EuroGeographics and ESDIN showcase data services

04 February 2010, 5:34pm

EuroGeographics and the ESDIN consortium partners yesterday, 3rd February 2010, demonstrated prototypes of their web services delivering the location framework for Europe to support initiatives including Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES), the Shared Environmental Information System and implementation of the INSPIRE Directive, at the Institute Géographique National in St Mandé, near Paris.

Over 60 delegates from 18 countries attended the second ESDIN stakeholders meeting to hear reports of the project’s progress during 2009 and see demonstrations of the prototype services which will deliver pan-European reference data based upon the definitive and authoritative official geographic information from the European Union Member States, European Free Trade Association States and other European countries.

The services, already at an advanced development stage, are designed to meet a wide range of user requirements for geospatial reference data covering Europe.

“Our vision of one Europe united through geographic information is dependent upon
our members, industry and academic partners working together to combine their knowledge, skills and experience to deliver cutting-edge solutions for today’s mobile community,” says Dorine Burmanje, EuroGeographics’ President. “Through our best practice and engagement activities and our products and services, we aim to provide the location framework for Europe on which others rely.”

“Cooperation and collaboration with both users and suppliers are vital to achieving this and we are delighted to be leading the ESDIN consortium that addresses the location information needs for global social, economic and environmental challenges.”

Antti Jakobsson, EuroGeographics’ Programme Manager who has responsibility for delivering ESDIN, told the meeting: "EuroGeographics and ESDIN are leading the way in providing solutions to reliably and cost-effectively download, use and re-use the definitive, authoritative and official geographical information from the national mapping, land registry and cadastral agencies of Europe. These solutions are built on the defined requirements of users and will assist in joining up information from a wide range of other data providers including the information
collected from space sensors.”

In summing up a successful workshop with key users and suppliers of spatial data, Dave Lovell, Executive Director of EuroGeographics said: “Projects such as ESDIN demonstrate the progress that can be made when people from different communities work together with a common purpose.”

“The ESDIN project partners have shown today that the national mapping, land registry and cadastral agencies, working with academic and industry experts, can provide many of the geographic information needs of Europe. The services developed by this collaboration demonstrate that a European location framework, based upon the reference data already available from national mapping, land registry and cadastral agencies, is within our grasp.”

EuroGeographics

ESDIN Project

Geo: International