Flexibility in implementing rules for high value geospatial data welcomed

Europe’s National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registration Authorities (NMCAs) have welcomed the European Commission’s definition of geospatial information as a high value dataset.

Responding to the implementing rules, their membership association EuroGeographics commended the Commission for its public-sector friendly approach which recognises the investments already made by NMCAs. It also highlighted the recognition of national providers of official geospatial information as important enablers of cross-border data applications and services as an important step forward.

“We are pleased that many of the suggestions made by our members have been acknowledged in the implementing rules that define and set out arrangements for the publication and re-use of high value datasets,” says Sallie Payne Snell, Acting Secretary General and Executive Director, EuroGeographics.

“Our first impression is that the final technical specifications are flexible. However, our members must receive financial support in implementing them to ensure overall coherence and long-term sustainability. We will be discussing this further to determine which of our members’ existing geospatial datasets already meet the criteria.”   

“The value of data lies in its use and re-use, therefore our members are keen to effectively implement this Regulation and increase the availability of their data in the single market, and beyond. We believe that this goal can only be achieved as a joint vision and action of policymakers, data holders and data users, and we are pleased that the rules show a coordinated approach regarding the technical specification.”

“Our challenge now is to meet the needs of users in a way that can be sustained for the benefit of all.”

EuroGeographics and its members already have first-hand experience in implementing the HVD Regulation through the Open Maps for Europe project (co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility programme). This provides easy access to free to use harmonised official geospatial open pan-European data and thus addresses the risk of fragmented implementation, which was specifically recognised as a key obstacle to the functioning of the single market for data.

It now plans to build upon this success by developing the production process and prototype the creation of large-scale high value pan-European data.

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.

Open Maps For Europe is coordinated by EuroGeographics, the voice of European National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registration Authorities, in partnership with the National Geographic Institute (NGI) Belgium. It is co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility of the European Union.

The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of EuroGeographics and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union.

Partnership to create new framework agreement will benefit Copernicus Services

Security, Land Monitoring and Emergency Management are among the Copernicus services set to benefit from a partnership to create new framework agreement for official geospatial data.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) and EuroGeographics, which represents Europe’s National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registry Authorities, are strengthening cooperation to improve access to authoritative, up to date maps, geographic and land information. Their partnership is creating, maintaining, and implementing a Framework License agreement and exploring solutions for providing full, free, and open access to geospatial data for the Copernicus programme.

“This is a very important step in further strengthening the collaboration between the EEA and EuroGeographics to ensure the Copernicus programme has access to official geospatial data from national sources,” said Hans Bruyninckx, Executive Director, EEA.

“It will allow us to reap more benefits from investments made in Copernicus. Authoritative geospatial data is already making a difference, for example in responses to floods in Germany or Belgium and supporting national monitoring and emergency management. We are also using this data in our Copernicus Reference Data Access (CORDA) database, which catalogues and provides a series of curated and monitored links to enable quick access to official geospatial information.”

Sallie Payne Snell, Acting Secretary General and Executive Director, EuroGeographics adds: “This agreement builds on our long-standing agreement that enables the Copernicus Emergency Mapping Service to use members’ authoritative data to quickly produce maps for crisis management.”

“Not only will this new framework improve Copernicus services’ access to pan-European topographic, gazetteer and imagery datasets and services through the Open Maps for Europe interface, but it also ensures on-going access to administrative boundary data through our agreement with Eurostat.”

“By ensuring a clear mutual understanding of the Copernicus in-situ requirements and the information produced by our members, it will be easier than ever before for the services to use authoritative geospatial datasets.”

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.

Open Maps For Europe is coordinated by EuroGeographics, the voice of European National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registration Authorities, in partnership with the National Geographic Institute (NGI) Belgium. It is co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility of the European Union.

The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of EuroGeographics and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union.

President’s Statement on Secretary General and Executive Director

EuroGeographics has today announced that Léa Bodossian is to leave the Association after almost two-and-half-years as Secretary General and Executive Director.

