Identification and Analysis of SDI Best Practices - National Perspective

These activities towards the identification and analysis of existing SDI solutions at the sub-national level and promotion of the best practice and knowledge exchange between stakeholders involved in the creation and use of SDIs encompassed mainly the development of a common assessment methodology and the organisation of national workshops. 12 national and regional SDI Best Practice workshops organised by the eSDI-Net+ network are the most important communication mechanism between the European and local levels, implemented to maximise the benefits of INSPIRE, GMES and GALILEO, regarding digital GI content.

Within the work package 2 and in particular in the national and regional SDI Best Practice workshops significant results were achieved towards characterisation of the existing SDI implementations throughout Europe. The workshops focussed on common issues, usability and socio-economic impact of SDIs and addressed the integration between SDIs and e-government policies. They brought together stakeholders, and showed use cases and questions.

The table below illustrates the timeline and status of the activities towards the selection of SDIs good practices for the Best Practice Award in Turin, on November 26-27, 2009.

Figure 1: SDI Selection Timeline

The identification and analysis of best practices in SDIs was based on the common methodology for the evaluation of SDI solutions developed at the beginning of the project and the recommendations for running the national workshops described in the deliverable D2.1 List of common parameters to assess SDI initiatives. The workshop organisers applied the common assessment methodology and the SDI selection procedure to their national circumstances (see figure 2 below).

Figure 2: Used procedure to identify and analyse best practices for national workshops

In general, the SDI assessment methodology and process applied have been considered as suitable to be introduced in the governmental work during the implementation of INSPIRE. The methodology considers the cultural, technical and legal differences in different European countries and provides a common evaluation framework applicable for SDIs in Europe.

In order to use experiences and lessons learnt for the next steps towards the SDI best practice selection at the European level, consortium suggests a number of adaptations of the assessment criteria in order to create a strong evaluation basis for the SDI Best Practice Award 2009. First of all, the eSDI-Net+ consortium suggests the classification of the information used for the SDI assessment in five main criteria:

Quantitative aspects
Data and services quality
Co-operation and subsidiarity
Sustainability
Users and usability

In the framework of these five major criteria groups, indicators are currently being defined to obtain detailed information about the SDI.

Based on the work performed within the work package 2, the next step towards the promotion and dissemination of SDI best practices in Europe is currently in preparation, the SDI Best Practice Award 2009. Following to the described identification and analysis process, the eSDI-Net+ project will award the European SDI Best Practices at sub-national level on November 26-27, 2009. The overall competition will be based on the SDI evaluation criteria and indicators which were defined during the process of SDI analysis.

Through the currently ongoing process for the Identification and Analysis of SDI Best Practices at sub-national level, the eSDI-Net+ project offers limited opportunity for SDIs throughout European countries and regions to present themselves in personal interviews and at the SDI Best Practice Award 2009, both to Spatial Data Experts and local SDI stakeholders. The aim of this international event is to give SDIs the chance for participating, as well as provide input for the definition of the key references and criteria.

The Award Announcement including further details about the SDI Best Practice Award is available here. The report on experiences made towards the SDI selection process will be published at this website after the finalisation of the SDI selection process and the end of the work package 2.