Developing a Vision for the EGII

European Geographic Information Infrastructure

Report of the meeting of experts

7-9 December 1998 - DG XIII/E Luxembourg

Table of Contents

2. Proposed Vision Statement

3. The GI Environment

4. What Do We Have (2000)?

5. What Is Required (2010)?

6. Impediments and Solutions

7. Making the EGII Work

9. Links to Other GIIs.

Annex A: The Technical Infrastructure

Annex B: EGII Definitions

Annex C: Meeting Participants

1. Background

This document is the result of a discussion meeting on the European Geographic Information Infrastructure (EGII) to identify some of the key areas for action in bringing about the EGII. The intention was to develop the ideas expressed in the document 'GI2000: Towards a European Policy Framework for Geographic Information' that is available from the DG XIII/E Web site at http://www2.echo.lu/gi/en/gi2000/gi2000.html.

This document is a report of the discussion by the experts. Its purpose is to encourage wider discussion and debate, in support of the Commission's own initiatives in further raising awareness of the importance of spatially referenced data (geographic information) across Europe, at local, national and regional level.

EGII is a change initiative that builds on the recognition in the GI2000 document that GI is not being exploited in European society as much as it could be.

2. Proposed Vision Statement

Through the creation of a continuum of information infrastructures from the local to the European level, EGII will enable citizens, stimulate business growth, and produce good government practice with relation to the knowledge of the territory.

3. The GI Environment

3.1 Why is GI so special?

GI is ubiquitous: every citizen uses GI everyday without realising that this is what he or she is doing.

GI has commercial value: GI is of considerable commercial value in a wide range of applications.

GI can benefit many (most?) public tasks: GI is a major component in many public tasks.

The scale factor regarding GI is important: GI is required at many different scales, from individual land parcels (large scale) to the whole of Europe (small scale).

3.2 What are the potential uses of GI at European level?

GI can be defined as all spatially related data. Key current uses of GI at pan-European level include transport, freight, agricultural planning and monitoring and meteorology. Developing uses include safety and security, telecommunications and utility management, geo-marketing, consumer markets, interactive democracy, spatial planning and environmental protection.

3.3 Balances to be struck.

The political environment surrounding the EGII is particularly sensitive given the tensions between European, national and local levels and between the public and private sector. Some careful balances will have to be struck between the interests involved.

3.4 The changing context.

Global and European developments will drastically change the GI environment.

Technology
The convergence of telecommunications, multimedia and IT has important implications for the future development of EGII. The advent of the Internet transforms current structures for the creation and exchange of GI. Satellite positioning systems and data from earth observation satellites will also have significant impacts.

Economy
The number of users will increase dramatically. The emergence of a mass market for GI will require a change in emphasis from the high end to the low end. As a result, the majority of future users will not be spatially literate users as now. At the same time, outsiders will invade the terrain of GI-specialist industries. This will be reflected in the changing emphasis within the industry from the development of products to the supply of a wide range of services based on these products.

Political
The political environment will change with the enlargement of the EU. This will also affect the relations between the EU and its member states. Certain instruments such as European Directives, which have previously been widely used, will increasingly be challenged by individual or groups of member states.

4. What Do We Have (2000)?

In many Members States, the ability of GI data providers and value adders to react to users' needs has not kept pace with the technological developments. As a result we are rich in our capability of producing data, but poor in our ability to exploit it.

European diversity in data policy and its interpretation, in data specification, in pricing and access rules, in private/public sector relationships, is holding back the development of a single market and the growth of the European economy.

A number of data sets developed within member states are used as de facto reference data. Work on the actual requirement for minimum qualified and maintained reference data within the EC and member states has yet to be tackled

5. What Is Required (2010)?

In 2010, governments will need to freely access and exploit GI in decision making and solving the pressing political bottlenecks in society, such as social exclusion, security and health. The public sector will be working in full partnership with, and encouraging, the private sector to provide information via electronic systems. European citizens will use GI for participation in the public decision making processes, and use many services (one-stop shops). GI usage will be far more embedded in education programmes. The research community will have built up a knowledge infrastructure, and will be exploiting this through the many knowledge centres.