Léa joined EuroGeographics when the global pandemic was redefining business as usual and, during this time and under her leadership, the Association swiftly refocussed its operations to continue to provide benefits to members, meet user requirements for official geospatial data, and establish partnerships to form the foundations for future collaborations. 

As a result, together with its members, EuroGeographics is now ready to face the future with a renewed cooperation with major institutional stakeholders at European level (Eurostat, the European Environment Agency, the Commission, the European Parliament) and global level (a letter of collaboration with the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), the Secretariat of the UN Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management’s (UN-GGIM)).

The Management Board, on behalf of all members, wishes to warmly thank Léa for her energy, dedication, and ethical approach to EuroGeographics, as well as her commitment to the membership in order to ensure that members roles, capabilities and concerns are understood in Europe and beyond. 

Léa will leave EuroGeographics on 26 January 2023. In the interim, Sallie Payne Snell will be Acting Secretary General and Executive Director.

Colin Bray, President, EuroGeographics

Call for sustained funding to invest in pan-European maps for a data-driven Europe

National providers of geospatial information are calling for sustained funding for pan-European mapping to ensure that the power of official location data can be unlocked for the benefit of all.

The importance of investment in trusted and reliable geospatial data to realise the EU’s decade of action was demonstrated by members of EuroGeographics during a special debate for MEPs and policy-makers at the European Parliament. EuroGeographics is the not-for-profit membership association for the European National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registry Authorities.

Opening the discussion, Cristian Bușoi, Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), said: “Data is an essential resource for economic growth, competitiveness, innovation, job creation and societal progress in general. The entire European Strategy for Data and legislative packages, scrutinised by the ITRE Committee that I am chairing, focuses ultimately on putting people first in developing technology, and defending and promoting European values and rights in the digital world.”

“All data producers, and especially public data providers, must ensure that their data is ready to underpin this decade of action. They have an immense responsibility to ensure that their data meets citizens’ needs and supports national and European bodies to address the challenges they are facing.”

“It is not enough to possess the data It must be widely accessible, reusable, trustworthy and secure. This is what EuroGeographics is doing with its latest project – Open Maps For Europe which I am sure will be very successful.”

Colin Bray, President, EuroGeographics said: “Members’ data is fundamental to the everyday lives of people across Europe. From realising national climate targets and biodiversity plans, and responding to natural disasters, to managing Covid recovery, and enabling multimodal transport strategies and digital transformation, they are providing maps for a data-driven Europe. The issues we face extend beyond national boundaries and you can count on us to provide the most accurate and up to date information available.”

“Our Open Maps For Europe project addresses the challenges of knowing where to find and access trusted interoperable geospatial open data from multiple official sources. It demonstrates how our members can work together to produce pan-European open data by sharing the lessons learnt and best practice, whilst also providing national open data beyond borders. In doing so, it is realising the benefits of the Open Data Public Sector Information (PSI) Directive which specifically identifies geospatial as a category of high value datasets.”

“Our challenge now is to meet the needs of users in a way that can be sustained for the benefit of all. By investing in the collection, management, coordination and intelligent use, the power of location data can be leveraged for the benefit of all.”

“By recognising the value of location data and committing to funding, we can create appropriate data infrastructures to enable a sustainable, safer, and prosperous European society.”

During the event, case studies were presented by:

• The National Institute of Geographic and Forest Information on how ‘Geo-common’ strategy supports major Lidar and land use projects.
• The Netherlands Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency to provide an insight into potential of solar energy​,
• General Directorate for Cadastre Spain to demonstrate the value of cadastral information in managing natural disasters,
• Ordnance Survey Ireland to highlight a data sharing platform at the heart of national response to Covid-19.
• National Geographic Institute, Belgium on its contribution to Belgian’s National Access Point for multimodal transport information,
• Danish Agency for Data Supply and Infrastructure to show how integrated government data across sectors is strengthening digital society.

View case studies.

More information about the Open Maps For Europe Project, which is co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility of the European Union.

