Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE)
| INSPIRE is a Directive of the European Commission to create a European Spatial Data Infrastructure (ESDI), which will be based on Member States' SDIs. A proposal was first presented by the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council (Member States) in July 2004. The Parliament and the Council agreed on the text of the proposal in November 2006. The Directive (now designated 2007/2/EC) was published in the Official Journal of the European Union in April 2007 and comes into force on the 15th May 2007, following which Member States have two years to transpose into national legislation. It aims to deliver improvements in the sharing of and access to (public sector) spatial information leading to better environmental policies and outcomes. Defra is the UK lead department. |  |
Detailed Implementing Rules will accompany the Directive and these cover metadata; data specifications; network services; data and service sharing; and monitoring and reporting (of implementation of the Directive). The Implementing Rules are currently being developed under the direction of the European Commission. Defra and Defra family members are participating in the review of the draft Implementing Rules. They will be adopted between 2008 and 2012 and come into force between 2010 and 2019.
It is expected that Defra’s Shared Spatial Information Services (SPIRE) will be an important component of the UK’s contribution to INSPIRE.
More details on INSPIRE are available on the IGGI website, which is the definitive government site for information on INSPIRE; and the Commission website.
Page last modified: 15 May 2007
Page published: 15 May 2007