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Unique collaboration releases updated official boundary and geospatial data for Europe

National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registration authorities across Europe have provided official data for the latest seamless administrative boundary and topographic datasets available from their membership association, EuroGeographics.

EuroBoundaryMap (EBM 2020) and EuroRegionalMap (ERM 2020) are created by the not-for-profit organisation using a unique data integration process which harmonises national data to standard specifications.

Angela Baker, Programme Manager, EuroGeographics says: “Our production system is a particularly important example of international collaboration in the geospatial area. By working together to deliver pan-European data, our members are demonstrating not only what can be achieved through Europe-wide cooperation but also the benefits that result for the wider public good.”

EBM 2020 enables the exact matching of administrative areas in 55 European countries and territories using geospatial data from 39 EuroGeographics members. Available at 1:100 000 scale, it contains geometry, names and codes of administrative and statistical units, and links to the updated statistical LAU- and NUTS-codes for all local administrative units of the EU Member States.

Angela Baker adds: “EBM 2020 enables users to geo-reference statistical data. The Statistical Atlas published by the European statistical agency, Eurostat is a good example of how it can be used to link different datasets about people and places to visualise complex information. EBM 2020 also allows users to search the dataset using multilingual geographical names with information from our Regional Gazetteer.”

Working with Germany’s Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (BKG), which manages the production of both datasets, EuroGeographics has also updated the settlements, boundary and hydrography themes in ERM 2020, its 1:250 000 scale dataset covering 51 European countries and territories.

To improve accuracy and achieve a harmonised full European dataset, national data is validated against specifications using a tool developed by The Netherlands Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency. ERM 2020 focuses on edge-matching watercourse features along borders. The advantage for the end user is that the feature is linked across boundaries, so the physical feature is not stopped by a non-physical border.

As well as ERM 2020 and EBM 2020, EuroGeographics offers pan-European open data, EuroGlobalMap, which is supported by the National Institute of Geographic and Forest Information (IGN France), a digital elevation model and a Regional Gazetteer managed by BKG.

https://eurogeographics.org/maps-for-europe/

EuroGeographics is an international not-for-profit organisation (AISBL/ IVZW under Belgian Law. BCE registration: 833 607 112) and the membership association for the European National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registry Authorities. It currently brings together members from 46 countries, covering the whole of geographical Europe.

Annual Review 2019 published online

EuroGeographics 2019 Annual Review is now available online.

As well as an update on our activities as the Association of European National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registration Authorities,, 32 members have also submitted use cases covering topics such as open data, digital and business transformation, geoportal development, positioning, quality and interoperability. Each case study is also available in the member’s entry in our online directory, and on the members’ case study page.

EuroGeographics' President, Colin Bray said: "Data from official national sources is important because it supports a range of legal, fiscal, security and other public administrative purposes, and provides reliable, consistent context and clarity to information about people and places."

"The case studies contained in this review odemonstrate the great personal, societal and economic importance of our members’ data. They continue to fulfil the essential role of providing official and detailed geospatial, or location, information for important public purposes."

Job opportunity at EuroGeographics

We are looking for our next Secretary General and Executive Director to lead the Association and its international engagement and representation activity, and ensure it has effective presence at the highest levels, building constructive partnerships with European and global stakeholders.

If you are a leader that understands the political, policy and legislative context in which our members operate, we’d love to hear from you. You’ll also need to be able develop long term implementation strategies that maximise opportunities for members, and you’ll understand the value of data in a digital society, with a good understanding of political, policy and commercial issues affecting data in general, and knowledge of geospatial data.

*Closing Date: 10 May 2020*

More information here.

UPDATED Members-only EU COVID-19 Updates

As part of our regular monitoring service for members, we will be adding news on EU policy and initiatives that are relevant to National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registration Authorities here.

Our usual weekly policy news summary can be found here.

5 June 2020

The European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA) announced the launch of a new platform to monitor green and sustainable recovery. Developed by the Commission in collaboration with the ESA, the platform uses Earth observation satellite data to measure the impact of the coronavirus lockdown and monitor post-lockdown recovery, at local, regional, and global scale. The tool notably monitors key environmental parameters such as air and water quality changes, economic and human activities including industry, shipping, construction, traffic, as well as agricultural productivity.

