5.4 Contributing to the definition of global rules
6. Conclusion
References
Return to GI2000 Pages
All human activity takes place in space and therefore relates to some extent
to geography. Information that represents the spread of activity over space
- geographical information (GI) - has potential uses in practically all aspects
of life. Often GI is considered to consist solely of 'maps' and therefore
to be of limited interest for non-mapping applications. However the use of
GI to graphically display the spread of a disease or pollution or growth
in economic activity, assists in the decision-making process and in informing
the population about developments which can directly effect them.
GI is information that can be related to a location on the earth, particularly
information on natural phenomena, cultural and human resources, often with
an important temporal aspect. We all use GI in daily life, often without
knowing it, for instance consciously avoiding a particular urban area because
it is known for high crime rates.
GI is not just about the location of mountains and rivers, roads and railways.
GI can represent spatial relationships between objects, places, activities
and events affecting practically all human and economic activity. Such
representations provide a clearer view of these relationships and help us
to analyse problems and make decisions. Thus the use of GI to predict the
spread of an oil spill helps the emergency services to concentrate their
efforts in key areas, responding more quickly, limiting damage more effectively
and at least cost. GI is collected at many different scales and from many
sources, from traditional ground survey techniques to aerial photography
and satellite imagery, which has increased in importance in recent years
in line with advances in imaging technology. Space imagery was used dramatically
during the Gulf War and in regional conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and
is also used daily to monitor agricultural land, urban living spaces, meteorology
and the environment.
In the past, geographic information has been expressed in the form of paper
maps showing locations, boundaries and characteristics of various objects
or attributes. Today this information, as well as other forms of GI, can
be stored in digital form, enabling it to be manipulated by computers. This
has led to the creation of many new applications that help us to understand
and more effectively manage the natural and man-built environment. At the
same time, it has increasingly exposed shortcomings in our existing data.
The incompatibility of European base data [1] was less troublesome when
constructing paper maps than when bringing data together in electronic format.
Two major forces are driving the development of geographic information. The
first is a growing need for governments and businesses to improve their
decision-making and increase their efficiency with the help of proper
spatial analyses, often for problems crossing national boundaries or even
global in scope. In Europe, the development of the Single European Market
has encouraged businesses to take a more European approach to their commercial
activities, leading to an increasing need for European level GI.
The second force is the advent of cheap, powerful information and
communications technology (ICT) which facilitates the more effective
handling of large quantities of GI. The potential to develop GI products
on a commercial level has been greatly augmented by the development of Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) based on powerful ICT hardware and software platforms.
GIS technology enables users to retrieve and analyse GI on any theme, for
any area, at any desired level of resolution (provided that the required
data is available in digital format), integrating and combining different
kinds of data. Consequently, the variety of new GI applications is constantly
growing. GIS are also more flexible than traditional map-making, enabling
the development of new applications, e.g. able to handle temporal as well
as spatial analyses. The potential of GIS is difficult to overestimate and
its importance is rapidly growing.
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Geographic information has great potential to provide input for decision-making,
planning and training at many levels, from government to business to individuals.
This potential must be exploited to manage our natural environment more
effectively and promote economic growth in Europe. Examples of applications
include the use of satellite imagery for early detection of disease and pests
in crops. Farmers can increase their productivity by using these tools to
target pesticides and fertiliser where they are needed most. In the wider
economy, GI can also be used as a tool to aid targeting of potential consumers
- as in geomarketing. GI is vital to the monitoring of environmental problems,
such as de-forestation, and climatic change. The main focus of this document
will be on the emerging area of digitised GI, still a relatively small proportion
of the total GI market, but growing rapidly. [2]
Although as yet its potential is only partially exploited, GI is already
an important source of employment in Europe. Several hundred thousand
people are employed in this area in the EU, mainly in the public sector.
The investment made by government, commercial and industrial organisations
for the collection, provision and use of geographic information in Europe
is estimated at ECU 10 Billion Ecu per year. Only a small percentage
of this investment is thus far linked to commercial exploitation.
