the Norwegian government.

Benefits

• Promotes use of national spatial data via online services and interoperable infrastructure.
• Gives access to the services.
• Provides various possibilities for visualising LiDAR data in different coordinate systems, selecting locations for purchasing LiDAR products, and other spatial data management tools.
• Realises benefits for crisis management, environmental protection, spatial planning, engineering geodesy, agriculture, defence and other areas where geospatial data is used.

Open Address Register data – new opportunities for the public and private sector

“Having assessed the economic and social benefits of open data and taken further steps towards openness, renewal and change, we have opened the Address Register data to the public. It is a tool for the public and private sectors to improve their services and deliver them more efficiently, to develop new, high value-added products and to contribute to the progress of all of us.”

Saulius Urbanavičius, Director General, Centre of Registers, Lithuania

In October 2020, all data in the Lithuanian Address Register were opened to the public to use for free  - a total of 2.1 million unique addresses and more than 1 million address points that can be marked on the map. As a result, public and private sector organisations can use a single standard of address information in their systems and ensure smooth data exchange.

The Address Register was created in 2004 and contains textual and spatial data on the following Register objects: counties, municipalities, wards, residential areas, streets, addresses and names given to a building, structure or other object. Address and street data is provided to the Address Register using an address allocation application. The whole process of registering, changing or annulling an address or street takes place in the electronic environment. In 2020, 50,037 addresses and 1,406 streets were registered. In addition, the boundaries of residential areas, wards, municipalities and counties are constantly updated.

Benefits

• Enables the smooth exchange of data using a single address standard.
• Integrates with other state registers and information systems to enable real-time use of spatial and textual data, thereby avoiding mistakes and saving time and money for all participants.
• Supports a wide range of activities including planning of services and logistics, operational and emergency services, delivery of tax notices, goods, postal and courier services.
• Encourages and supports development of new products based on open address data, for example a geographic search algorithm which allows searches for geographical location by address, place name, name of organisations or other keywords.

Covid-19 drives increase in use of Hungary’s online services

“The Lechner Knowledge Center (LTK) is a professional background institution to the Prime Minister’s Office specialising in architecture, real estate records and GIS. The company’s mission is the digitisation and promotion of the wide range of public services it provides relating to the built environment and spatial data. The company’s activities also include remote sensing, regional planning, and smart city services, as well as tasks involving geodesy, earth observation and cartography. We have managed to fulfill our mission even in the face of the extra challenges posed by COVID-19, which is well demonstrated by the results presented here.”

Jozsef Kolossa, General Director, Lechner Ltd

Due to the spread of COVID-19, online services provided by the Lechner Knowledge Center (LTK) in Hungary became even more significant and widely used in 2020.

The Land Administration Systems served over six million data requests from more than 560,000 users and received more than 250,000 new registrations. In addition, around 75% of all total customer service actions were conducted through the geoshop.hu geoportal. More than 16,000 images were scanned and uploaded to the fentrol.hu Digital Aerial Photo Archive with downloads reaching 23,000.

Launch of first online national base map

The first online national base map, the National Geospatial Map of Hungary (NGMHu), was launched at the beginning of 2021. The first version (NTA 1.0) of NGMHu 1.0 runs on a dedicated website which makes it possible to browse the map without a need for additional software. The OGC Web Map Tile Service (WMTS) can also be accessed directly using GIS.

Benefits

• Enables governmental and private stakeholders to access a continuously maintained, reliable geospatial data service free of charge.
• Incorporates basic thematic national data such as administrative boundaries, generalised blocks of land parcels, buildings derived from a cadastral database available at LTK, geonames, transport or hydrography networks (created by LTK based on remote sensing data).
• Contains general land use/land cover information for Hungary.
• Uses a standardised, easy-to-understand style, a legend similar to topographic and other widely used maps, and predefined known scales (e.g. 1:10,000, 1:20,000, etc.) in the Hungarian projection system (EOV).

Preventive Crime Statistics Database (PRE-STAT)

Completion of the GIS web application, Preventive Crime Statistics Database (PRE-STAT) was also achieved in 2020. Basic data content is obtained from the databases of Robotzsaru (‘RoboCop’), ENyÜBS (unified criminal investigation and prosecution crime statistics system) and TeIR (national territorial development and spatial planning information system).

Benefits

Enables the creation of thematic maps:

• On the level of settlements, police departments, townships, counties and regions.
• From absolute and relative economic, social (TeIR) and criminal data (ENyÜBS).
• Based on a certain time or the change within a given time period.
• Displays crime data (Robotzsaru) on a street-level dot density map.
• Creates its own indicators, saving completed maps.
• Displays data on diagrams and compares the values of different territorial units.
• Displays surveillance camera data on the street-level map of District VIII, Budapest

Launch of INSPIRE Geoportal gives access to free, online cadastral maps

“This has been a long-awaited service. Geoinformation specialists, engineers, planners, administrative officials, and many other professionals had been constantly asking for a flexible and uninhibited access to cadastral maps. Now, through the INSPIRE Geoportal, that service is available to them online and on a 24/7 basis.  All the wealth of information that is embedded into those maps is unleashed and made available to them to solve problems, develop plans, implement policies, and make decisions.”

