Report (phases 1 & 2 & 3) / 2016-12-19
/ 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 & 3 - Report
Author(s) / Jordi EscriuReviewed by
Approved by / Robert Tomas
Date of Approval
Title / INSPIRE Thematic cluster Elevation, Orthoimagery, Reference systems and Geographical grids. Phases 1 & 2 & 3 – Report
Creator / Jordi Escriu
Date of last revision / 19.12.2016
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, main activities organized by the cluster and proposals for changes to the setting up and operation of the platform and the Thematic Cluster initiative.
It is the 2016 yearly report for the third 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 –report
INSPIRE Thematic cluster on Elevation, Orthoimagery, Reference systems and Geographical grids / p. 1 of 37
Report (phases 1 & 2 & 3) / 2016-12-19
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1. Purpose and Scope
1.2. Structure of the report
2. The use of the INSPIRE Thematic Cluster on Elevation, Orthoimagery, Reference systems and Geographical grids
2.1. Members
2.2. Content
2.2.1. Type of resources
2.2.2. Resources per category
2.3. Discussion topics
2.3.1. Number, status and distribution of discussions
2.3.2. Overview of discussions
2.4. Activity
2.4.1. Most active discussions topics
2.5. Cluster activities
2.5.1. Alignment of the Thematic Cluster with the relevant communities
2.5.2. Additional promotional activities
2.5.3. Networking
2.5.4. Future activities
3. INSPIRE thematic clusters – SW environment
3.1. Information on how to use the platform
3.1.1. Add a page with clear instructions to use the platform
3.2. Structure
3.2.1. Create a new read-only cluster to deal with cross-cluster discussions
3.3. Functionality
3.3.1. Analyse problems in accessing to the platform due to the authentication process
3.3.2. System to trace and award active participation from cluster members
4. Current and planned support and pilot activities
4.1. Overview of the experience supporting Thematic Cluster community
4.1.1. Phase 1
4.1.2. Phase 2
4.1.3. Phase 3
4.2. Proposals for MIG-T MIWP-14 – Main outcomes from the cluster
4.3. Workshop Implementation and Potential of Coverage Data and WCS – outcomes and results
4.4. Upcoming and planned support activities
5. Recommendations and conclusions
5.1. Empowering engagement and activity
5.2. Proposals for future activities
5.3. Final conclusions
INSPIRE Thematic cluster on Elevation, Orthoimagery, Reference systems and Geographical grids / p. 1 of 37Report (phases 1 & 2 & 3) / 2016-12-19
1.Introduction
1.1.Purpose and Scope
This report isthe deliverable D1 “Report on the use of the on-line thematic platform” as defined in Annex 2: Chapter 7 of the Expert contract C393271. The report describes theactivities 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 2describes 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 3presents 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, and the first stage of Phase 3. Ithighlights information about:
a) Theproposals for changes and amendments to the INSPIRE technical guidelines agreed in the cluster, which were forwarded to and endorsed by MIG-T MIWP-14.
b) The workshop activity organized as the main activity of the cluster during the initial stage of Phase 3.
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 sectionprovides an overview of the content already included to the thematic cluster platform anddescribes 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 describesthe methodology and the enumeration of activitiesput 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 the content is relevant to a specific single theme.
2.1.Members
Thematic Cluster #3is composed of123 memberstill the date of last revision of this report, corresponding to the first part of Phase 3 at the end of the year 2016. This constitutes an increment of a 17 % with respect to the end of Phase 2 (105 members).
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 withtheINSPIRE Knowledge Exchange Network, INSPIRE-KEN. However, additional important data producer communities are being progressively involved in the cluster through the cluster activities: EMODnet bathymetry, IHO, national hydrographic offices and river basin district offices from Member States,or Copernicus stakeholders.
- Existing and potential users of this data.
Elevation and Orthoimagery data ispresent 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 includesa variety of communities,those working at the European level - e.g. European Commission agencies and related organizations and Copernicususers 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 andconnect 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 whichhave to implement the requirements and recommendations of the Coordinate reference systems and Geographical grid systems themes.
The Thematic Cluster shall continue encouraging the involvement and 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 linkof 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 joinedto any of the subgroups in the cluster).
The graphic reflects a quite uniform distribution of the cluster members in the diffreent subgroups. Those more populated are the Orthoimagery subgroup (33 members) and the Elevation subgroup (32 members).