Because of its roots in national administrations, GI is generally collected
on a national basis. GI has been collected by different agencies, for different
purposes, using different approaches. Although problems arise when attempting
to unify such data sets, great potential still exists because of the very
existence of this often high-quality data. Europe has strengths in key areas
such as good quality topographic data, advanced remote sensing capabilities
and well-trained professionals.
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The importance of GI to the economy goes far beyond the potential development
of the industry itself. It has the potential to impact widely on society,
due to its ability to represent a host of important characteristics spatially
and thus provide support in areas as diverse as town planning, oil exploration
and environmental monitoring. GI has long been used in the military field
to give strategic advantage and many existing structures for GI have their
roots in the military. However, GI can help governments to make informed
decisions in a wide range of other areas, from environmental protection
to crime prevention. In the private sector, it can aid companies in their
investment and marketing decisions and help individuals to better understand
the world in which they live. Thus GI and GIS tools, working hand-in-hand,
can improve the ability of many societal actors to make informed choices.
The impact on the economy of this intangible aspect of GI is difficult to
measure. The economic advantages of a company choosing the best location
for their factory or of the emergency services more effectively controlling
a forest fire cannot always readily be quantified, yet they are considerable.
If Europe is to benefit from the potential for GI to improve quality of life
and quality of decision-making, and to contribute to economic growth and
employment, it is necessary that every effort is made to encourage the emergence
of an environment that favours the exploitation of Europe's GI resources
and fosters co-operation in this area. For this to happen, decision-makers
and the public must be aware of the power and potential of GIS tools and
the necessary raw materials (good quality GI) must be available at a reasonable
cost.
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Recognising that GI is an important part of the Information Society, in 1994
French, German, Spanish and Dutch ministers urged the European Commission
to take a political initiative to further the creation of seamless, homogeneous,
digital databases of geographic information for Europe and to increase support
to European level organisations. The issues and concerns raised by these
ministers were the impetus for a wide-ranging series of consultation meetings
organised by the Commission with the main actors in the European GI community.
The aim was to identify the barriers for the development of the European
Geographic Information Infrastructure (EGII) and to consider potential solutions.
More recently, EU Member States have continued to express concern about this
area. Further letters were received by Commissioners Bangemann, Cresson and
de Silguy from the Spanish and Finnish ministers in 1997 and from Belgian
and Dutch ministers in 1998, urging action in launching GI2000, and the European
Parliament is showing greater interest.
Through consultation, several key barriers to the development of GI have
been identified, as explored later in this paper. However, the overall outcome
of these consultations was a consensus that action is needed at the European
and international level to encourage the development of a favourable business
environment for GI, in which the private sector can exploit opportunities
and prosper - in partnership with the public sector, where possible.
Creating the EC's draft Communication, 'GI2000: Towards a European Policy
Framework for GI', launched a wide debate about the problems and issues at
stake regarding GI at European level. The focus must be on addressing issues
where there is added-value to GI at European level and where European action
can create a 'snowball effect' encouraging sustainable initiatives elsewhere.
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With increasing globalisation of many activities, the inability to develop
representations of important geographic features consistently across borders
is becoming problematic. One of the most visible examples of the need for
co-ordination is in relation to environmental monitoring. Since pollution
and flooding do not respect national boundaries, the need for consistent
monitoring and control in cross-border areas is pressing. When the Oder River
broke its banks in Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic in the summer of
1997, the existence of rapidly accessible cross-border data would have greatly
assisted the crisis management [3]. On a more macro level, global threats
such as depletion of the ozone layer, have the potential to effect everyone.
In these cases, co-ordination of information is vital to analysis, planning
and eventual control. However, barriers still exist to the interchange of
GI, especially on a European level.
In order to pool information to address global issues and develop global
markets, it is necessary to adopt standard methods of collecting and collating
data so that information from different sources can be effectively pooled.
In the USA, the private sector has set up the Open GIS Consortium (OGC),
a non-profit association widely supported by the GIS industry, to define
GIS interoperability standards. European participation in this initiative
has historically been low. There is a risk that these efforts will result
in de facto world standards, in the definition of which Europe has
not been involved fully. This could give a competitive advantage to US industry.
