Converging metadata initiatives in Europe ETeMII – European Territorial Management Information Infrastructure Metadata infrastructure developments in Europe John R. Rowley BSc.Eng. C.Eng. GEOBASE Consultants Ltd

Converging metadata initiatives in Europe ETeMII – European Territorial Management Information Infrastructure Themes Consensus processes in Europe Research funding in Europe Specific characteristics of the spatial information sector GI Metadata projects in Europe The ETeMII project The Issues Cross-sector cooperation European out-reach?

Converging metadata initiatives in Europe ETeMII – European Territorial Management Information Infrastructure Consensus processes in Europe International standards & consortia CEN and CEN/ISSS Workshops National standards Proprietary ‘standards’ Results from cooperation between regional organisations, European and national agencies etc.

Converging metadata initiatives in Europe ETeMII – European Territorial Management Information Infrastructure Research funding in Europe National and European level Policy linked and multi-themed –Information society –Environment etc Open to all legal entities & public bodies Partner countries outside greater Europe Universities need to make up their funding through industrial cooperation

Converging metadata initiatives in Europe ETeMII – European Territorial Management Information Infrastructure Research funding in Europe (2) Projects can be 1 year to 3 years or more Must have partners from 2 or more countries Projects can attract funding € 100k - € 5m Three basic types of project :- –Key action projects –Cross programme projects –Support measures

Converging metadata initiatives in Europe ETeMII – European Territorial Management Information Infrastructure Research funding in Europe (3) Key actions for the information society work area: –Systems and services for the citizen –New methods of work and e-commerce –Multimedia contents and tools –Essential technologies and infrastructures Multiple Action lines within key actions Cross programme projects select 2 or more action lines Funding for the 15 states is 50%

Converging metadata initiatives in Europe ETeMII – European Territorial Management Information Infrastructure Research funding in Europe (4) Support measures attract 100% funding Typical budget € 1 million Most support measure proposals are initiated by consortia ETeMII is a support measure –(Note: choosing acronyms for projects is a major distraction in Europe!) called FP-5 began in 1999 Preceded by FP-4 & followed by FP-6

Converging metadata initiatives in Europe ETeMII – European Territorial Management Information Infrastructure Why is ‘spatial’ special (different)? Birth pangs –30 years as a range of discrete management tools for complex data Confusion of vertical/ horizontal sector perceptions Emphasis for many years on data portability rather than harmonisation/ understanding Multiple reference systems that defy consensus processes Accumulation of inconsistent, incomplete, narrowly specified legacy data sets/sources

Converging metadata initiatives in Europe ETeMII – European Territorial Management Information Infrastructure GI/spatial metadata in Europe For every US federal agency there are 15 in Europe For every US federal agency function there exists a European equivalent –eg European Environment agency –or an ‘Association’ of national agencies European agencies have mandates that respect the subsidiarity principle Result: –less well defined missions etc –less well converged infrastructure activities

Converging metadata initiatives in Europe ETeMII – European Territorial Management Information Infrastructure GI/spatial metadata in Europe (2) Metadata services projects: –CEO, CIP and access to EO data –ETD/CDS European Topic Centre – Catalogue of environmental Data Sources –GDDD access to National Mapping Agency data –GISEDI GI trading –GEIXS geological institute data sources –ESMI metadata gateway project –La Clef gateway project for public sector data –localised projects eg CLEAR, BORDER aimed at local cross (national) border cooperation

Converging metadata initiatives in Europe ETeMII – European Territorial Management Information Infrastructure GI/spatial metadata in Europe (3) Metadata convergence initiatives: –MADAME – evaluation of metadata services –Joint Action Workshop (JAW?) – voluntary MoU aimed at rationalising some of the project approaches –ETeMII – metadata within an overall ‘infrastructure’ context ETeMII and JAW will hold a first joint meeting in March 2000