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 thata 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 availablethrough Thematic Cluster #3 may be summarized according to the following list of resource types:
- 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 contentwhich is already published in the discussion thread.
Till the date of last revision of this report (part of Phase 3 corresponding to 2016),the platform is provided with 50 discussion topics. A description of the current discussion topics is provided in section 2.3 of this document.
- Contentpages
Outcomesfrom the cluster are usually documented instatic content pages in the platform, either at the level of the main group or at the sub-group level.
In this first part of Phase 3, the cluster has 21 top-level pages used for structuring and classifying contents. Such contents, which are those really helpful, are documented in 29static pagesdevoted to different resource types:
B.1) Successful experiences in delivering pan-European products
This kind of resourcesrepresentsexisting best practiceswhich 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 - eENVplus ( 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 -
- INSPIRE Generic
-Establishment and management of processes to achieve interoperability.
-Cooperation between administrations and organizations at different levels.
E.g.: PNOT (PNOA - PNT - SIOSE -
B.3) Existing pan-European products
This is an inventory of existing pan-European products, or cross-national datasets 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 datatransformation 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.
Such experiences may illustrate other participants to deal with specific doubts or difficulties by learning from good examplesfrom expert members, which are ahead in the implementation.
B.5) Proposals for MIG-T MIWP14 subgroup
A number of discussion topics were mature enough tostart producingoutcomes in the cluster. These results have been documented in pages. They areoften common agreements from the communities to solve specific issues or errors, and constitute proposals for changing the INSPIREtechnical guidelines, or even the implementing rules in certain cases.
The first collection of proposals changes and additions to the Implementing Rule on Interoperability of Spatial Datasets and Services and the INSPIRE Technical Guidelineswas forwarded to MIGT MIWP-14 subgroup at the end of Phase 2.
See section 4.2 for more information about the status of these outcomes.
B.6) Relevant and useful documentation
The platform also includes useful documentation that may help people accessing to be introduced in the technical guidelines (e.g. presentations explaining the last version of the data specifications), to know about relevant events that influenced their content, to understand specific issues (e.g. technical workshops or reports), etc.
B.7) News and upcoming events
News and events related to the scope of the thematic cluster, including its own activities(e.g. upcoming conferences, congresses, symposiums, workshops, webinars, courses, approval and development of new standards, etc.) are regularly announced to properly inform people accessing to the platform.
Till the end of 2016, Thematic Cluster #3 counts with 26 news itemspublishedin the platform, all of them in the main group of the cluster.
- Files uploaded
Apart from linking external resources available on the Internet, the platform has the possibility to upload files to both, discussion topics and content pages.
During this the first part of Phase 3, Thematic Cluster #3 counts with 75 files uploaded to the platform.
2.2.2.Resources percategory
The resources included in the platform, regardless of their type (section 2.2.1), may be classified according to predefined categories, managed by the administrator of the Thematic Clusters site. Each category provides an orientation about the subject to which the resource is related to. The list of available categories is shown in the following chart.
Such classification may help cluster members and other people accessing to the platform to filter and identify the resources related to a specific category, according to their interests.
When members open a new discussion topic, they are also able to assign their own classification keywords to the reported issue, question, experience, etc. by using appropriate tags. Tagging provides additional capabilities to filter and identify interesting resources.
The pie chart below shows the number of resources in Thematic Cluster #3 related to each category foreseen in the platform, accompanied by the corresponding percentage.
It is really interesting to highlight that the categories most used across the platform, in decreasing order of usage, are:
- ‘Data provision’ (18% of resources);
- ‘Member State issues’ (16%);
- ‘Interoperability’ (15%);
- ‘Encoding’ (13%);
- ‘SW Tools’, i.e. software tools (9%);
- ‘Best practices’ (6%);
- ‘EU Thematic databases’ (5%);
- Other categories which lower percentages;
This reveals the final objective of the thematic clusters initiative, which is supporting Member States in solving issues related to the implementation of the Directive (INSPIRE data provision, implementation issues, solutions for the interoperability, how to encode the data, examples of applications and experiences, best practices, etc.).
These figures also demonstrate that the activity of Thematic Cluster #3 has been well-oriented at content level during Phases 1 and 2, and continuing in the first part of Phase 3.
In addition, the stacked column chart provided below these linesshows the percentage of resources per each category foreseen in the platform[2], at different levels of it.