4 June 2020

The Galileo Green Lane app, developed by the European GNSS Agency (GSA) in collaboration with the European Commission, is a key tool in the EU's COVID-19 pandemic response. The app was downloaded by over 2,500 drivers since it was launched at the start of May. The Galileo Green Lane app uses the positioning services of Galileo - Europe's Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) - to monitor and facilitate the free movement of freight, making it possible to reduce waiting times at the EU's internal land borders and facilitate the transport of goods.

8 May 2020

European Space Agency (ESA) wrote that, thanks to the Italian national delegation to ESA, €10 million is now available for proposals to use space to improve healthcare and distance learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The funds will be used to support projects in education and distance learning, social care, support for medical operations, monitoring and security, telemedicine, and epidemiology and resource planning.

6 May 2020

EU Telecommunications Ministers held an informal videoconference to discuss the use of mobile applications and mobility data in relation to COVID-19 and stressed the need for a coordinated approach at EU level, underlining that such applications will be important for the gradual relaxation of measures. Ministers also reflected on the role of the digital sector in the post COVID-19 recovery as well as on measures to incentivise investment in the deployment of new digital infrastructure.

24 April 2020

The European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA) announced that, together with the European Commission, it is working on an app to facilitate the movement of goods and freight within the EU in the framework of the COVID-19 pandemic response. The "Galileo Green Lane" app will aim to ease the flow of freight through borders and enable the efficient transit of critical goods. It will provide border control authorities with a real-time visualisation of the overall border situation between a country and its neighbours. It will also provide drivers with a real-time visualisation of borders of interest to them, through an EU-wide map indicating Green Lane border crossing times. The app is already in its final development stage. The first pilot is starting next week in some selected border points; a simultaneous activity for drivers will be launched soon with key transport companies from the International Road Union (IRU).

8 April 2020

The European Commission issued a recommendation on a common Union toolbox to be developed by 15 April 2020 by the Member States, together with the Commissionand in association with the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), for the use of technology and data to combat and exit from the COVID-19 crisis, in particular concerning mobile applications and the use of anonymised mobility data. The envisaged toolbox would focus on two dimensions: (i) a pan-European coordinated approach for the use of mobile applications for empowering citizens to take effective and more targeted social distancing measures and for warning, preventing and contact tracing; and (ii) a common approach for modelling and predicting the evolution of the virus through anonymised and aggregated mobile location data.

The European Commission launched the European Research Area (ERA) corona platform on the funding and tenders portal. This dedicated space provides information regarding related research and innovation actions, but also updates regarding the extension of certain call deadlines due to the outbreak. Information regarding project implementation and management during the pandemic are also available.

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB), during its 20th plenary session , assigned concrete mandates to its expert subgroups to develop guidance on several aspects of data processing in the fight against COVID-19, namely: (i) on geolocation and other tracing tools in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak – a mandate was given to the technology expert subgroup for leading this work; and (ii) on the processing of health data for research purposes in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak – a mandate was given to the compliance, e-government and health expert subgroup for leading this work.

7 April 2020

The European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) published a press release noting that the current developments in the EU on the use of smartphone data to understand and contain the spread of COVID-19 need to comply with data protection and privacy rules. The Chair of LIBE Committee, Juan Fernando López Aguilar (S&D, ES), highlighted that, according to the European Data Protection Supervisor and the European Data Protection Board, as long as the information shared with national authorities is anonymised and does not allow for individuals to be identified in any way, it can be used. He added that the EU's data protection principles, namely the General Data Protection Rules (GDPR) and the e-Privacy Directive, must continue to apply and be respected even in these exceptional times.

EUROCONTROL announced that EUROCONTROL Member States agreed to delay payments of up to €1.1 billion due for air navigation services in February through to May this year. The number of flights operating daily in European airspace has declined by 90% as a result of the COVID-1P outbreak. Airlines had sought the support of EUROCONTROL to help them deal with their significant cash flow crisis.

2 April 2020

The European Space Agency (ESA) , together with the Italian minister for innovation and digitalisation, launched Space in response to COVID-19 outbreak funding to support projects in the field of healthcare and education. ESA is inviting companies to submit their ideas for deploying and demonstrating services to respond to the emergency that Europe, and especially Italy, is facing during the COVID-19 crisis.