Figure 1: One possible vision for the EGII

A first step is to make reference data and directory services available to help the GI market to build on information that already exists.

5.1 Reference data.

Reference data is considered to be the underlying framework on which data products can be built. It is the data that people do not ask for because its existence is implicit in data products (see Annex A). An analogy is when you go to a restaurant you order your food but rarely feel the need to request the crockery and utensils.

The required reference data is not limited to topographic data, but would include other data for use as a link to geo-referencing, such as registers, addresses and administrative boundaries (Cf. CEN/TC 287 indirect identifiers). The reference data is a minimal set of underlying framework data to which attributes and themes can be added. The objective is to promote cross-sector interoperability, reducing costs by avoiding duplication and thereby to improving government.

Basic reference data have to exist at different and complementary levels:

National, e.g., 1 m resolution, scale 1:10,000

European, e.g., 10 m resolution, scale 1:100,000

Global level, e.g., 100 m resolution, scale 1:1,000,000

There needs to be functional inter-linkage between the three levels.

Reference data must be uniform and consistent and satisfy the following criteria:

Application of standards
Seamless pan-European coverage
Following the rules of universal service

5.2 Universal service.

"Providing reference data and facilitating its use throughout Europe is universal service in GI."
(Cf. J.Santer's 1995 communication defining universal service)

"We may argue about the content of the universal service but there is no disagreement in the Commission on the principle that every citizen in the Union must be guaranteed, by right, a basic quality of service, whatever the service or product, at affordable prices."
Address by Jaques Santer, President of the European Commission, to the Trade Union Congress, Brighton, 11 September 1995

European universal service in GI is the availability and accessibility of the reference data, i.e.,

availability of up-to-date reference data for the complete European territory

clear non-discriminatory rules for data access

reference data accessible at an affordable price

The operator of the universal service may also compete in the open market, under fair competition rules.

Universal services must be funded, and this would be by a combination of:

The EC
Member States
Users
Third parties

5.3 Directory services.

For citizens, business and government to be able to exploit GI they need to be able to find the data. Europe needs a distributed metadata infrastructure with a single access gateway. This gateway will provide links to other directory services around Europe. The first aim would be to link national or local directory services. Other directory services could also be linked, e.g. thematic, commercial.

5.4 Data access.

Access to GI will increase and be facilitated by:

Common rules throughout Europe for accessing and pricing European reference data.

Clear rules throughout Europe for accessing and pricing national reference data.

6. Impediments and Solutions

Five main impediments to achieving the objectives of the EGII can be identified:

The GI market is fragmented and predominantly national
GI technology follows rather than creates trends in the ICT market
Various types of legal uncertainty inhibit key players from taking action
There is a weak knowledge of GI market opportunities in other European countries.
There is a lack of high level political awareness and interest at both the national and European levels.

6.1 The "Knowledge Infrastructure".

The knowledge infrastructure can be defined as a support system, consisting of set of organisational structures and guidelines (both technical and non-technical) to support the learning processes needed to meet the policy objectives. For EGII there is a poorly developed knowledge infrastructure, partly due to a lack of awareness, insufficient education and training, and finally a limited capacity for R&D.

Develop and raise the knowledge base, this means investments at different levels in awareness, education, training and research
Apply special effort to Eastern Europe
Activities in the 5th RTD Framework Programme and Information Society Technologies (IST) programmes
Awareness actions

6.2 Legal rules.

A fundamental discussion is required as to the applicability of legal rules to the GI environment. The question should be how we can use these rules to create an adequate instrument to safeguard present interests (e.g., copyright holders) and, at the same time, enable the legal framework to have a stimulating role. In this respect an application and a clarification of existing legal rules (e.g., on monopoly) may be required instead of creating new ones, for example, the discussion on the competition issues raised by the government acting as a producer and developer of value added products.

