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News
Award ceremony celebrates outstanding European Spatial Data Infrastructures
Twelve outstanding Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) from 9 European countries were highly commended at an International Conference in Turin on November 26th and 27th 2009 in Turin, Italy. The aim of the event was to highlight promising SDI solutions in Europe, to exchange experiences and to learn from each other. The twelve award winners were selected from 135 regional and local Spatial Data Infrastructures in 26 countries in Europe.
The conference was organised by the European project eSDI-Net+ and hosted by Regione Piemonte. It attracted an international audience of about 130 professionals engaged in SDI and related GI activities at the European, national, regional and local levels.
Speakers presented their solutions, focusing on the key factors of their success. Besides the provision of viewing services, information exchange with the user community and free of charge data provision, the speakers emphasized the necessity to start small and grow up fast. "Don't think that you can provide the final solution on one day; start to build up a small corner. The users will validate it by its application and give you their feedback. So you can start on working on the next step." (Steve Brandwood, UK)
The main message for the Award Jury was that "each Spatial Data Infrastructure is a special case." The diversity of experiences made was a fundamental challenge for the Jury. Facing the difficulty of comparing "apple and pears, oranges and potatoes" Jury, consisting of 6 GI experts, decided to highly commend all twelve SDIs.
The SDI Best Practice Award is part of the eSDI-Net+ project, a thematic network co-funded by the eContentplus Programme of the European Commission. It aims to bring together key European SDI stakeholders to share knowledge and to provide a platform for communication and knowledge exchange at all levels, from local to global. The Network identifies working, accessible and intelligible solutions, as it communicates the purpose and aims of INSPIRE; it also encourages local collaboration in setting up innovative solutions.
Previous to the Award, all SDIs in Europe were invited to submit their best practice and be part of the fast growing network of SDIs. After an initial evaluation of the applications, a number of promising SDIs has been selected for detailed interviews to provide further information. Each interviewed SDI was evaluated by the national representatives of the eSDI-Net+ project, focusing on the key aspects such as:
- Technological, innovative level and originality of the project
- Implementation and/or readiness for INSPIRE principles
- Level of fostering cooperation between different users (proof of visibility and/or user feedback)
- Possibility of extension or transfer to other countries and regions
Further information on the Awards can be seen at http://www.esdinetplus.eu/news/news.html.
Contact
eSDI-Net+ Project
Technische Universität Darmstadt, FB GRIS,
Darmstadt, Germany
Dr. Joachim Rix
Phone +49 6151 155 221
Swetlana Fast
Phone +49 6151 155 405
Fax +49 6151 155 444
Email: coordinator@esdinetplus.eu
www.esdinetplus.eu
eSDI-NET+ newsletter 02/2009
Please download the PDF newsletter 02/2009: eSDI-NET+ newsletter 02/2009 (94 kB)
eSDI-Net+ at the GSDI11 World Conference
eSDI-Net+ project organised a two-part workshop "Lessons Learned and Best Practices from GI-SDI Projects I: Examples of eContentplus Projects" at the GSDI11 World Conference. Part I of this workshop "The eContentplus Program and the eSDI-Net+ Network" was dedicated especially to the experiences made within the eSDI-Net+ project so far.
The common framework for the two workshops 3.4 and 4.4 was based on SDI INSPIRE related best practices addressed by five co-funded EC projects, one of them concerning a European wide case analysis (eSDI-Net+) and the four others concerning eContentplus thematic implementations (GIS4EU, EURADIN, NATURE-SDIplus, and OneGeology-Europe). The Workshops created the opportunity for all five projects to present their lessons learnt and their best practices identified, to show their overlapping interest and synergies.
Both workshops were intended to transfer knowledge about the methodologies applied for such projects, best practices, technical aspects and organisational constraints, as well as to provide the attendees with tools for enhancing SDI implementation approaches on other domains.
Both workshops started with an introduction on the target and the perspectives of the eContentplus programme of the European Commission, which sets the path for all projects. Within this program the eSDI-Net+ project as a thematic network follows the approach to bring together the stakeholders of the SDI community to strengthen the development and build up further awareness. eSDI-Net+ component focuses on the identification and analysis of best practices mostly from sub national level, bringing a European wide picture of the current situation and defining an evaluation framework for further implementation. The workshop attendees had the opportunity to share experiences and perspectives, discuss the results obtained and interact about the evaluation process, being expected to acquire the basic knowledge for further engagement through follow up initiatives.
