GI2000 Meeting Reports

Reports of Meetings regarding the European GI Policy Framework

update : 27/04/99

Recent Meetings (1997 - 1999)

  • On 4 March 1999, DG XIII/E Director Mr. R. F. de Bruine, convened a meeting in Luxembourg of some 24 invited representatives from across Europe and across sectors of the wide GI community. The purpose was "to re-assess the need for GI2000 - the draft Communication regarding a European Policy Framework for GI - taking into account the significant time that has passed since the document was first produced." The question posed to participants was whether it is sufficiently up to date or does it need reworking. Also, the Commission wanted "to see if the participants still favoured "relevant, necessary and wanted "specific European actions by the European Commission in the area of GI".    (updated version 27/04/99)

  • An experts meeting titled "Developing a Vision for the EGII – European Geographic Information Infrastructure" was also held 7 - 9 December 1998 in Luxembourg, attended by 13 invited experts, including representatives of JRC and Eurostat, plus DG XIII/E hosts and TechServe support experts.

  • From 16-17 November 1998, a GI2000/EGII preparatory meeting was held, which focused on "Cross-border GI applications". One conclusion was that there are still many problems with availability of and access to cross-border data, even for single borders shared by any two countries, a situation that is magnified across Europe for true pan-European data.

  • 7-11 September 1998 - GIS Planet '98 - including the European Day organised by the EC on 10.9.98. A full report of this event, comprising four sessions at which several EC Directorates and EUROGI presented their interest in, need for and use of, pan-European GI, will appear in October. In the interim, we publish a short initial review of the Conference and Robert Peckham's (JRC) opening comments to stimulate the session hosted by EUROGI: 4th EUROGI Geodata for all in Europe Workshop: The Identification of Specific European Needs for GI and GIS. There is also a paper by Jean-Claude Lummaux (CNIG, F) comparing Europe to other continents in regard to GI, available in English and French.

  • June 1998 - 4th (DG III) EC GIS Workshop - held in Budapest, 24 - 26 June 1998. Minutes of the final discussion forum on Pan-European Geographic Information Infrastructure.
    "GI Infrastructure for Europe should enable public and private sector users to access appropriate levels of up to date topographic and thematic spatial information in an interoperable environment at a reasonable cost within a single, easily understood legal framework covering copyright and confidentiality. The data collected from synoptic systems (remote sensing) may be centralised but the data collected in individual countries should be co-ordinated under the subsidiarity principle".
    Vision statement for the EGII as suggested by participant, Robin Waters.

     

Historical Meetings (1995 - 1996)

Related Documents from National GI/GIS Bodies

Because any pan-European GI Framework will need to incorporate and accomodate existing and planned national GI frameworks, it is important for all Member States to have some familiarity with national initiatives outside their own borders. In this section, we offer links to major papers describing such activities. The list will be updated as new material is made available on-line.

Conseil National de l'Information Géographique & AFIGéO (France)

National Geospatial Data Framework (NGDF) Documents (UK)

National Geographic Information Infrastructure (Finland)

  • December 1995 - Finland's NGII document in Finnish and English is sub-titled Starting point and future objectives for the Information Society. This 23 page document, from the Consultative Committee for Shared Use of Geographic Information, published by the National Land Survey of Finland, sets out the importance of GI to Finland and its vision for the future.