The people behind the data: EuroGeographics Data Producers’ Technical Meeting

A decade has passed since the Technical Meeting of EuroGeographics Data Producers was last held in the Netherlands. This week, our member from Kadaster welcomed the community back to Amsterdam.

Delegates from national mapping and cadastral agencies across Europe gathered for two days of discussion. Cora Smelik, member of Kadaster’s Executive Board and of the EuroGeographics Management Board, opened the meeting. She reflected on ten years of change and reaffirmed the importance of European cooperation. Automation and GeoAI are playing an ever greater role, she noted, yet high-quality geographic information still relies on people with the knowledge and experience to interpret the data.

That theme was explored in depth. Updates on EuroBoundaryMap, EuroRegionalMap, EuroGlobalMap and the promising EuroCoreReferenceMap were followed by roundtables on the simplification of INSPIRE, the role of open source, and the application of GeoAI in map production. Participants identified the greatest potential in change detection, quality control and the reduction of repetitive manual work. They also agreed that domain knowledge must be preserved, and that education and secure AI environments require attention.

Our members collaborate remotely for much of the year, and the work continues. But a shared screen is not the same as a shared room. Trust is built by talking, debating and learning from one another, and time together is what turns a network of colleagues into a genuine community. Behind Europe’s authoritative geospatial data are people, and meeting in person is how those relationships are formed and sustained.

We extend our sincere thanks to Kadaster for its generous hospitality, and to all participants for their valuable contributions.