1 April 2020

The European Commission published guidelines on the flexible use of the EU public procurement framework in the current coronavirus pandemic.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) announced it had developed a tool to monitor how the lockdown and related restrictive measures implemented by many European countries to stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus outbreak had led to a sudden decrease or interruption of many economic activities, with the result of a drop in road traffic in many cities.

27 March 2020

The European Commission announced it is supporting EU Code Week and the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalitions to help keep teachers, organisations and individuals across the EU to adapt to new requirements across member states as a result of COVID-19 to work remotely in order to keep each other safe.

25 March 2020

The European Commission announced in the context of the EU's fight against the COVID-19 outbreak, the adoption of an updated 2020 Work Programme of Horizon 2020 to allocate increased funding to its priorities, including research projects for Coronavirus. The update includes €47.5 million in funding for the emergency call announced in early March to fight the coronavirus outbreak that led to the launch of 17 projects .

In addition to the €47.5 million emergency coronavirus call, the updated 2020 Work Programme dedicates over €350 million under the EIC pilot to SMEs with breakthrough innovations addressing one or several Green Deal objectives. SMEs can apply for grant financing of up to €2.5 million each and an additional equity investment of up to €15 million.

24 March 2020

The European Commissioner for Internal Market , Thierry Breton, held a video conference with CEOs of European telecommunication companies and GSMA to discuss network resilience and the sharing of anonymised metadata for modelling and predicting the propagation of the virus.

The discussion also covered the need to collect anonymised mobile metadata to help analysing the patterns of diffusion of the coronavirus, in a way that is fully compliant with the GDPR and ePrivacy legislation. Furthermore, both sides highlighted the importance of protecting the networks against cyber-attacks.

23 March 2020

The European Commission published today a communication on the implementation of the Green Lanes under the Guidelines for border management measures to protect health and ensure the availability of goods and essential services. The new practical guidance will advise on how to implement the Guidelines for border management in order to keep freight moving across the EU during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the communication, the "green lane" border crossings should be open to all freight vehicles carrying any type of goods. Crossing the border, including any checks and health screening, should not take more than 15 minutes. Member States should act immediately to temporarily suspend all types of road access restrictions in their territory for road freight transport and for the necessary free movement of transport workers.

Adina Vălean, EU Commissioner for Transport, commented "The EU's transport network connects the whole of the EU. Our guidance document is intended to protect the EU's supply chains in these difficult circumstances, and to make sure both goods and transport workers are able to travel to wherever they are needed – without delay. "

20 March 2020

European Data Protection Board statement on the processing of personal data in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak.

18 March 2020

The Research Executive Agency (REA) issued a press release with regards to the operational disruptions caused by COVID-19, saying that like the other European Commission services, the majority of its staff has been working remotely since the beginning of the week. In this context and in line with the recent decisions taken by the Commission, REA pointed out that its research activities, namely calls for project proposals, evaluations and grant management will continue to take place, but some delays may occur.

The Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) published information on certain aspects relevant to those who are Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) beneficiaries (with the exception of WiFi4EU beneficiaries), including with regards to: (i) Communication with INEA; (ii) reporting (ASR and final reports); and (iii) ongoing payments. The full document is available here .

March 17 2020

The European Commission announced that extensions will be applied to Horizon 2020 calls with original deadlines from today, March 17, until April 15. However, no extensions will apply to the IMI and EIC pilot calls.

NEW Members Message: COVID-19

Dear colleagues

EuroGeographics is committed to supporting members through the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic and I am writing to tell you about some of the actions we are taking to keep our membership activities going and to keep us all connected.

Our priority is the health and safety of our staff and members. As a result, all physical meetings have been cancelled until further notice and our staff will not be permitted to travel for EuroGeographics business until we are clear that the situation is improving, following guidance from the relevant authorities.

However, we continue to work! Head Office is working remotely and can be contacted as usual by email, and all meetings will be held online. This includes any knowledge exchange activities and our 2020 Extraordinary General Assembly, which will now be held via webinar at 14.30 CEST on 29 April.

2020 Extraordinary General Assembly

Members will be sent details on how to join shortly. You will also receive papers on the benefits of membership and how we can further support our Permanent Correspondents. As well as these two agenda items, there will also be the opportunity to hear from members and Head Office.

