Fourth International Workshop on Spatial Data Quality launches call for abstracts

Abstracts are now being accepted for the fourth International Workshop on Spatial Data Quality to be held in Brussels and online on 11 and 12 October 2023. The deadline for submissions is 17 July.

The 2023 event is organised by not-for-profit organisations, EuroGeographics, which represents Europe’s National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registry Authorities (NMCAs), and EuroSDR, the European Spatial Data Research network that links NMCAs with Research Institutes and Universities. It brings together producers, users, academia and software suppliers to debate spatial data quality, with a particular focus on the impact of new technologies.

Carol Agius, Head of Representation and Stakeholder Engagement, EuroGeographics said: “We are living through a time where trust is becoming more important, because it is becoming harder to gauge and measure. A large aspect of trust is based on source and provenance, and NMCAs have long been viewed as the source of official and high-quality spatial data for evidence-based decision making.”

“This workshop will address a wide range of topics examining how data providers can ensure that their data continues to be trusted, as well as ways they can bring together data from multiple sources to ensure seamless, high-quality datasets and communicate the quality, relevance and content to users.”

Joep Crompvoets, Secretary General of EuroSDR added: “Innovative technologies are being employed to capture, manage, maintain and update spatial data faster and more effectively. While NMCAs are implementing these new efficient and cost-effective methods, they also need to ensure that there is no impact on quality and that their processes are keeping up with both technological advances and user expectations for data accuracy. We look forward to discussing possible solutions to these and other challenges in October.”

Papers are invited on all topics related to spatial data quality, including (but not limited to):

• Lifecycle management

• Qualitative differences in methods of edge-matching

• Generalisation – maintaining quality

• Harmonisation

• Quality evaluation of spatial data

• Use of international metadata and standards

• Quality issues in spatial data infrastructures (e.g. national, INSPIRE)

• Communication/visualisation of spatial data quality

• Spatial data usability/quality from the users perspective

• Impact of data quality on decision making

• Data Quality and AI (including algorithms)

• Data Quality and 3D

• Research trends in spatial data quality

• Practical implementation of spatial data quality assessment

• Quality standards

• Software for measuring quality

• Quality of 3rd party data, crowdsourced/OSM etc.

• Spatial data quality policies

• Data quality and trust

All abstract submissions will be independently reviewed by the programme committee members.

Programme Committee

• Jonathan Holmes (Committee Chair), Ordnance Survey

• Carol Agius, EuroGeographics

• Victoria Persson, EuroGeographics

• Joep Crompvoets, EuroSDR/KU Leuven

• Anouk Huisman, Kadaster Netherlands

• Tony Baving, Kadaster Netherlands

• Frédéric Cantat, EuroSDR/IGN France

• Nóemie Gremeaux, IGN France

• Joren Van Gysegem NGI Belgium

• Karin Mertens, NGI Belgium

• Kevin Thompson, Tailte Éireann

• Nienke Eernisse, Ordnance Survey

More information is available here.

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.

EuroGeographics renews agreement with Kadaster Netherlands to provide UN-GGIM: Europe Secretariat

Colin Bray, President of EuroGeographics (left) is pictured with Frank Tierolff, Chair Executive Board Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency, The Netherlands (right) at the signing of the SLA.

EuroGeographics has renewed its Service Level Agreement with The Netherlands’ Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency (Kadaster) to provide secretariat services for the European regional committee of experts for global geospatial information management – UN-GGIM: Europe.

The membership association for the European National Mapping, Cadastre and Land Registry Authorities, which has UN-GGIM: Europe observer status, has supported the Executive Committee in delivering its objectives since 2015.

Tomaz Petek, Chair of the UN-GGIM: Europe Executive Committee, said: “The Netherlands is responsible for providing a secretariat to UN-GGIM: Europe and has done so very successfully for the past eight years through its agreement with EuroGeographics. We are pleased that it has once again entrusted this role to the Association which has extensive experience of bringing organisations together to find solutions to common challenges.”

Carol Agius, Head of Representation and Stakeholder Engagement, EuroGeographics provides the Secretariat to UN-GGIM: Europe, promoting its activities and ensuring that relevant organisations are well informed about the initiative.

She commented: “It is a great privilege to fulfil this important role and to continue to support the work of UN-GGIM: Europe which contributes to the more effective management, availability and integration of geospatial information in Europe. For the mapping agencies that we represent, UNGGIM is an important forum to advocate their contribution to the better understanding and sustainable development of our world.”

EuroGeographics is an Observer on the UN-GGIM Europe Executive Committee and an Observer organisation at the UN-GGIM Committee of Experts.