European industry must be more appropriately represented and involved as
an equal partner, an opportunity now possible via the Esprit-funded GISPIE
Project (GIS Interoperability Project Stimulating
the Industry in Europe). To ensure full involvement, the industry
must be encouraged to organise itself at European level, through initiatives
such as EUROGI (the European Umbrella Organisation for GI).
While European industry is disadvantaged by a lack of appropriate co-ordination
at European level, our competitor regions have already begun to develop the
potential of GI. In Canada, its use is well advanced, stimulating public-private
partnerships and fostering an industry employing 21,000 people with a turnover
of Canadian $2,000 M. In the USA, the government is actively encouraging
the emergence of a dynamic GI industry through policy initiatives and awareness
actions. Vice-President Al Gore recently proposed the establishment of a
'digital earth' database - a digital map of the world at 1-meter
resolution - from which a range of new products and tools could be developed.
This initiative follows President Clinton's Executive Order of 11 April 1994
setting up the National Spatial Data Infrastructure, under the guidance
of the US Secretary of the Interior. One of the actions under the order is
to require all future federal geographic information collection, storage
and reporting to adhere to the standards of the Federal Geographic Data Committee
(FGDC). Co-ordination structures are being created to ensure that this goal
is achieved. This initiative gives the US public and private sector an electronic
market place for GI by offering and providing access to standardised data,
which greatly facilitates consolidation and exploitation. The strength of
the national market in the US gives companies there a springboard from which
to launch themselves on the global market. These initiatives show the extent
to which this issue commands high level political support in the US. This
is still far from the case in Europe.
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The development of applications based on digital GI represents an important
opportunity for European industry. Development of the market for GI is limited
currently by awareness of the potential benefits for wider use of GI. As
quality products appear on the market, users will increasingly come to appreciate
the added-value of GI-based tools and opportunities for commercialisation
will increase. Another important development to be borne in mind is the
emergence of the Internet as a commercial medium and dissemination tool.
The ability to disseminate GI applications and tools globally at greatly
reduced cost and effort will stimulate the development of a truly global
market in GI. It is vital that European industry be in a position to profit
from the opportunities which this emerging market will provide (especially
since the Internet will offer equal opportunity for non-European firms to
operate in the European arena). For this to happen, action is needed to stimulate
co-ordination at European level and to address the barriers that still exist
to the development of a European level GI industry.
It is not only a question of ensuring the development of the GI industry
itself, but of securing access to quality products for EU customers
- business, government and individuals. If Europe is to become truly a part
of the global 'Information Society', access to the most advanced and effective
tools in all areas, including GI, must be assured. Without these tools, Europe
will be disadvantaged and decision-making will be sub-optimal. However,
technology cannot solve the administrative and legal barriers to the
co-ordination and integration of European level data. If Europe is to move
forward and profit from its potential, these barriers must be tackled.
Finally, enlargement is another important political imperative for
action. In the early years of the next century, the European Union will start
to incorporate its first members from Central and Eastern European Countries
(CEEC). As Europe expands, the complexity of the problems faced by the EU
as a whole, and the difficulty in obtaining compatible information on which
to base assessment and decision-making, will both increase. This difficulty
is exacerbated by the fact that, in these former Communist countries, the
use of GI is often very underdeveloped in civil applications. The GI system
there needs to be rebuilt and information made more freely available. In
most cases, the structures are not yet in place to collect and monitor this
information effectively and much needed investment capital is extremely scarce.
Thus the challenge that faces the European GI community in relation to
enlargement is two-fold. Firstly, to ensure that compatible GI is available
for the expanding EU territory and, secondly, to provide support to the potential
new member states in revising their GI infrastructure. To achieve these aims,
effective co-operation, co-ordination and, above all, leadership are required.
In summary, Europe needs a policy framework to set up and maintain a stable,
Europeanwide set of agreed rules, standards, procedures, guidelines and
incentives for creating, collecting, exchanging and using geographic
information, building upon and where necessary supplementing, existing
Information Society frameworks. The aim should be to create a competitive,
plentiful, rich and differentiated supply of European geographic
information that is easily identifiable, easily accessible and usable.