Online programme of events

In addition, we will add to our online programme of events, webinars and knowledge exchange activities for the next few months. I will write again once the details are finalised. We want to do this to continue to deliver benefit to our members and also to continue to foster the network of exchange and communication which is at the heart of EuroGeographics.

Please check our website and social media for the latest news. We will also continue to publish our regular communications, such as the weekly policy news and members’ newsletter.

In the meantime, on behalf of the EuroGeographics’ team, I’d like to take this opportunity to send you all best wishes at this difficult time, and our hope that you and your families stay safe and well.

If you need our support, please contact us.

Best wishes

Mick Cory
Secretary General & Executive Director

UPDATE COVID-19: Cancellation of EuroGeographics meetings

After careful consideration with the President and Management Board, EuroGeographics has cancelled all physical meetings. Where possible, we will make alternative arrangements for members to participate online.

Please see our events calendar for further details.

In the meantime, EuroGeographics Head Office continues to deliver a range of activities on behalf of members, including our weekly policy news and regular newsletter.

Please visit the website, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter for the latest news. You can also continue to contact Head Office in the usual way.

We will be monitoring the situation across Europe closely and updates will appear here, however the health and safety of our staff and members remains our top priority.

New report identifies key components of authoritative geospatial data

Authoritative geospatial data is one of the basic building blocks for digital transformation and can be defined by seven characteristics that foster its trust across borders and between users, says a new report.

Researchers and practitioners in national mapping, cadastres and land registries (NMCAs) asked EuroGeographics, EuroSDR and KU Leuven what they believe makes their geospatial data authoritative. By identifying common characteristics, the aim was to gain a better and more comprehensive understanding of the definition, nature, governance and future of authoritative data and the links to spatial data quality in Europe. The research found that agreed rules of creation and use, a legal aspect, accountability, quality management, certification, traceability, and maintenance, were all recurring themes.

Report co-author Mick Cory, Secretary General and Executive Director of EuroGeographics which represents European NMCAs said: “Our members are recognised as the official sources of national geospatial information and whilst their data is routinely described as authoritative, it was not fully clear how the term is applied and interpreted across Europe.”

"Official, authoritative data is important because it supports a range of legal, fiscal, security and other public administrative purposes. For example, cadastral authorities and land registries fulfil an essential role providing official, detailed, secure and reliable information on property rights and registration.”

“In many countries, the process is enshrined in law with a public body given authority for the cadastral task. This makes the data authoritative according to our research which defines it as: Data that is provided by a public body (or authority) which has an official mandate to provide it, that is based on a set of criteria to ensure known quality, and that is required to be used and reused by the public sector and society as a whole.”

Mr Cory continued: “The importance of authoritative data has long been recognised at a national level and is increasingly recognised internationally, in particular in addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Other sources can supplement, but not replace, official data of known quality and reliability.”

Co-author, Joep Crompvoets, KU Leuven and Secretary General of EuroSDR, which is the European Spatial Data Research network linking NMCAs with Research Institutes and Universities in Europe, added: “NMCAs told us that they valued being able to label their information as authoritative, not only because users give it greater credit but also because it helps secure government investment to ensure it is updated, supported and used by public services. They also underlined that there is a need for organisations within the public sector to take up a central role in the governance of authoritative data.”

“Our results demonstrate that there is a need for a systematic and harmonised approach towards authoritative data and that more effort should be put in making it available and recognisable by other public organisations as well as private actors.”

The full report is available here.

EuroSDR is a not-for-profit organisation linking National Mapping and Cadastral Agencies with Research Institutes and Universities in Europe for the purpose of applied research in spatial data provision, management and delivery.
Find out more about EuroSDR.

A shared ambition for geospatial in Europe

Colin Bray, President of EuroGeographics and Chief Executive of Ordnance Survey Ireland, and Mick Cory, Secretary General and Executive Director of EuroGeographics, visited Paul Becker, the Director General of BKG, the Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy for the German government.

The role of BKG today and tomorrow was outlined by Prof. Dr. Becker, including the creation of their International Division, assisted by Pier-Giorgo Zaccheddu, Head of International Affairs, and Martin Lenk Executive Director of the Geoinformation Department.

There was also very productive exchange of views and ideas on the future direction of EuroGeographics, and the challenges of achieving sustainable production of pan-European data in the new open data policy environment. It was agreed that these constructive and engaging discussions were of particular importance to the shared ambition of a more coherent and coordinated approach to geospatial matter across Europe, and that the discussion should be followed up with some practical steps in near future on behalf of wide range of geospatial interests in Europe.