Prof. Dimitrios Stathakis, President of the Board of Directors, Hellenic Cadastre.

Free, online cadastral maps are now available to the public after to the launch of the Hellenic Cadastre’s new INSPIRE geoportal.

The new service not only fulfils Greece’s obligations with respect to the cadastral thematic layer of the INSPIRE Directive, but also satisfies long-standing user demand for better access to geospatial data. Since its launch, the geoportal has received approximately 6,000 daily requests for Web Feature Services (WFS) and Web Map Tile Services (WMTS), 10,000 daily requests for Web Map Services (WMS), and 5,000 daily requests for data download services.

In addition to cadastral maps, users can also find metadata information about all other datasets that are available from the Agency. This information is provided in Greek and English, enabling both local and international users to benefit from the services.

The geoportal was developed using co-financing from the Operational Program ‘Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship, Innovation’ within the NSRF 2014-2020.  The implementation of the geoportal was completed at the beginning of 2020 and became fully operational in September of the same year. In the near future, additional data and more services will also be provided.

Benefits

Geoportal’s data and services are used to:

• Plan new investment activities involving real estate.
• Develop urban zoning and city plans.
• Support provision of services.
• Design and implement rural development plans.
• Protect and monitor the environment.
• Manage natural hazards and natural disasters.

The importance of geoinformation in crises

“From tracking infections and healthcare capacity, to guaranteeing the supply of protective equipment, data visualisation by using BKGs geospatial information is key to knowing where and how the situation is developing. In addition, BKG is responsible for delivering location data about the pandemic situation in Germany, for instance about important infrastructure, such as hospitals and laboratories. BKG also developed analysis between population structure and vaccination centres, which can be quickly integrated into applications for specific users, including the government, authorities and police. This way, BKG provides important assistance to users at federal level to clarify the national situation.”

Professor Paul Becker, President Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (BKG)

By enabling decision-makers to ensure clearer and faster connections between COVID-19 and the local spread, information and other data about the predominated situation is needed. Geospatial information from the Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (BKG) is therefore at the heart of Germany’s pandemic response.

The COVID-19 dashbord of Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the government’s central scientific institution in the field of biomedicine, shows the advantages of web-based (map) applications, especially in exceptional situations: information can be made available and updated quickly for everyone and is available regardless of location and device. BKG data not only forms the cartographic basis for the RKI COVID-19 dashboard, the Agency also has an important role advising the government on how to maximise the benefits of geographic information. For example, introducing its network of private and public sectors contacts to the Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB) to help its use of anonymous mobility data to calculate the spread of COVID-19 in a forecast model.

Building on the experience gained during the development of the RKI COVID-19 dashboard, BKG is building a similar technical solution - the new BKG GeoHub which will use interactive map displays and diagrams to help users easily understand complex spatial analysis. This will be available to the entire federal administration, its partners at the federal and state levels and the public in 2021.

Benefits

• Fulfils a permanent advisory function on the potentials but also the limitations of geospatial information in conjunction with other technical information in order to make informed decisions.
• Develop individual maps for German security services (e.g. Federal Police) to ensure the transport of vaccination doses to the local vaccination centre.
• Helped to meet demand for hospital beds by analysing healthcare capacity against population demographics at district level.
• Enabled management of border closures and dynamic response to congestion by monitoring at crossings using high-resolution satellite images.
• Supported planning and construction of temporary logistics centres and test stations.
• Provided route planning capability to facilitate transportation of protective equipment.
• Determined where alternatives to the supply of protective equipment to Germany may be required by identifying potential supply bottlenecks in Asian region.
• Lays foundations for new cloud-based BKG GeoHub which uses interactive map displays and diagrams to enable easier understanding of complex spatial situations.

‘Geo-common’ strategy supports major Lidar and land use projects in France

“The fact that IGN’s data are free of charge since 1 January 2021 reinforces IGN’s mission of pooling public players in the field of sovereign data. The challenges for IGN are thus to produce data useful to public players, by bringing them together in joint projects, such as the national Lidar HD programme and large-scale land use. The code name ‘Geo-common’ refers to this strategic orientation of IGN as a common resource, pooling and working with communities according to a participatory logic.”

Sébastien Soriano, Director General, National Institute of Geographic and Forest Information (IGN) France

As part of its ‘Geo-common’ strategy, IGN France has launched major new land use and Lidar projects to support public policies. These include the national high-density Lidar coverage programme and the national soil artificialisation observatory.

