Initiatives taken by the Commission to establish a European geographic information infrastructure

Abstract

In its Green Paper entitled Public sector information: a key resource for Europe, published in January 1999, the Commission expresses concern about the low level of dissemination of public sector information by EU countries. The report states that “the ready availability of public information is an absolute prerequisite for the competitiveness of European industry. In this respect, EU companies are at a serious competitive disadvantage compared to their American counterparts, which benefit from a highly developed, efficient public information system at all levels of the administration”. Geographical information is no exception to this rule. European diversity in data policy and its interpretation, in data specification, in pricing and access rules, in private/public sector relationships, is holding back the development of a single market and the growth of the European economy. In the near future, in Europe, the governments should freely access and exploit GI in decision making and solving the pressing political bottlenecks in society, such as a social exclusion, security and health. The public sector should work in full partnership with, and encouraging, the private sector to provide information via electronic systems. European citizens should use GI for participation in the public decision making processes, and use many services. GI usage should be far more embedded in education programs. The research community should build up a knowledge infrastructure to be exploited through many knowledge centres. A way to achieve all these objectives is to create a European Geographic Information Infrastructure. The paper prepared by Eurostat describes the initiatives already taken by the Commission in this direction: GI2000, the creation of EUROGI, the RD projects, the drafting of a first document on a vision for the EGII and the creation of an interservice group to discuss the use of GI and GIS inside the Commission.