This policy framework must address the political and technical issues of
lowering the cost of collecting, disseminating and using GI throughout Europe,
thereby improving the functioning of the internal market. It should take
into account the wider objectives of public policy, in particular that of
ensuring that fundamental rights to privacy are fully respected.
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Until recently the market for GI was mainly concentrated in the public sector.
Operations were largely national and interchange of information, apart from
basic data, was rare. Because new facilitating technologies make it easier
to integrate and exchange data, the market for GI is developing. Surveys
show that multinational companies are prepared to invest in the acquisition
of Europe-wide geographic data for their geomarketing applications, asset
management, etc. [4] The challenge is to inter-link the multitude of currently
isolated local markets and to create bridges between the 'islands' they
represent.
At present, GI market growth is held back by several factors, in particular:
- lack of harmonisation in the collection of GI at European level which hinders
the development of European products, and
- lack of awareness of the potential usefulness of GI to positively impact
many aspects of normal life and multiple sectors of the economy.
Existing forecasts for the development of the European digital GI market
vary widely because much depends on developments in the business environment.
Recent studies conducted for the Commission emphasised the problem of awareness,
which is holding back market developments [5]. Until decision-makers in the
private and public sector are fully aware of the potential of GI, market
growth will remain restricted. It must be one of the aims of any coherent
European policy in this area to reduce this barrier.
A strong home market will help European companies to compete globally. The
proper functioning of the internal market would certainly aid this
objective. It is already theoretically possible for a German company to tender
for a municipal GI system in Naples. In practice, however, their chances
of winning the contract are low because of a number of cultural, linguistic
and legal barriers. If, in addition, the company does not know the local
traditions for GI in the region, they have little chance of offering a
competitive bid. Conditions for accessing and handling GI need to be harmonised
across the EU if a truly 'single market' is to emerge in GI, enabling companies
to specialise more effectively and giving industry and administrations access
to the best available systems without artificial barriers.
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A growing market and the emergence of new applications means the creation
of new jobs. New value-added services and products based on geographic
information will lead to new employment opportunities, at a range of skill
levels. In the USA, the GPS industry alone is estimated to represent a potential
for 100,000 new jobs and US $8 Billion in sales by the year 2000 [6]. This
potential for job creation in the US is based on the availability of low-cost,
high-quality basic geographic data, mainly from public sector sources. If
Europe is to reap similar benefits, a co-ordinated effort is needed to
ensure that base data is also available in Europe at competitive prices.
In many cases, the market for GI is truly global and competition is fierce.
Now is the time to ensure that European organisations can participate in
this emerging market on an equal footing to their competitors.
It is worth noting that creating, maintaining, distributing and using GI
applications are highly skilled activities. An increase in GI use will lead
to a corresponding increase in high-quality employment in Europe.
These are the kind of jobs that Europe needs as we move into the 21st century.
Therefore, we need to assure the availability of high-quality training in
regard to all aspects of GI.
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A major feature of the GI sector is the dominant role of the public
sector, in which data flows are largely internal [7]. In Europe, geographic
information is traditionally collected and disseminated by a range of mandated
national organisations, such as national mapping agencies, the military,
cadastral administrations and geodetic surveys, according to a wide variety
of national standards. Due to increasing budgetary pressures, many of these
actors in the public field are beginning to commercialise their
information. Some administrations have gone further, contracting out aspects
of their GI activity.
A major difficulty in relation to the GI market in Europe is lack of
co-ordination. National administrations do not systematically co-operate
with their equivalents elsewhere. Some steps have already been taken to move
from purely national GI initiatives to a more European approach to mapping,
statistics, utilities, environment, agriculture and transport. In 1980, the
European National Mapping Agencies (NMA) created CERCO (Comité
Européen des Responsables de la Cartographie Officielle), representing
mapping agencies from 32 countries, to facilitate the exchange of practical
experience. MEGRIN [8] developed a pan-European data set of all administrative
boundaries of European communes in a harmonised format (SABE - Seamless
Administrative Boundaries for Europe), which was needed by the European
Statistical Office (Eurostat).
