Final report (phases 1 & 2) / 2016-01-15
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE
Institute for Environment and Sustainability
Digital Earth and Reference Data Unit
INSPIRE Thematic cluster on Elevation, Orthoimagery, Reference systems and Geographical grids
Phases 1 & 2 - Final report
Author(s) / Jordi EscriuReviewed by
Approved by / Robert Tomas
Date of Approval / 27.1.206
Title / INSPIRE Thematic cluster Elevation, Orthoimagery, Reference systems and Geographical grids. Phases 1 & 2 – Final report
Creator / Jordi Escriu
Date of last revision / 15.01.2016
Subject
Type of Deliverable / Report
Status / Draft
Publisher / European Commission JRC
Description / Report on the use of Thematic Cluster #3 on-line collaboration platform, including the resources uploaded, issues encountered, proposals for endorsement by MIG-T and proposals for changes to the setting up and operation of the platform and the Thematic Cluster initiative.
It is the final report for the second phase of the platform including an overview of the results from the beginning of the initiative.
Contributor
Rights / Internal
Language / EN
Distribution List / JRC , ENV, ..
Identifier / INSPIRE Thematic clusters – final report
INSPIRE Thematic cluster on Elevation, Orthoimagery, Reference systems and Geographical grids / p. 21 of 34
Final report (phases 1 & 2) / 2016-01-15
INSPIRE Thematic cluster on Elevation, Orthoimagery, Reference systems and Geographical grids / p. 21 of 34
Final report (phases 1 & 2) / 2016-01-15
Table of Contents
1. Introduction 5
1.1. Purpose and Scope 5
1.2. Structure of the report 5
2. The use of the INSPIRE Thematic Cluster on Elevation, Orthoimagery, Reference systems and Geographical grids 6
2.1. Members 6
2.2. Content 8
2.2.1. Type of resources 8
2.2.2. Resources per category 11
2.3. Discussion topics 14
2.3.1. Number, status and distribution of discussions 14
2.3.2. Overview of discussions 15
2.4. Activity 16
2.4.1. Most active discussions topics 16
2.5. Cluster activities 17
2.5.1. Alignment of the Thematic Cluster with the relevant communities 17
2.5.2. Additional promotional activities 19
2.5.3. Networking 20
2.5.4. Future activities 21
3. INSPIRE thematic clusters – SW environment 22
3.1. Structure 22
3.1.1. Group / sub-group structure 22
3.1.2. Create a new cluster to deal with cross-cluster discussion topics (Cross-Cluster) 22
3.2. Functionality 23
3.2.1. Analyse problems in accessing to the platform due to the authentication process 23
3.2.2. System to trace and award active participation from cluster members 24
4. Current and planned support and pilot activities 25
4.1. Overview of the experience supporting Thematic Cluster community 25
4.1.1. Phase 1 25
4.1.2. Phase 2 25
4.2. Outcomes from the cluster – Proposals for MIG-T MIWP-14 26
4.2.1. Proposals related to Coverages and their encoding in INSPIRE 27
4.2.2. Proposals related to cross-theme harmonization of Technical Guidelines 28
4.2.3. Proposals related to the INSPIRE geo-referencing framework 29
4.2.4. Proposals to correct errors identified in the Technical Guidelines 30
4.3. Upcoming and planned support activities 31
5. Recommendations and conclusions 32
5.1. Empowering engagement and activity 32
5.1.1. Data producers / implementers 32
5.1.2. User communities 33
5.1.3. Other actors 33
5.2. Proposals for future activities 34
5.3. Final conclusions 34
INSPIRE Thematic cluster on Elevation, Orthoimagery, Reference systems and Geographical grids / p. 21 of 34Final report (phases 1 & 2) / 2016-01-15
1. Introduction
1.1. Purpose and Scope
This report is the deliverable D2 “Report on the use of the on-line platform” as defined in Annex 2: Chapter 7 of the Expert contract C392066. The report describes users activities that have taken place in the INSPIRE thematic cluster on Elevation (EL), Orthoimagery (OI), Coordinate Reference systems (RS), and Geographical grids (GG) - Thematic Cluster #3 from the beginning of its activity. Additionally, it provides facilitator’s recommendations or improvements on the used SW environment as well as general recommendations to promote INSPIRE implementation in the community addressed by the cluster.