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.

Open Maps For Europe is coordinated by EuroGeographics, the voice of European National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registration Authorities, in partnership with the National Geographic Institute (NGI) Belgium. It is co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility of the European Union.

The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of EuroGeographics and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union.

Open Maps For Europe adds data from four more countries for final release

Open Maps For Europe has today announced that official geospatial data from four additional countries is included in the project’s third and final release. 

North Macedonia and Switzerland have contributed multi-themed topographic open data for 1:250 000 scale EuroRegionalMap, with Denmark and Slovenia adding their data to the Cadastral Index Map prototype. North Macedonia has also provided authoritative geographical names for the multilingual Open Gazetteer.

The pan-European open datasets are created by members of EuroGeographics which represents the European National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registration Authorities. 

“We are delighted to announce that four more countries are contributing data to this third and final release of the Open Maps For Europe project,”said Victoria Persson, Project Manager – Data Access and Integration, EuroGeographics.

“Since the release of the first datasets in September 2021, we have been continually improving and increasing coverage using our unique data integration process. This customised approach harmonises official national geospatial information to standard specifications, so users can be confident that it is consistent, comparable and easily shared.”

“Open Maps For Europe project addresses the challenges of accessing trusted interoperable geospatial open data from multiple official sources. It demonstrates how our members can work together to produce pan-European open data to realise the benefits of the Open Data Public Sector Information (PSI) Directive which specifically identifies geospatial as a category of high value datasets. “

The Open Maps For Europe online interface, developed by thinkWhere, an Idox company, enables users to discover, view, license and download the open datasets including topographic and height data, imagery, Open Gazetteer service and the Open Cadastral Map prototype.

Open Maps For Europe is co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility of the European Union and runs until 31 December 2022.

The project is coordinated by EuroGeographics in partnership with the National Geographic Institute (NGI) Belgium

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.

The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of EuroGeographics and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union.

Maps for a data-driven Europe to be showcased at European Parliament

EuroGeographics and its members, the national providers of official geospatial information, will showcase next level mapping for modern-day data infrastructures at the European Parliament on 29 November.
 
The debate with MEPs and policy-makers, organised by Cristian Bușoi, Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), will discuss the benefits of maps for a data-driven Europe. It will demonstrate how location is the link between information and action across national boundaries to enable a sustainable, safer, and prosperous European society.
 
Mr Bușoi says: “Every data producer in the world, especially public data providers, must ensure that their data is ready to underpin this decade of action.”
 
“This is an immense responsibility for EuroGeographics and its members in ensuring that the data meets the needs and requirements of European Union's institutions and supports them in addressing the challenges they are facing.”

“The quality of the data is utterly important – authoritative data that comes from official sources is crucial for decision makers. I'm confident that EuroGeographics members will help build this data driven society, and we encourage them to enhance the existing data infrastructure and support the creation of pan-European datasets.”

Colin Bray, President of EuroGeographics, which represents the European National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registry Authorities, adds: “Knowing where to find and access accurate, high quality, reliable high-value data is essential for governments and decision-makers making critical decisions.”

“In this ever-connected world, our members have moved from database production to providing data infrastructures to play a vital role in joining-up information from different sources to help provide insight and answers to address the key issues we face as a global society. Whether tackling climate change, managing Covid recovery, or maintaining security during times of conflict, these challenges extend beyond national boundaries and those making difficult decisions that impact on us all need the most accurate and up to date information available.”

“We are delighted to showcase the Open Maps For Europe project which addresses the challenges of accessing trusted geospatial open data from multiple official sources.”

“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, specifically in support of policy decision-making at the European level.”

The debate between policymakers and official geographical data providers, takes place on 29 November in the European Parliament.  

https://www.mapsforeurope.org/

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.

Open Maps For Europe is coordinated by EuroGeographics, the voice of European National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registration Authorities, in partnership with the National Geographic Institute (NGI) Belgium. It is co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility of the European Union.

The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of EuroGeographics and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union.