In 1994, with support from the EU IMPACT programme, the European Umbrella
Organisation for Geographic Information (EUROGI) was formed to bring
together (and help initiate) national and European organisations for GI other
than the NMAs represented by CERCO and MEGRIN. Today 17 countries and 3 European
organisations are members and more are expected to joint. The organisation
has stimulated discussion on GI policies at European level and has been
instrumental in catalysing more active national GI policies in several countries.
In spite of these various initiatives, the GI community in Europe remains
highly national.
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Although most GI is still created and used in the public sector, some private
companies collect and disseminate digital geographic information, often in
the form of local added-value information products not provided by
national mapping agencies. Several commercial organisations have already
created some European-wide data sets, especially in the areas of transport
and tourism. Alliances are being formed between large corporations and SMEs,
in order to collect and integrate various types of GI. Many kinds of thematic
data are collected by international, national and private agencies, e.g.
geological surveys, soil surveys, environmental information, demographic
studies and censuses. Owners of airborne and space remote-sensing platforms
acquire ever increasing amounts of data in both photographic and digital
form, at ever higher resolutions, levels of quality and coverage.
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Few countries have a single mandated point of contact or central authority
with overall responsibility for geographic information, even at national
level and, if they do, the strengths of the mandates are unequal. Furthermore,
most national agencies involved in GI have no mandate to provide for the
cost of collecting and maintaining EU-wide data sets. International
government data sets are usually at small scale and have arisen primarily
from policy requirements of the European Union (e.g. the CORINE [9] European
Land Cover data or crop monitoring data collected under MARS - Monitoring
Agriculture by Remote Sensing).
As is the case with public sector information in general, different rules
exist within the Member States that can cause difficulties in collating
relevant data. This issue is the subject of a separate Green Paper on "Access
to Public Sector Information in the Information Society", under discussion
at the Commission. The issues raised in that document, such as rights of
access, copyright, cost and public-private linkages, hold equally for GI
as for other public sector data. More topically, the Council Directive of
7 June 1990 (90/313/EEC) on "Freedom of Access to Information on the Environment"
is already being used by environmental groups to seek easier and less costly
access to important sources of environmental GI across Europe.
The GI industry in Europe is mainly made up of SMEs working in a local market.
The disparities between these local markets from both the technical
and legal point of view and the small size of the commercial actors, make
it very difficult for the single market to emerge in this sector. For SMEs
to make the transition from local to trans-border level is difficult in any
market. However, in a situation where raw materials are subject to legal
restraints and technological disparities, these GI companies are understandably
reticent to expand their coverage.
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One of the most important barriers to development of the market for GI is
the lack of seamless European base data, i.e. that data needed by many
applications, but not specific to any one. Base data has been described as
'providing the geographic key to unlock the value of application-specific
data' [10]. It is forecast that wider availability of such data will stimulate
the development of new GI applications and market areas.
European standards for data definition and exchange are now emerging, thanks
to the concerted efforts of CEN TC 287, but they are complex to use and are
unlikely to be applied retrospectively to legacy GI (older, existing databases).
Lack of consistency between national data sets results in lack of exploitation
for other applications, leading to duplication of effort in data acquisition
and difficulties in accessing important data sets in the event of crisis
management or cross-border environmental management [11]. There are few coherent
European-wide, or even transnational, data sets which can be used for digital
applications, except those that have been specifically built for commercial
road navigation projects or to satisfy the needs of the Commission and other
EU institutions. In addition, data that does exist is often difficult to
locate, as extensive directories of available GI (comprehensive metadata
services) are not available at European level.
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Recent surveys carried out for the Commission highlight a lack of awareness
among decision-makers and the public at large of the interest and potential
of using geographic information. One study concluded 'Lack of awareness
of the potential benefits of using digital geographic information may be
the greatest barrier to future market development.' [12] It is only when
decision-makers come to realise the potential benefits of GI that the market
can begin to achieve its potential.
