EUROGI 4th Geodata for All WorkshopThe Identification of Specific European Needs for GI and GISJean-Claude Lummaux (CNIG, F)provided the following input to spark some discussion at "Geodata for All" regarding differences between the North American and European GI industries. Many thanks to Jean-Claude for permitting us to reproduce his paper here. (French version)European SpecificitiesIn comparison with North America, Europe is characterised by its diversity of: languages, organisations, and legal systems. But how does this diversity manifest itself in the market for geographic information and how is European diversity different from the diversity that is found in other continents. Diversity and Geographic Information European diversity is directly apparent from the flow of information that circulates in each State and the complexity of the problems of interoperability of catalogues. Broadly speaking, in the continental part of the European Union there are two coexisting systems of land administration: the financial cadastre and the legal cadastre. The first system results in the circulation of information by land parcel that corresponds with the evolution of ownership during the financial year. On the other hand the second system means that for each land transaction there is a flow of information to check the legal validity of the transaction. This means that the information flows are fundamentally different, as are the network tools, systems and software used. There are numerous examples of this type, such as the need to declare a change of home address that exists in some places and not in others or the relationship between the topographic service and the cadastral service that in some places is very close and in others non-existent. Concerning the interoperability of catalogues it is too easy to think only about the problem of the multiplicity of languages. Although the language problem is not simple it is nevertheless not insurmountable: dictionaries have been around for a long time. But a simple translation is not sufficient to guarantee interoperability: it is the sense that must be linked and not the term used. Taking as an example the administrative units in the different countries: beyond the straightforward equivalence of NUTS levels between the member states of the Union European, it is their different responsibilities in their geographical area which have to interoperate because these responsibilities drive the specifications of the geographic information that is produced and distributed. Which subdivision of the country has, in Germany, the level of responsibility that the French departments have for the roads; and in Italy and in Great Britain? Who is responsible in each place for water quality or for property taxes? Catalogue interoperability is far more than the translation of words; it is the meanings that have to be linked. The problem of meaning is far more complicated. Europe and the Other Continents This diversity of organisation and of culture is not totally specific to Europe. Unlike North America, or in spite the differences, they are fundamentally similar, diversity exists on all the continents. So just what is 'European specificity'? In the first place, we can look at this in reverse: the first European specificity compared with other continents (except North America) is summarised by the diagram below:  35.9 trillion 1996 US $
This diversity occurs in a region of considerable economic importance that cannot be considered as secondary by the market players. The second particularity is due to this diversity being around since a very long time, which means that it will hardly change or at least that it will not be the needs of geographic information that will cause it to disappear. It possible to imagine, for example, that developing countries that are now starting, with the support of international aid programmes, major actions to create a cadastre converge towards the solutions in neighbouring countries. This will not be the case in countries where the system of ownership persists in some cases from ancient times - Roman law for some parts of southern Europe - and is founded in fundamental texts such as the constitution of a nation state. Thus, far from imagining that, within a short time-scale, these differences will disappear should we not, on the contrary, take them into consideration unless we deliberately choose to exclude ourselves from the European market: this could be a strategic decision for a company, it is certainly not the good one. Return to GI2000 Meetings index Date Updated: 23.9.1998 |