The draft EC Communication: Public Sector Information: A Key Resource for Europe. (Green Paper on Public Sector Information in the Information Society) is the logical framework to explore the issues raised by the development of GI into the Information Society, and questions this development may pose with respect to public sector information.

Possible actions might include seeking co-operation with existing high level advisory groups such as the Legal Advisory Board (LAB) as a mechanism for the debate.

6.3 Market potential.

As a consequence of the poorly developed knowledge base and the legal uncertainties, the GI market is still relatively weak. There is a lack of awareness on business opportunities, market potential, general trends on ICT. Organisations will need assistance on this subject in order to exploit the full potential and to stimulate new entrance and innovations for European companies.

Practical actions might include:

setting up a GI starters help desk, this could be at the European level or a network of national and local helpdesks, e.g., GIS-Flanders in Belgium

establishing a knowledge database, about the market, the products, the companies, research laboratories, training and education facilities, ... in Europe

6.4 Political interest.

The decision-makers should be more aware of the opportunities that GI opens up in order to realise the potential. The effort should be made to raise and sustain the GI political momentum.

This is dependent on raising the level of the knowledge infrastructure (see above) but also requires special effort in developing liaisons with the political stakeholders at national and international level.

7. Making the EGII Work

7.1 EC Actions.

To overcome the impediments the primary tasks of the EC are:

To facilitate the creation of the administration and the mechanisms of EGII (facilitating)
To stimulate the broader GI-debate and increase awareness (informing)
To act as a catalyst initiating and promoting direct action in priority areas (acting)

7.2 Critical success factors.

Early identification of the impact of doing nothing,
High level political support

Initiative and flexibility within EGII to adapt to the development of technology

Maintenance of a clear focus of the needs of the citizen, economic growth and good government

Early success in one sector

Common agreement between the members states, as to what needs to be done at the European level

Programme must be so attractive that stakeholders buy in, everybody needs to use the infrastructure:
Reference data

Access to data - price policy

Directory services

Added value services, products and tools

Legal issues

7.3 Measuring the impact of EGII.

GI is more widely used in a greater breadth of applications
European GI sector turnover and employment are increasing

All member states have an active metadata service that is accessible through the European gateway

All member states have described and produced their reference data (at national and European level),

Users working across national borders have compatible data

National implementation of standards are interoperable

EC projects that require GI for their success will have succeeded

8. Actors

8.1 EGII "High Level Working Group"

The EGII leadership should be the High Level Working Group (HLWG) recommended in the GI2000 draft Communication. The HLWG needs strong political backing by governments and the EC and would be composed of :

EC Commissioner and DG representatives
National government representatives
GI community representatives:
Industry
National organisations
European organisations
Thematic

8.2 Secretariat.

The HLWG will be supported by a funded permanent secretariat of at least five people. The actual number will depend of the detailed definition of the activities; these should include:

Servicing the HLWG
Administering the EGII
Co-ordinating EGII projects
Informing citizens, business and government about the EGII

8.3 Task Forces.

The HLWG will decide on necessary EGII actions, to be performed by relevant designated task forces and allocated sufficient resources. Possible task forces include:

Reference data
Directory service implementation
Promoting interoperability best practice
Knowledge base, including awareness
Legal forum
GI market trend monitoring

The task forces will need to consult widely and be outward looking. The consultation activities will require considerable interaction with themes in society (e.g., 'joined-up' government, social exclusion, security). They will ensure consultation between the EGII projects under the 5^th RTD Framework Programme.

8.4 Role of the Public Sector.

Operate the universal service
Unlock public sector information
Facilitate the development of EGII in partnership with the private sector

8.5 Role of the Private Sector.

Develop applications build on the reference data
Operate GI services
Contribute to reference data creation and maintenance

8.6 Users.

Everybody needs to use the reference data:
citizens
industry
public sector

9. Links to Other GIIs.

9.1 Regional, National and Multi-Country GI Infrastructures.

EGII will build on regional, national and multi-country GI initiatives and support their development. It will promote interoperability of local and national reference data across national borders. Each Member State would be encouraged to maintain national or regional directory services that can be accessed via a European gateway. EGII will provide links to existing national and multi-country GI infrastructures.