However, there are technical problems in extending GI to a wider range
of applications. Much research related to GI and GIS tools is already being
sponsored at European level. The European Science Foundation (ESF) funded
the GISDATA programme (1992 - 1997) to stimulate international research in
socio-economic uses of geographic information [13] and the scientific community
is following on via the newly formed Association of Geographic Information
Laboratories in Europe (AGILE). However, GI and GIS research initiatives
are generally dispersed across many sectors of both national and European
R&D programmes. Many research projects use or develop GI technologies,
but there is neither an apparent overall strategy nor little coherence in
these efforts, which makes it difficult for the European GI community to
advance.
For GI to develop in Europe, it is necessary to have a pool of trained labour
available to develop and market attractive, GI-based applications and services.
Potential users need to have a minimum of training in order to use these
applications when they become available. Action is needed to ensure that
the necessary training is available in Europe. GISIG (Geographical
Information Systems International Group) is a European-wide consortium of
GI groups in universities and industry, now working in training and networking
under various EU programmes. More widespread initiatives are required.
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The actions outlined below constitute areas where action at European level
is considered appropriate by the Commission. They should not be seen as
indicative of a ready-made action plan, but are rather put forward to stimulate
wider and continued debate. Neither new European organisational structures
nor any form of central GI data warehouse are proposed or envisioned (except
for that needed for the internal purposes of the EU Institutions, e.g. CORINE,
SABE, etc.). The basic collection and storage of GI, creation and dissemination
of directories and performance of other basic actions, must remain national
tasks, accomplished under the principle of subsidiarity. What the Commission
will do is stimulate the development of a common approach ensuring co-ordination
of actions, as well as the promotion of compatibility with international
policy initiatives.
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Continued support to European associations such as EUROGI, CERCO, MEGRIN
and others will help to achieve a certain level of complementarity. However,
to avoid duplication of work and to stimulate interdisciplinary co-operation,
co-ordination is required at European level between all actors in the
marketplace, as well as within the Commission itself. Common goals to which
everyone can subscribe need to be developed and, perhaps most importantly,
strong visionary leadership must be forthcoming at a high level.
To provide this leadership, the Commission proposes to establish a GI2000
High-Level Working Party, to include representatives from all leading
actors in the public and private GI sectors, including users, to be chaired
and facilitated by the Commission. In implementation, the approach could
be comparable to that adopted following the Telecommunications Council of
27.11.96 in relation to illegal and harmful content on the Internet.
The Working Party would:
- provide the leadership required for the implementation of joint actions,
focusing on strategy,
- act as a European focal point for discussion on geographic information. Stimulate
co-operation and synergies between the key players in the EU, EEA and CEEC
states, industry, users and the Commission,
- elaborate, encourage and oversee the actions deemed necessary as a follow-up
to this paper,
- co-ordinate European input to global forums and other decision-making
initiatives.
The High-Level Working Party will succeed only with high-level political
support from within the EU institutions and Member States and with strong
practical support from the GI industry and academia.
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The Commission is itself a major customer for European-level geographic
information. It uses GI to develop, manage, analyse and evaluate data in
support of EU policies in space, agriculture, transport, environment and
regional development. Through its procurement policy, the Commission can
leverage its own needs to stimulate the demand for European data sets. The
Commission is, however, only one of many public bodies with a role to play
in the stimulation of the development of the GI infrastructure. Public
bodies need to be encouraged to co-operate and form partnerships with the
private sector to stimulate the development of new products and new markets.
Efforts should be devoted initially to stimulating production of European-wide
base data where it does not yet exist. Developing base data will require
stronger co-operation between Member State agencies (NMAs, National Statistical
Institutes, census bureaux, environmental agencies, river and coastal
authorities, etc.) and between these organisations and private industry,
to create seamless geographic base data across Europe. This is probably
the area where political leadership and vision are most required. For instance,
amendments to the mandates of public organisations may be required, to include
a truly European dimension.
There is a general lack of transparency in Europe as to what (mainly national)
data exists, on commercial conditions of usage and on scope and quality.
In order to ensure access to data, directories are required to enable the
location of existing information, opening the potential to share data across
different applications. Potential users of GI need to know what data exists,
where it is located, who owns it and how it can be accessed and purchased.
