The progress in GISCO 2000/2001 Working Document E/GIS/44 By Anette Björnsson anette.bjoernsson@cec.eu.int

Structure of the presentation GISCO reference database update Reference database architecture Spatial analysis Relations with the GISCO user Community New projects in GISCO

GISCO reference database update General update update of the NUTS/SABE link Inclusion of coastlines and lakeshores Inclusion of climate data Inclusion of gazetteer data During the last year 3 new data sets have been included in the GISCO reference database. The Climate data comes from the MARS meteorological database. It contains data from 1500 meteo observations across the European continent. The gazetteer data comes from NIMA. The contents of this is location, class, designation and names of features for each country Two new layers on coastlines and lakeshores has been created Two general updates have taken place in October 2000 and May 2001

During the last year 3 new data sets have been included in the GISCO reference database. The Climate data comes from the MARS meteorological database. It contains data from 1500 meteo observations across the European continent. The gazetteer data comes from NIMA. The contents of this is location, class, designation and names of features for each country Two new layers on coastlines and lakeshores has been created Two general updates have taken place in October 2000 and May 2001

Climate data During the last year 3 new data sets have been included in the GISCO reference database. The Climate data comes from the MARS meteorological database. It contains data from 1500 meteo observations across the European continent. The gazetteer data comes from NIMA. The contents of this is location, class, designation and names of features for each country Two new layers on coastlines and lakeshores has been created Two general updates have taken place in October 2000 and May 2001

During the last year 3 new data sets have been included in the GISCO reference database. The Climate data comes from the MARS meteorological database. It contains data from 1500 meteo observations across the European continent. The gazetteer data comes from NIMA. The contents of this is location, class, designation and names of features for each country Two new layers on coastlines and lakeshores has been created Two general updates have taken place in October 2000 and May 2001

Reference database architecture The new archietcture is: Object oriented geodatabase Spatial and attribute data in a relational database Follows ArcGIS and ISO 19115 for metadata Currently focusing on migration of database Already last year it was mentioned that a new architecture was being tested for the GISCO reference database. The new architecture is (points from above). Currently the work focuses on the conversion of selected GISCO layers to a Geodatabase, the development of tools for converting data to and from the Geodatabase, the conversion of existing metadata to the ISO 19115 standard, the development of a map production tool for in-house creation of statistical maps, tools for generalising and updating spatial data, and the development of an Intranet application for data display and download.

Spatial analysis Project on geographical disaggregation of statistical data main objective: disaggregation of 1991 population data at commune level using CORINE land cover classes main conclusion: after disaggregation there is no longer the effect from border regions of different areal size The reason for making this project is that in EU there are communes with very different sizes looking at both areas and population. A skewness is therefore introduced where large areas with small population exists together with small areas with large population. The following population densities are difficult to compare. To avoid this problem this project was carried out with the aim of disaggregating the population using the CORINE land cover classes. The project succeeded in doing this.

Result of disaggregation Population density before disaggregation Population density after disaggregation The reason for making this project is that in EU there are communes with very different sizes looking at both areas and population. A skewness is therefore introduced where large areas with small population exists together with small areas with large population. The following population densities are difficult to compare. To avoid this problem this project was carried out with the aim of disaggregating the population using the CORINE land cover classes. The project succeeded in doing this.

Relations with the GISCO users usual yearly meetings with GISCO users and contributors GIS Framework contract Special projects: E-ESDI NATURA 2000 ESPON As is usually the case during a project year for GISCO we’ve had meetings in the User and technical Committees and twice in the COGI. I’m not going to spent time on these as the first two for a have very few points and the points of the COGI will be presented tomorrow under point 3 and 4 The projects of specific interest to GISCO will all be presented tomorrow and I’ll not spent time on these either. But I’ll say a few words about the GIS framework contract. In September this year a Framework contract was signed for the use of GIS in the Commission in general. This means that contrary to the situation before there’s now one contract covering the whole Commission. This was estimated to be more efficient

New projects in GISCO Water Framework Directive GISCO web-application Workshop with PHARE-countries Spatial redistribution of Statistical Data from the Farm Structure Survey The last year new projects have commenced with GISCO either as initiator or contributor. GISCO is participating in a WG under the WFD concerning the development of a common GIS system in the MS. The first meeting took place in September this year. Completion of the first step is foreseen for end 2002 GISCO has launched a new project having parts of the information on the web. Information about the NUTS and the GISCO reference database will be available at the Intranet and the GISCO newsletter will from 2002 be available through EUROPA. This also implies that the newsletter will no longer be produced in a paper version A workshop dedicated to the PHARE countries has been organised and took place yesterday and the main conclusions will be presented by the end of today The last project is a project which will evaluate how the Farm Structure Survey, with a spatial dimension defined by districts and NUTS regions, can be improved to support the Common Agricultural Policy in relation to environmental issues and meaningful relevant spatial units.