Thematic Cluster #3 is the natural extension of the Topographic and Cadastral Reference Data Cluster (Thematic Cluster #6 – covering the Administrative units, Addresses, Buildings, Cadastral parcels, Geographical names, Hydrography and Transport networks themes), complementing the list of reference data sets which are usually gathered and produced by mapping agencies and similar organizations (Elevation and Orthoimagery data sets) and establishing the geo-referencing framework to be utilized in the INSPIRE context (Coordinate reference systems and Geographical grid systems).
1.2. Structure of the report
Section 2 describes statistically the activity taken place in the thematic cluster platform (e.g. number of members, discussion topics, replies, uploaded resources and good practices, etc.). The chapter also describes the methodology used by the facilitator to promote and facilitate the platform, including the activities carried out.
Section 3 presents facilitator’s view and improvement recommendations (if relevant) on the structure as well as functionality of the SW collaboration tool.
Section 4 summarises facilitator’s experience with supporting the community in implementing INSPIRE, with an evaluation of the activity in the cluster during phases 1 and 2. It also highlights interesting discussion topics and / or agreed additions / changes to the INSPIRE technical guidelines.
Section 5 presents facilitator’s recommendations and conclusions, if relevant, for improvements related to potential follow up activities.
2. The use of the INSPIRE Thematic Cluster on Elevation, Orthoimagery, Reference systems and Geographical grids
This section provides an overview of the content already included to the thematic cluster platform and describes statistically the activity that has taken place in it.
In summary:
· Number and type of members, as well as their distribution across the themes belonging to the cluster.
· Type of contents or resources already uploaded to the platform, together with information about their classification in categories.
· Number of discussion topics, content pages and description of their types.
· Activity registered from members of the platform, through their responses and participation in the discussion topics (number of replies and views).
Moreover, it also describes the methodology and the enumeration of activities put in place to promote and facilitate the platform.
The cluster platform is structured in a main group and four sub-groups (one per each theme in the cluster). The main group is intended to be the place to look up for information, share resources and have discussions which are common to more than one INSPIRE theme within the Thematic Cluster. Each of the sub-groups has the same function, but where the content is relevant to a single theme.
2.1. Members
Thematic Cluster #3 is composed of 105 members at the end of Phase 2 (date of last revision of this report). This constitutes an increment of a 69 % with respect to the end of Phase 1 (62 members), which coincided with the INSPIRE GWF 2015 in Lisbon.
Current membership may be classified according to the following categories:
- Producers of data in the scope of the cluster, i.e. data belonging to the Elevation and Orthoimagery themes, mainly using the raster spatial representation type.
These usually comprise public sector professionals and technical experts responsible for INSPIRE implementation in Mapping Agencies at all levels of administration, which need specific support to deal with the interpretation and application of the Directive in the scope of the present cluster.
This category is widely represented by the EuroGeographics community, mainly through the link with the INSPIRE Knowledge Exchange Network, INSPIRE-KEN. However, additional important data producer communities are starting to be involved in the cluster through the cluster activities: EMODnet bathymetry, IHO, national hydrographic offices and river basin district offices from Member States, or Copernicus data providers.
- Existing and potential users of this data.
Elevation and Orthoimagery data is present in many of the use cases identified during the development of INSPIRE Annex I, II and III. It constitutes important reference data which is used a multiple GIS analyses and applications.
This category includes a variety of communities, those working at the European level - e.g. European Commission agencies and related organizations and Copernicus users utilizing satellite imagery and DEM data, but also user communities from Member States, at different levels of administration.
- People working for software development companies.
These are willing to show and demonstrate the capabilities of their software tools when trying to solve specific implementation issues, such as data transformation or validation or setting-up of network services.
The thematic cluster is the perfect place to share these contents, as a meeting point between implementers and software vendors complementing the ARE3NA project.
The underlying idea is to support Member States in the solution of specific needs and problems that have been clearly identified by implementers and connect them with existing software solutions, as well as to identify existing software gaps when no solutions are available.
- Producers and consumers of data belonging to any INSPIRE theme, which need to understand and comply with the INSPIRE geo-referencing framework[1].
These involve communities which have to implement the requirements and recommendations of the Coordinate reference systems and Geographical grid systems themes.