The creation of EU-wide directory services for existing GI data sets could
be stimulated at European level. Commercial organisations wishing to sell
data should be interested in providing input for such services. Although
such services could be set up by the private sector, studies indicate that
there is a weak business case for these services at present. Therefore, public
sector support may be necessary to ensure that adequate directory services
emerge as a matter of urgency. The Commission could stimulate the creation
of EU-wide directory services by facilitating the networking of existing
services. In order to achieve this, common interconnection rules and standards
need to be established (or implemented where already established) and ways
of creating single entry points to such services need to be defined and
demonstrated.
A European directory standard is currently under development. However, there
is a need to encourage public and private data producers to document the
data they possess in a standardised way to enable its collation. This
documentation needs to be widely available and cheaply accessible, preferably
in electronic form. It is important that any final standard is suitable for
all types of GI, not just mapping data.
In order to ensure the development of high quality GI applications at European
level, it is necessary to tackle to problem of the incompatibility of available
data to make it more interoperable, including data used by the Commission
itself. This will involve the development of compatible approaches between
the individual actors and some standardisation in data collection procedures.
The work should be incorporated into the recently created Information Society
Standardisation System under CEN to ensure that GI specific standards
are developed as needed by industry in areas such as interoperability,
metadata and naming. Subsequently the actors must be encouraged to use
the emerging standards.
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One of the major barriers to the wider uptake of GI is a lack of
awareness of the potential benefits which it can bring to a wide range
of areas. Efforts should be made at European level to increase the awareness
of information providers and potential users of geographic information
of the benefits of maximising the use of the spatial aspects of their data
and the need to develop their skills in this area. Awareness actions need
to be aimed at new and existing users, especially decision-makers. The existing
EU-wide MIDAS-NETwork, established under the INFO2000 programme, could play
a role in relation to awareness.
If GI is to be more effectively utilised in the wider economy, a range of
actors must have the skills necessary to exploit it. Therefore education
and training initiatives must be developed in this area, under existing
national and EU training initiatives, such as SOCRATES and LEONARDO. INFO2000
is launching a programme to develop a university diploma in "Multimedia
Information Skills and Techniques". This will include a specialisation in
understanding, designing and exploiting geographic information. Basic training
in GI and spatial concepts should be incorporated into Member State education
systems, as was done for basic computer technology.
The market for GI is an emerging one. Beyond the public sector, principal
actors in the market are mainly SMEs, often in very specialised niches. Actions
and resources are needed to monitor and analyse the market and to
disseminate this information widely. This would help the Commission to define,
refine and monitor GI market development policy, while also providing an
impartial information source for market actors.
Digitised GI is a relatively new technology and efforts are still needed
to ensure that its true potential will be realised. Research is still required
to develop the existing technology and extend its applications. However,
due to the wide-ranging nature of potential applications of GI, R&D in
this area is often fragmented. Projects involving GI are to be found throughout
many current research programmes, making it difficult to ensure the co-operation
and co-ordination between them which is needed to create the critical mass
for the market to take off.
Efforts regarding geographic information and geographic information systems
in the Community's R&D programmes must be better co-ordinated under the
5th Framework Programme, where the 'Multimedia content and tools' key
action of the Information Society thematic programme could provide a focal
point for GI research. Research areas likely to be covered include GI systems
engineering, geographic data visualisation and management tools, spatial
analysis decision-support systems and integrating socio-economic and political
use of GI. In addition, GI and GIS-related projects will undoubtedly be funded
under other areas of the programme, including an action on earth observation
as a generic technology. Co-ordination would ensure the exploitation of potential
synergies and the more effective reflection of user and industry needs.
Co-operation with national and other European-level research efforts, such
as the AGILE association, the COST 326 framework for developing maritime
electronic navigational charts and new EUREKA projects, should also be sought.
Like most information, GI is subject to legal rules covering copyright,
data protection, personal privacy, liability for misuse, etc. These rules
vary substantially within the Union. Directives have been adopted on privacy
and on the protection of databases to harmonise the laws of the Member States
in these areas. Such measures are important steps towards the gradual resolution
of the difficulties posed by varying national systems. While much remains
to be done, at this stage there does not seem to be a need for specific action
for geographic information. The involvement of GI key players must be
assured when legal issues pertaining to the information market in general
are being discussed or implemented at European level. This could be another
key role for the GI2000 High-Level Working Party.