SPATIAL II Project launch

Spatial II Project

EuroGeographics was delighted to participate in the launch of the SPATIAL II project today in Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia.

SPATIAL II – Strengthened Professional Access To Information About Land II – uses the Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (IGIF) of UNGGIM as guidance for both bilateral and regional support in the Western Balkan region. It is part of the MATRA pre-accession program.

Speaking at the kick-off event, hosted by our members, the Agency for Real Estate Cadastre of the Republic of North Macedonia and The Netherlands’ Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency, our Secretary General and Executive Director, Mick Cory welcomed the initiative.

He said: “I am pleased, and proud, that each of the state bodies represented here and participating in this workshop on the IGIF are also members of EuroGeographics.”

“You fulfil the essential role of providing official and detailed geospatial, or location, information for important public purposes. This important role is demonstrated in the case studies set out in our EuroGeographics Annual Review. These case studies show how your work helps realise a wide range of social, economic and environmental benefits.

“The UNGGIM / World Bank initiative to develop an integrated geospatial information framework, along with a guide and associated national action plans, provides a clue as to how we might look at the wider potential of authoritative data, beyond your core task.”

“This framework is not just for emerging economies, it also provides a useful way to benchmark what we do against the wider policy objectives within our national governments, and ensures we have a clear picture as to where our task can add value to government priorities. This will help you unlock and sustain national funding and international funding too.”

EuroGeographics at Defence Geospatial Intelligence (DGI) 2020

EuroGeographics was delighted to again participate in the prestigious Defence Geospatial Intelligence networking, exhibition and conference event, DGI 2020.

Focusing on the role of civilian mapping agencies in fundamental geospatial data, its panel discussion at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, London attracted more than 500 representatives from defence geospatial intelligence agencies.

EuroGeographics Secretary General and Executive Director, Micm Cory was joined in stage by President and Chief Executive of Ordnance Survey Ireland, Colin Bray, Director General of the Agency for Efficiency and Supply, Denmark, Kristian Moeller, and Chief of the National Geographic Institute, Belgium, Ingrid Vanden Berghe.

Ingrid Vanden Berghe explained the new paradigm for her agency, which is no longer drawing maps, but brokering digital geodata, explaining how their role as data providers is like that of water suppliers, where end users does not need to worry about the quality or where it was coming from, they just need to know it is good and you pay for what you use. She also explained the work of her agency within government providing a platform for federal agencies to use geospatial information and use it to make better decisions.

Colin Bray spoke about the importance of partnership from the Irish perspective, and how OSi is increasing the value of fundamental data through collaboration. This is recognised by the UN through UNGGIM as essential to support evidence-based decision making, and he provided the example of the work of his agency with the statistics office in Ireland, where both offices are working to their strengths. He explained how fundamental base data enables a data ecosystem, it is not just about geospatial data, it is about all government data, enabling the whole of government to use geography, with one data model, and one map of Ireland, so that modern fundamental geospatial reference data is an enabler for the integration and analysis of other data.

Kristian Moeller explained how the Danish Government are driving even more value from data and where his mapping agencies plays a central role. His agency is much more than a mapping agency, it is an agency for data supply and efficiency, where there is recognition that data is now the world’s most valuable resource, with geospatial being a little bit special here: 80% of all law in Denmark has a geographic component and 40% of value from data is from geospatial data. The SDFE is the mapping agency AND the public data platform, a value creator and distributor of fundamental data. High quality data registers with data modelled to standards with appropriate governance enable value to be created beyond one’s own (geospatial) domain.

A lively debate followed, in which the panel responded to questions from the audience, including a discussion on balancing the public interest with the commercial approach adopted by some agencies and the panel sharing their views on open data, and its value to society. Colin explained this depended largely on your public sector funding model, but use of the data is key, as if the data is not being used then it has no value. Denmark has led the way in Europe on the approach to open data – and has analysed its economic value, demonstrating how this has doubled with many more end users than was originally imagined. The Belgian view was that not all data will be open, with the private sector still preferring to pay where quality is important and can be assured.

The panel discussion was well received, and the organisers hoped that EuroGeographics will be able to participate again next year.