INSPIRE
Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe
MIG temporary sub-group on Persistent Identifier (PID) – DRAFT Terms of Reference
Title / MIG temporary sub-group on Persistent Identifier (PID) – DRAFT Terms of ReferenceCreator / Christian Ansorge
Date created / 2014-11-25
Date modified / 2014-11-25
Subject / Terms of reference (ToR) for the temporary MIG sub-group on Persistent Identifier (PID)
Publisher / EC and EEA INSPIRE Team
Type / Text
Description / This document contains the terms of reference (ToR) for the temporary MIG sub-group on Persistent Identifier (PID). It is based on ToR of the “Commission expert group on INSPIRE Implementation and Maintenance” (MIG). The sub-group addressed task MIWP-4 (PID but not RDF related issues) proposed in the rolling INSPIRE maintenance and implementation work programme.
Contributor
Format / MS Word (docx)
Identifier / http://inspire.ec.europa.eu/mig/tor/4-PID
Language / En
Status / Draft
Preface
According to Art. 7(4) of the INSPIRE MIG’s terms of reference[1], “in agreement with the Commission services, the permanent INSPIRE MIG sub-groups may set up temporary sub-groups to examine specific questions on the basis of terms of reference defined by the permanent INSPIRE MIG sub-groups. Such temporary sub-groups shall be disbanded as soon as their mandate is fulfilled. In particular, sub-groups shall be tasked to work on specific issues related to the maintenance or implementation of INSPIRE.”
This document describes the background for setting up such a temporary MIG subgroup on Persistent Identifier (PID) and sets out its terms of reference.
The terms of reference are based on a common document template for temporary MIG sub-groups. Boilerplate text from the common template is highlighted in grey.
Background
The INSPIRE Directive lays down a range of specification and requirements which regulate what and how spatial data have to be made available according to INSPIRE. A part of these requirements are the usage of identifiers to uniquely identify features and other INSPIRE objects across Member States. Persistency in this context is one of many characteristics of these identifiers. Persistent Identifiers are part of spatial data, metadata and service specification which has to be implemented by the Member States.
Persistent Identifiers (PID) are essential for identification and retrieval of datasets, metadata, services and other objects within the INSPIRE infrastructure, but build on a common syntax for resolvable and durable URI's.
The issue of PID was first identified by the MIWP-4: Managing and using http URIs for INSPIRE identifiers[2], which was additionally also addressing the RDF representation of INSPIRE data. MIWP-4 as such wasn’t endorsed by the MIG-P from the beginning. Still, issues regarding the application of identifiers (especially Spatial Object Identifier) within the INSPIRE technical framework are still unsolved:
· There are no common guidelines on the creation and rules for governance of spatial object identifiers within INSPIRE while the Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 is demanding its uniqueness and persistency during the life-time of the spatial object
· There are no clear use cases and functional requirements for identifiers within INSPIRE technical framework. These use cases have to be developed in order to give functional requirements to other MIWPs working on identifiers as part of their domain.
Therefore it was decided to specify the major issues related to identifiers know until now (Annex 1) and to propose an own MIG temporary sub-group on Persistent Identifier (PID) for endorsement. The main objectives of the sub-group are related to the issues identified and descripted as Annex 1 to this terms of reference:
· To develop use cases for identifiers in the INSPIRE legal and technical framework
· To derive functional requirements from the developed use cases
· To focus on the identified issues regarding the spatial object identifiers as starting point
o Identify and evaluate best practices by implementing countries
o Develop common guidelines for the creation and governance of the spatial object identifiers
o Elaborate technical solutions supporting use cases based on the spatial object identifier
A more specific working plan targeting these main objectives will be developed by the working work after endorsement of the terms of reference. Already ongoing activities by other technical working groups within the MIF addressing the issue of persistent identifiers (e.g. by MIWP-8 or MIWP-6) shall be taken into account and organised most efficiently.