More information is available at http://www.gsdi.org/gsdi11/workshops.html.
eSDI-NET+ newsletter 01/2009
Please download the PDF newsletter 01/2009: eSDI-NET+ newsletter 01/2009 (4 kB)
eSDI-NET+ newsletter 08/2008
Please download the PDF newsletter 08/2008: eSDI-NET+ newsletter 08/2008 (4 kB)
Lokale GDIs im europäischen Kontext - Eine nationale Perspektive
The workshop "Local GDIs in European context - a national perspective" is held by INI-GraphicsNet Foundation in cooperation with InGeoForum. The following information is in German.
Das InGeoForum und die INI-GraphicsNet Stiftung laden im Rahmen des eSDI-Net+ Projektes der Europäischen Kommission zu dem Workshop ein "Lokale GDIs im europäischen Kontext - Eine nationale Perspektive"
Der Workshop richtet sich an Geodateninfrastrukturen (GDIs) aus dem deutschsprachigen Raum sowie an alle am Thema Geoinformationen (GI) und INSPIRE Interessierten.
Ziel der von den eSDI-Net+ Projektpartnern organisierten Workshops ist es, den Dialog über das Thema GI von der lokalen auf die europäische Ebene auszuweiten und zu vertiefen.
Identification and Analysis of Spatial Data Infrastructures Best Practices
Towards the SDI Best Practice Award 2009
GET INVOLVED!
August 2008 - Through the currently on going process for the Identification and Analysis of SDI Best Practices at sub national level, the ESDI-Net+ project offers limited opportunity for SDI's throughout European countries and regions to present themselves in personal interviews and local workshops both to Spatial Data Experts and local SDI stakeholders.
Following to the Identification and Analysis of Best Practices, outstanding European SDI initiatives and solutions will be awarded in 2009. Aiming to give all relevant initiatives the chance for participating, as well as provide inputs for the definition of the key references and criteria, the SDI's throughout Europe are welcome to pre-register for this process.
SDIs that wish to pre-register are kindly invited to submit their application.
SDI Best Practice Workshops
March 2008 - The eSDI-Net+ consortium is currently working on a thematic workshop concept for the assessment of SDI Best Practice. The objective is to initiate a dialogue between the SDI stakeholders at the local, regional and national levels and foster exchange of best practices.
In the course of these workshops relevant thematic/regional SDI initiatives will be reviewed in order to identify best-practice solutions at sub-national or thematic level that exist throughout Europe.
In order to analyse the reusability and interoperability solutions of the respective SDIs the following indicators will be applied to measure and identify best-practice:
- SDI usage assessment
- Networking people assessment
- Socio-economic impact analysis
- Organisational assessment
- Coping with legal aspects
- Technical functionalities/facilities/components.
The workshops will be held in the following countries/regions: South East; Benelux; Scandinavia; Italy; UK/Ireland; Poland/Czech Republic/Hungary; Germany/Austria/ Switzerland; Spain/Portugal; France.
In the upcoming months we will provide you with more detailed information to the workshops here in the NEWS section. If you desire more information upfront or would like to participate / present your SDI in the workshops please contact us for further information.
Article about the eSDI-Net+ project and EUROGI published in Chile
The National SDI newsletter published by the Government of Chile on December 2008, features an article about the eSDI-Net+ project and EUROGI.
Invited by the Director Coronel Rodrigo Barriga of the Instituto Geografico Militar (IGM) of Chile, EUROGIS President and eSDI-Net+ GI Content Expert Mauro Salvemini delivered a presentation at the workshop of January 16, 2008 dedicated to Spatial Data Infrastructure and Geodynamics.
Based on the presentation and follow up work the article titled How to evaluate an monitor SDI - The case study of ESDI-Netplus project has been published (in Spanish and English).
The eSDI-Net+ project and the underlying methodology have been highlighted as a reference for the identification and analysis of SDI Best Practices.
See Newsletter Cover and References
See Article by Mauro Salvemini (Pages 13-17) (Spanish and English)
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