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By organising GI at European level, the Union can far better contribute
to and influence the development of global rules and standards for sharing
and interoperability of geographic information. GI at global level is primarily
required for research and monitoring of sustainable development in the context
of 'Agenda 21' and the Kyoto protocol, such as the evolution of global weather,
the preservation of rain forests, agriculture, radioactive contamination,
etc. With increased globalisation of the economy, European business needs
for global data are likely to increase. Every effort must be made to ensure
that these needs are met. For example, global standards in geographic information
must be developed and implemented.
Contacts for greater information sharing at global level have already been
initiated between the Commission and several major trading partners, including
the US, Canada, Australia and Japan. The conferences on Global Spatial Data
Infrastructures (GSDI) in Bonn in September 1996 and North Carolina (USA)
in October 1997 have started to lay the foundation for such international
collaboration. The High Level Working Party should act as a focal point
for European input to these global discussions, providing a forum for
debate and a means to achieve the consensus needed to strengthen Europe's
hand in these negotiations.
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Europe is in danger of missing out on an important opportunity to exploit
the potential of geographic information to contribute to societal and economic
development. Lack of compatible data sets, differences in administrative
organisation, lack of awareness of its usefulness and the overarching role
of the public sector combine to reduce the efficiency and competitiveness
of the European GI industry and risk holding back its growth. Action is needed
on a European level to tackle the difficulties faced by the GI sector and
to ensure competition on a level playing field with their competitors from
other regions of the world.
In addition, European industry is increasingly operating in a global context.
The development of global GI data sets as an aid to assessment and
decision-making is increasing. However, these developments are hampered by
incompatibility of data and initiatives are being launched to tackle this
problem. Europe needs to have a co-ordinated and well-organised response
to this challenge if it is to have an impact on such global decision-making.
A coherent policy in GI will support EU policies in agriculture, transport,
environment and regional planning. It will complement EU space policies in
earth observation and the Global Satellite Navigation System (GNSS), which
require European earth-based geographic information to function optimally.
GI2000 will help to ensure that this is available.
Finally, as the Union expands in the near future, new and more complex spatially
related problems need to be assessed and tackled. At the same time, the GI
infrastructure in the potential new member states is underdeveloped at present.
Co-ordination on a European level, to ensure access to information and to
support restructuring is becoming more vital.
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[1] The data needed by many applications, but not specific to any one.
[2] Meixner, H. & Frank, A. Study on policy issues relating to
geographic information in Europe, 1997, DGXIII-E.
[3] Scholten, H.J. "Fighting the deluge with data", GIS Europe,
October 1997.
[4] Analysis of User Market, conducted by The Data Consultancy
for the PETIT project, 1997, Confidential report to the Commission.
[5] Ordnance survey et al. GI-BASE Final Report, 1997, DGXIII-E
[6] CNIG/AFIGEO, Urbatique: Etude du marché européen
de l'information géographique numérique, 1997.
[7] CNIG/AFIGEO - Arthur Andersen: Etude de l'influence du prix de
l'information géographique numérique sur le
marché, October 1997
[8] MEGRIN (Multipurpose European Ground Related Information Network) is
a Groupement d'Intérêt Economique under French law in which
the mapping agencies of 17 countries participate. Its purpose is to develop
closer co-operation in order to be better prepared for providing EU-wide
cartographic data.
[9] Co-ordination and Information on the Environment. Commission work programme
concerning an experimental project for gathering, coordinating and ensuring
the consistency of information on the state of the environment and natural
resources in the Community, 1985-1990. Now this programme has been taken
over by the European Environment Agency
[10] Ordnance Survey et al, GI-BASE Final Report, 1997, DGXIII-E.
[11] 3rd EC-GIS Workshop, June 1997
[12] Ordnance Survey et al, GI-BASE Final Report, 1997, DGXIII-E.
[13] The European Science Foundation GISDATA research programme covered the
period 1992-97 and involved collaboration between university and government
research organisations in all European countries
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