Terms of reference for the temporary MIG sub-group on <topic>
Article 1
Set up of the temporary MIG sub-group on <topic>
The temporary MIG sub-group on Persistent Identifier (PID), hereinafter referred to as “the temporary sub-group”, is set up as a temporary sub-group of the Commission expert group on INSPIRE Implementation and Maintenance (INSPIRE MIG), in accordance with Art. 7(4) of the INSPIRE MIG’s terms of reference.
Article 2
Scope, tasks and outcomes
1. The scope of the sub-group shall be to ensure that persistent identifiers as part of the INSPIRE legal-technical framework present no obstacle to the implementation of the Directive.
2. The tasks of the temporary sub-group shall be:
· Develop an agreed work-plan to achieve the main objectives
A. Based on an overview of the identifiers within INSPIRE, define the scope and role of selected groups of identifiers (e.g. identifiers used for the interoperability of spatial data sets and services).
o Specify the use case and derive functional requirements for the usage of identifiers within the INSPIRE technical framework.
o Identify and list documents or other resources addressing the creation, design and management of PIDs related to the legal and technical framework of INSPIRE including countries best practices.
o Identify inconsistencies between INSPIRE documentation and legal or technical implementation.
B. Solve issues related to INSPIRE spatial object identifier as a main focus
o Evaluate existing best practices from the implementing countries
o Develop common guidelines for the creation of INSPIRE Spatial Object Identifier considering
· Governance rules
· Different technologies
· Uniqueness, persistency and further functional requirements.
C. Elaborate operational systems and tools to support identifiers use cases
o Overview of existing tools to support creation and management of identifiers
o Specify requirements for register, validation procedures and redirection use cases
3. The temporary sub-group shall produce the following outcomes / deliverables:
A. Propose measures to support the implementation of INSPIRE taking into account the technical and legal requirements towards persistent identifiers and their already existing implementation in the countries (report on identified issues, state of play and proposed measures) – until 2015-09-30.
B. Implement selected measures proposed by Art. 2(3a) – until 2015-12-31.
Article 3
Planned duration, effort and criteria for completion of work
1. The temporary sub-group is expected to be active from 2015-03-01 to 2015-12-31. At the end of this period, the MIG shall assess if the mandate of the sub-group should be extended, e.g. to address specific implementation tasks.
2. Members of the temporary sub-group are expected to contribute to the work with an effort of around 20 days for the period stated in Art. 3(1).
3. The work will be considered completed and the temporary sub-group will be disbanded when all deliverables have been completed and endorsed by the MIG.
Article 4
Membership – Appointment
1. The members of the temporary sub-group shall be selected by the INSPIRE MIG permanent sub-groups, in agreement with the Commission, from the INSPIRE pool of experts[3] and the representatives of the INSPIRE MIG permanent sub-groups.
2. The selection shall be based on proposals of experts by the members of the MIG permanent sub-groups and applications of experts included in the pool of experts or the MIG permanent sub-groups following a call for participation in the temporary sub-group.
3. The temporary sub-group shall have a maximum of 15 members.
4. The members of the temporary sub-group should have expertise in one or several of the following areas:
a. INSPIRE implementation experience related to identifiers on different levels (metadata, data specifications, services)
b. Data base management and design
c. Web identifications (e.g. URI, URL, PURL, URN, Life cycle identifications, etc.)
5. When selecting members for the temporary sub-group, the INSPIRE MIG should aim at striking a balance within the temporary sub-group in terms of representativeness of members, gender and geographical origin.
6. The Commission may invite experts from outside the pool of experts with specific competence in a subject on the agenda to participate in the work of a temporary sub-group on an ad hoc basis. In addition, the Commission’s representative may give observer status to individuals, organisations as defined in Rule 8(3) of the horizontal rules on expert groups and candidate countries.
7. Members of the temporary sub-group are appointed for the duration needed to complete the planned work (see Article 3).
8. Members of the temporary sub-group who are no longer capable of contributing effectively to the work or who resign may be replaced.
9. If necessary during the course of its work (e.g. because specific expertise is missing), the temporary sub-group may request additional experts to be selected by the MIG.
10. Personal data shall be collected, processed and published in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001.
Article 5
Operation
1. The INSPIRE MIG shall appoint a facilitator from among the members of the sub-group. The facilitator shall chair the temporary sub-group and liaise with the MIG.