It recently announced a collaboration with UN-GGIM to unlock the power of geospatial data to benefit people and planet by providing a platform for knowledge exchange and capacity building.

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.

To find out more about UN-GGIM: Europe, please visit www.un-ggim-europe.org

EuroGeographics and EUROGI agree collaboration to promote use of geospatial data

EuroGeographics and EUROGI have announced a collaboration to promote the widespread use of geospatial data.

The European not-for-profit associations, which represent national mapping, cadastral and land registration authorities, and users and producers of geospatial data, respectively, will work together on activities of mutual interest. These include opportunities for knowledge exchange and the sharing of expertise and best practice.

Colin Bray, President of EuroGeographics, said: “We are proud to represent official providers of geospatial data across geographical Europe. Members’ accurate, high quality, reliable high-value location data is fundamental to everyday life and underpin the infrastructures we rely on as a modern society. We are committed to working with them to ensure it can be easily accessed by users and producers. Furthering our cooperation with EUROGI is a very positive step in achieving our vision of a society empowered by the use of trusted geospatial data and services.”

Hans Breemerch, President of EUROGI added: “As a non-governmental umbrella organisation for geographic information, we provide an insight into the needs of a wide range of users and producers. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with EuroGeographics to realise our vision for location-based information and technologies to serve as core enablers of the European digital society.”

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Colin Bray, President of EuroGeographics (left) and Hans Breemerch, President of EUROGI (right) at Geospatial World Forum 2023.

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.

EUROGI is the independent not-for-profit non-governmental umbrella organisation for geographic information representing users and producers from all sectors of European society.

To find out more about EUROGI, please visit https://eurogi.org/

Project launched to prototype large-scale high-value pan-European datasets

National providers of geospatial information have today announced plans to create a prototype for harmonised large-scale, high-value pan-European open datasets.

Open Maps For Europe 2 (OME2) will develop a new production process and technical specification for free-to-use, edge-matched data under a single open licence. Authoritative 1:10 000 scale data for 10 countries will be delivered via the user interface built by the award-winning Open Maps For Europe Project.

The prototype will provide three datasets, identified as key themes by users and defined as high-value in European Commission’s implementing rules for the Open Data and reuse of Public Sector Information Directive – administrative boundaries, transport and hydrography. OME2 will also enhance the five existing Open Maps For Europe datasets, including the pilot Open Cadastral Map.

The OME2 project, co-funded by the European Union, is being delivered by a consortium comprising: EuroGeographics, the not-for-profit membership association for Europe’s National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registration Authorities; National Geographic Institute, Belgium; National Institute of Geographic and Forest Information, France; Hellenic Cadastre; General Directorate for the Cadastre, Spain; and Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency, The Netherlands.

“Data is at the very start of the value chain, and the European Commission recognises geospatial as high-value data (HVD) offering a wealth of opportunities for reuse due to its compatibility with other datasets,” says Victoria Persson, Project Manager – Data Access and Integration, EuroGeographics.

“By addressing the challenge of finding, accessing and licensing authoritative pan-European harmonised edge-matched, large-scale data, OME2 benefits both users and national providers of geospatial information.”

“For users, it saves time by providing machine-readable data as APIs from one central portal under one easy-to-understand open data licence. As a result, they will no longer need to visit individual Member State geoportals to access specific datasets, spend significant resources connecting them, or agree to multiple licences.”

“For our members, who are recognised as important enablers of cross-border data applications and services, the prototype shows how public sector demand for geospatial information in all common data spaces of the European Strategy for Data can be met.”

“Furthermore, by allowing data to be easily uploaded, converted to the specification for each HVD theme, harmonised and edge-matched, OME2 will enable members to re-use techniques nationally and share good practices, advancing the data sharing tools needed to deliver free-flowing, interoperable data for the single market.”

The project corresponds with Member States’ obligations to implement high-value data and will be completed at the end of 2025.

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 was co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility of the European Union and ended in 2022. It was coordinated by EuroGeographics, the voice of European National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registration Authorities, in partnership with the National Geographic Institute (NGI) Belgium.

OME2

The OME2 project is co-funded by the European Union. It is being delivered by a consortium comprising: EuroGeographics, the not-for-profit membership association for Europe’s National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registration Authorities; National Geographic Institute, Belgium; National Institute of Geographic and Forest Information, France; Hellenic Cadastre; General Directorate for the Cadastre, Spain; and Cadastre, Land Registry and Agency, The Netherlands.

Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.

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.