At the same time, the IGNfab incubator aims to accelerate startups’ digital geoservice projects that use location data and land description. Indeed, usages of innovative data such as high-definition Lidar data have to be supported and fostered.  As part of its last theme-based call for projects, dedicated to “Energy and climate change” and issued in 2020, IGNfab helps and supports the developments of 5 projects linked to building energy renovation. 

National Lidar programme

In the framework of its brand new national Lidar programme, IGN France will acquire, compute, host and broadcast Lidar point clouds at high density (10 points per square meter). The French public bodies responsible for natural risks prevention, forest management and agriculture are providing the first case studies.

Benefits

• Enables fine, quasi-synchronous and homogeneous three-dimensional knowledge of the topographic soil, artificial topsoil and vegetation between 2021 and 2025.
• Generates classified Lidar point clouds and very precise Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) and Digital Surface Models (DSMs).
• Can be used for a wide range of applications in a variety of public policies, such as spatial planning, agriculture, forest, energy, biodiversity, and climate.

National soil artificialisation observatory

The Ministry for Ecological Transition requested a project of large-scale land use and land cover for the measurement of soil artificialisation. This project aims to produce a reference framework for land occupation and use throughout the national territory, through automated processes based on artificial intelligence. The objective is to disseminate open data on soil artificialisation.

Benefits

• Enables the State and the territories to combat urban sprawl, which reduces the capacity of agricultural land to feed us, increases the distances travelled by individuals, increases expenditure on networks (roads, electricity, sanitation, etc.), accelerates the loss of biodiversity by fragmenting spaces and, due to soil sealing in particular, increases the risk of flooding.
• Provides an essential brick in reaching the ‘Zero net artificialisation’ objective, recalled by the President of the Republic before the Citizens’ Convention for the Climate on 29 June 2020.
• Delivers objective data to public (State, local authorities) and private (consultancy firms, urban planning agencies, etc.) players for combating soil artificialisation.
• Promotes a shared diagnosis of the process of soil artificialisation, for the preservation of biodiversity, food autonomy and the fight against global warming.

Contributing to Belgian National Access Point for multimodal transport information

"With the NAP, we encourage convenient and more environmentally friendly passenger transport by making the (geo)information needed for innovative travel information apps accessible in one place."

Ingrid Vanden Berghe, Director, National Geographic Institute, Belgium

The National Geographic Institute (NGI) is responsible for the development of the website Transportdata.be that was created to align Belgium with the European Delegated Act 2017/1926. This requires all member states set up a National Access Point (NAP) for multimodal transport information to enhance the development of multimodal travel information services.

The Belgian NAP – www.transportdata.be – is a metadata portal on which all travel data concerning passenger transport must be registered. To promote the ‘modal shift’, it enables the exchange of data between data providers, such as transport authorities and operators, and developers of multimodal travel information services. In this modal shift, the personal car is replaced by more environmentally friendly and multimodal alternatives, thereby providing a better service to travellers. Furthermore, it is an essential step into lowering CO2 emissions as described in the climate ambitions of the Paris Agreement, as the transport sector is responsible for more than 20% of the global CO2 emissions.

Benefits

• Stakeholders (national and international) know where to find travel and traffic related information.
• A common access point for data enhances the use of common standards by the data owners.
• By simplifying the access to the relevant information, the threshold is lowered for the development of door-to-door travel information services.
• The transportdata.be-forum gives the different stakeholders the opportunity to exchange experiences and ask the community questions.
• Passenger transport can be organised in a more efficient and environmentally friendly manner.

Case Study Member National Open Data

Progress towards a developing a new Digital Elevation Model (DEM) for the whole of Slovakia continued in 2019.

The six-year project will create the new DEM 5.0 from airborne laser scanning data. The laser scanning and following post-processing of data is carried out by private companies with quality control independently performed by the suppliers and the Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre Authority.

Currently, 17 of the 42 localities, which are known as lots and covering the whole territory, have been completed and published via the authority’s geoportal. Individual lots are scanned separately and the process of laser scanning goes from the west of the country to the east. All the products created from the airborne laser scanning data are provided free of charge.

Read the full case study from EuroGeographics 2019 Annual Review

Case Study Member European Open Data

In Germany, the Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (BKG) delivers high quality remote sensing products as open data.  

Remote sensing through satellite imagery is an important source and method for specialized services provided by BKG, such as surface models for air traffic control and landcover changes for spatial planning. These and other satellite products are important contributions to issues of public relevance, for example civil security and environmental monitoring.

BKG has established a process chain for high quality mosaics that allows for the harmonisation of any optical remote sensing data and for any area on Earth. This is particularly beneficial to the Federal Administration in Germany and, whenever legally permitted, for the public as open data.

Read the full case study from EuroGeographics 2019 Annual Review