The Thematic Cluster shall continue encouraging the participation of the mentioned communities by aligning the cluster activity with the events organized by them and sharing common objectives.
Further efforts shall be done to improve the link of the Cluster with existing projects and initiatives like ARE3NA or FOSS4G related to best practices and software implementation, by reusing the outcomes and avoiding duplicities.
The following pie chart shows the distribution of current membership across the sub-groups in the cluster (in absolute number and percentage with respect the total number of members which joined to any of the subgroups in the cluster).
It is worth to mention that members of the cluster are always joined to the main group, but not necessarily to the subgroups, which are devoted to theme-specific content and discussion. This depends on the specific interests each member has. Hence, the percentage showed in the chart above is only indicative of the relative difference in membership between the four subgroups, but not relative to the total number of members of the cluster (i.e. the number of members of the main group).
It shall be noted that a cluster member (necessarily joined to the main group) may also be joined to more that one sub-group.
2.2. Content
2.2.1. Type of resources
The content that is currently available through Thematic Cluster #3 may be summarized according to the following list of resource types:
A. Discussion topics
Discussion topics are probably the most interesting type of resource in the platform. These are open and live pages published by members in the platform, aimed at sharing views, ask questions, resolving specific problems, warn about specific implementation issues and/or looking for advice. Participation in these discussions is only available for people who joined the cluster, i.e. members either of the main group or one of its sub-groups – wherever this discussion takes place. Nonetheless, non-members are able to look at the content which is already published in the discussion thread.
At the end of Phase 2 the platform is provided with 40 discussion topics. A description of the current discussion topics is provided in section 2.3 of this document.
B. Content pages
Outcomes from the cluster are usually documented in static content pages in the platform, either at the level of the main group or at the sub-group level.
At the end of Phase 2, the cluster has 20 top-level pages used for structuring and classifying contents. Such contents, which are those really helpful, are documented in 25 static pages devoted to different resource types:
B.1) Successful experiences in delivering pan-European products
This kind of resources represents existing best practices which constitute successful data interoperability implementation cases, e.g. the process to obtain the EuroGeographics EuroDEM pan-European data set or the EMODnet bathymetry portal.
Certain differences may exist between the approach applied in these practices and the INSPIRE process, but known solutions to specific issues may be really helpful for the later.
B.2) Leading projects, at European and national level
These projects deal with specific aspects on INSPIRE implementation in the scope of the cluster. Knowledge of the content and outcomes from them is extremely useful to share resources and efforts, as well as key for a successful implementation.
Some examples are provided below:
· Elevation and/or Orthoimagery data:
- Transformation and validation of data (including available tools).
- Provision of data through network services.
E.g.: ELF (European Location Framework - http://www.elfproject.eu/), eENVplus (www.eenvplus.eu), ARE3NA.
· Coordinate reference systems and Geographical grids
- Establishment of an official registry of reference systems and geodetic parameters.
- Spreading of knowledge about existing official transformations from national coordinate reference systems to those required and used in INSPIRE.
- Support to the transformation between these coordinate reference systems.
- Transformation of data referenced to national grids to the INSPIRE geographical grids.
E.g.: CRS-EU (Coordinate Reference Systems in Europe - www.crs-geo.eu).
· INSPIRE Generic
- Establishment and management of processes to achieve interoperability.
- Cooperation between administrations and organizations at different levels.
E.g.: PNOT (PNOA - http://pnoa.ign.es/; PNT - http://pnt.ign.es/; SIOSE - http://www.siose.es/).
B.3) Existing pan-European products
This is an inventory of existing pan-European products, or cross-national data sets which has been used in an international, cross-border context to satisfy certain needs.
Information about the past or current use of such data sets may help to identify their lacks and gaps (up-to-date condition, insufficient resolution, poor quality, new prototypes) - e.g. EU-DEM, EURODEM, prototypes for a new EURODEM30 product and a new ELF Orthoimagery service, or EMODnet Bathymetry data.
B.4) Information on data transformation experiences and software tools applicable in the scope
Experiences from participating members when transforming their data according to the INSPIRE rules, including the use and application of software tools, could be helpful in drafting a list of existing solutions to be applied and followed for the INSPIRE implementation - e.g. FME, HALE.