2. The sub-group shall regularly inform the MIG about its progress and can request guidance from the MIG when needed.
3. Secretarial services shall be provided by the JRC in collaboration with the European Environment Agency (EEA).
4. Members of the temporary sub-groups, as well as invited experts and observers, shall comply with the obligations of professional secrecy laid down by the Treaties and their implementing rules, as well as with the Commission's rules on security regarding the protection of EU classified information, laid down in the Annex to Commission Decision of 29 November 2001 amending its internal Rules of Procedure 2001/844/EC, ECSC, Euratom. Should they fail to respect these obligations, the Commission may take all appropriate measures.
5. In order to cut down costs and commitments, the meetings of the temporary sub-group should, where possible, be organised virtually (i.e. using tele-, video- or web-conferencing facilities).
6. Commission officials with an interest in the proceedings may attend meetings of the temporary sub-group.
7. The physical and intellectual products generated by the members of the temporary sub-group under these terms of reference will remain the property of the Commission. Any published deliverable or paper will acknowledge the authorship and other contributions of the members of the temporary sub-group. Such deliverables or papers will be made available in accordance with the European Commission Decision of 12 December 2011 on re-use of Commission documents, without restrictions on access and re-use for commercial and non-commercial purposes.
Article 6
Expert remuneration and meeting expenses
1. Participants in the activities of the temporary sub-groups shall not be remunerated for the services they render.
2. Travel and subsistence expenses incurred by participants in the activities of the temporary sub-group shall be reimbursed by the Commission in accordance with the provisions in force within the Commission.
Annex 1: Summary of issues
These are the currently identified issues by beginning of December 2014. Additional issues identified can be proposed to the MIG-T. These list of issues shall be kept as Annex 1 to the Terms of Reference. The scope of identifying and structuring the issues is to support the general tasks (Article 2 of the Terms of Reference). While not every task has to be explicitly triggered by an issue, every issue shall be associated with a task.
Priority
This is a classification in priority levels of the issues. The priority of the issues is only indicated by this attribute and not by the order of the issues.
Type
Each issue can be of different types. The list of types shall be extended during the process of issue identification, following the needs.
A / Package: scope and role of PID in INSPIRE
A1 / Use case for PIDs within the INSPIRE framework unclear / High (precondition) / Conceptual
A2 / INSPIRE related documents addressing PIDs aren’t clearly identified / Medium / Research
A3 / INSPIRE documents might contain inconsistencies / High / Governance; Conceptual
B / Package: INSPIRE object identifier
B1 / Guidelines for the implementation of the INSPIRE Spatial Object Identifier not identified or missing / High / Conceptual
B2 / INSPIRE Spatial Object Identifier management rules are missing / High / Governance; Conceptual
B3 / No mechanism for uniqueness of the attributes of the INSPIRE Spatial Object Identifier in place / High / Conceptual; Implementation; Governance
C / Package: Operational systems and tools
C1 / Operational systems and their processes related to PID management not specified / Medium / Implementation; Governance
Activities
The following issues are planned to be processed within the work of this work package.
A – This package contains several sub issues related to the scope and role of PID within the INSPIRE legal and technical framework
A1 – Use case for PIDs within the INSPIRE framework unclear
Description: The use case of PIDs within the framework of INSPIRE is inconsistent between the INSPIRE Generic Conceptual Model, INSPIRE specifications and its actual implementation. This leads to unclear requirements towards the design (e.g. persistency and uniqueness) and governance of identifiers. The use case of PIDs and functional requirements have to be developed in order to derive consistent requirements for all further activities.
Action: Specify the use case and derive functional requirements for the usage of PIDs within the INSPIRE technical framework.
A2 – INSPIRE related documents addressing PIDs aren’t clearly identified
Description: It can be assumed that the implementing countries and communities already developed guideline, documents and best practices for use cases, issues, design and implementation of PID related to INSPIRE. Furthermore is the PID topic mentioned in several technical and legal documents on European level. These documents aren’t clearly identified yet and they have to be listed for any further action or decision on e.g. spatial object identifiers.