9.2 The Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI).

EGII should monitor and influence the development of GSDI through participation, ensuring that the EGII's views are represented. It should present a European as well as a global stance on the development of GSDI. EGII will provide links to the GSDI.

Figure 2: EGII in a 'sandwich'

10.Funding.

Implementation of the EGII objectives will demand funding over and above that required by and within member states for purely national activities. Such funding should cover:

The HLWG, its secretariat and task forces
The European gateway to directory services
The creation of the European reference data from national reference data sources.

Annex A: The Technical Infrastructure

A.1 European Reference Data

Europe requires a seamless reference data for activities that span national boundaries. This data is not a final product for end users but the frame on which products can be built.

On the basis of needs expressed by users (e.g., GISCO) the resolution, characteristics and content requirements are thought to be:

Resolution
The ideal resolution is 10m, e.g., scale of 1: 100 000. As an intermediate solution, existing data sets up to a scale of 1: 250 000 may be used.

Characteristics
This reference data will have:

coherent geometry

change information

time-stamping

minimal attributes to features

Content
The themes within European reference data will include:

geodetic control network

elevation

hydrology

transport

administrative boundaries

place names

The specification of the European reference data needs to be defined at a European level in consultation with users to test and adjust the proposed resolution, characteristics and content. For example, the European reference data could also include:

geo-referenced images (to ensure there is data for every part of the territory)

street addresses

A perceived problem is that many users are unaware that they need this reference data and would never request it!

Each member state will be encouraged to buy into EGII by ensuring the provision and maintenance of this reference data for their territory, which ideally would be derived from the national reference data.

The intention, where possible, is to derive European reference data from existing data sets. Possible data sources include national mapping agencies, commercial companies (e.g., TeleAtlas, NavTech and AND) and military data sets.

The short-term vision is the creation of the European reference data from existing data. Longer-term the European reference data should be derived from national reference data so linking national geographic information infrastructures to the EGII.

Other data
European reference data will provide the base on to which other data sets can be linked and built. It provides only the first step towards producing a GI-based data product for applications.

There are many other environmental, social and economic data sets on a local, regional, national and pan-European level that would link to and be built-on the European reference data. This link at the most basic level could be through the geometry. For more complex data integration it would be via the attributes.

A.2 Directory Services

The European gateway to metadata or directory service will:

be multilingual (interface and data descriptions)
contain data descriptions for data of any part of Europe
allow searching across many directory services using, for example, keywords and geographical searching.

The directory services will provide information about:

existence of the data set
location and ownership
access conditions and usage rights
detailed description (quality, data contents, precision, ...)

A priority will be to have reference data (whether at local, national, European or global level) described in the directory services. Clearly a description of any other GI data set may also be included in the directory services. They would aim to be as inclusive as possible.

The quality of the metadata will be the responsibility of each service provider who links to the European gateway. On entry into the gateway the user will be made aware of the quality of the metadata.

The gateway will be promoted widely to describe the benefits of the service to existing and potential users.

The minimum EGII metadata content will be defined.

Best practice guidelines will be provided on the creation and maintenance of metadata and the development of directory services.

Ideally these directory services would give access to the data using e-commerce.

EGII will recommend the use of a standard communications protocol for accessing directory services.

A.3 Interoperability and Standards Implementation

Given that simply adopting a standard will not ensure interoperability, EGII will identify and promote rules and best practice for implementation of standards and profiles, thereby supporting interoperability of, for example:

local, national, pan-European and global GI infrastructures

data, e.g. geodetic reference systems, nomenclatures, metric quality, attribute quality

directory services

The aim is that data can be found, used, transferred, linked and combined in many systems.

Annex B: EGII Definitions

GI2000
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.

4th EC-GIS Workshop
Budapest, Hungary, June 1998
"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."

- Robin Waters

Annex C: Meeting Participants