Converging metadata initiatives in Europe ETeMII – European Territorial Management Information Infrastructure ETeMII – basics/mission € 1.4 million over 2 years start 01/01/2000 Kick-off 11/01/2000 Colorno (Parma), Italy Organise a network of excellence, bringing together most of the stakeholders in territorial management; particular attention will be paid to user's needs. It will build a consensus on the technical issues that are the foundation of ETeMII: –reference data, data access policy –interoperability, standards implementation –integration of space tools: GNSS, EO and telecom –active participation to global initiatives: OGC, ISO, GSDI

Converging metadata initiatives in Europe ETeMII – European Territorial Management Information Infrastructure ETeMII – partners Associazione GISFORMGISFORM (I) Association of geographic information laboratories in Europe AGILE (NL) Centro Nacional de informacao geograficaCNIG (P) Association Française pour l'Information Géographique AFIGEO (F) GEOBASE Consultants LtdGCL (UK) Open GIS Consortium (Europe) LtdOGCE (UK) Commission of European Communities - DG JRC JRC (I)

Converging metadata initiatives in Europe ETeMII – European Territorial Management Information Infrastructure ETeMII – partners (cont.) Stichting EUROGIEUROGI (NL) MEGRINMEGRIN (B) GERE SAGERE (LU) Institut für Geoinformation und Landesvermessung TUV (A) SICAD Geomatics gmbhSICAD (D)

Converging metadata initiatives in Europe ETeMII – European Territorial Management Information Infrastructure ETeMII – work programme Reference data: to reach a European and global (GSDI) technical consensus on the definition of reference data and availability, at affordable cost. Metadata: through workshops, awareness activities, to build upon existing initiatives, to reach some consensus on the way to meet user's needs, and to remove barriers to data access. It is important to enable searching of any kind of information with a single tool. A particular focus will be given to semantics and the use of multiple interoperable thesauri to record the multi-cultural and multi- lingual characteristics of the European Information Society.

Converging metadata initiatives in Europe ETeMII – European Territorial Management Information Infrastructure ETeMII – work programme (2) Standards and interoperability: the work will be based on seeking (new) interoperability standards requirements, and offering awareness on existing very extensive but possibly incomplete interoperability standards activities. At the same time it will ensure that there are new observation windows between pure research activities and standards development.

Converging metadata initiatives in Europe ETeMII – European Territorial Management Information Infrastructure ETeMII - Metadata Organisation and moderation of discussion list Desk study on metadata and semantics Input from partners experience Organisation of European workshop focusing on metadata and thesauri White paper on metadata and semantics, including multi-lingual aspect of thesauri. Leader: GERE sa (LU)

Converging metadata initiatives in Europe ETeMII – European Territorial Management Information Infrastructure Spatial sector – metadata issues Too many projects? –need for healthy balance between competition and cooperation on approaches to data discovery, metadata element definition etc. –does ‘spatial’ define a market group with clear boundaries? Is the metadata vision clear and correct? –over-much emphasis on harmonised metadata –what about semantical processing to overcome differences in similar legacy data sets? –should knowledge engineering be included?

Converging metadata initiatives in Europe ETeMII – European Territorial Management Information Infrastructure Cross-sector cooperation? ‘spatial’ includes all information into knowledge processing that depends on location: –we are arrogant enough to claim that 80% of all knowledge processing is spatial! –consequently, we should have a strong market sector out-reach in ETeMII

Converging metadata initiatives in Europe ETeMII – European Territorial Management Information Infrastructure European out-reach? Global out-reach is built into ETeMII in a practical way based on existing partner activities: –The Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) –ISO/IEC JTC 1 (several points of liaison) –ISO/TC 211 (geomatics) –Open GIS Consortium –ECMA What more could and should be done? –Is ETeMII a liaison opportunity for other regions to out- reach to Europe? –What more can and should be done?

Converging metadata initiatives in Europe ETeMII – European Territorial Management Information Infrastructure ETeMII contact point: