INSPIRE Interactive Data Specifications

Annex I

Administrative Units

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Definition: Units of administration dividing areas where Member States have and or exercise jurisdictional rights for local regional and national governance separated by administrative boundaries

Description: Each national territory is divided into administrative units The administrative units are separated by administrative boundaries Administrative units and administrative boundaries form a partition of space According to user requirements it will be distinguished between land and coastal water parts of administrative units The INSPIRE theme Administrative units refers to the division of areas where Member States have and or exercise jurisdictional rights for local regional and national governance i e units at the cadastral parcel level are excluded as well as territorial waters which are in fact assigned to the INSPIRE themes Cadastral parcels Hydrography Annex I and or Sea regions Annex III It does not include related systems such as census districts post office regions and other sector specific regions but it will contain a reference to national statistical units at local level LAU and to the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics NUTS established by Eurostat

Cadastral Parcels

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Definition: Areas defined by cadastral registers or equivalent

Description: The INSPIRE Directive focuses on the geographical part of cadastral data In the INSPIRE context cadastral parcels will be mainly used as locators for geo information in general including environmental data
As much as possible in the INSPIRE context cadastral parcels should be forming a partition of national territory Cadastral parcel should be considered as a single area of Earth surface under homogeneous real property rights and unique ownership adapted from UN ECE 2004 and WG CPI 2006 Remark By unique ownership is meant that the ownership is held by one or several owners for the whole parcel By homogeneous property rights is meant that rights of ownership leases and mortgages affect the whole parcel This does not apply to specific rights as servitudes which may only affect part of the parcel

In the definition given by the INSPIRE directive or equivalent refers to all public agencies and institutions other than the main traditional nominal cadastre or land registry that register parts of the Earth s surface such as special domains urban cadastres public lands which spatially complement the registrations by the main cadastre or land registry
Cadastral parcels are considered in the INSPIRE scope if they are available as vector data
Rights and owners are out of the INSPIRE scope
Buildings land use addresses are considered in other INSPIRE themes

Geographical grid systems

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Definition: Harmonised multi resolution grid with a common point of origin and standardised location and size of grid cells

Description: Geographical grids are an agreed defined and harmonised grid net for Pan Europe with standardised location and size of grid cells Examples of cell sizes could be 10x10 m 100x100 m 1x1 km 16x16 km A good candidate for the INSPIRE focused Pan European grid has been proposed as a result of the Workshop on European Reference Grids

The grid proposed as Pan European standard is based on the ETRS89 Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area coordinate reference system with the centre of the projection at the point N 52o E 10o The grid is defined as hierarchical one in metric coordinates in power of 10

The detail description of the proposed grid is available at the Proceedings of the Workshop on the European Reference Grids EUR Report 21494 EN 2005 The Proposal for a European Grid System is presented from page 39 to 46 of that document

Other grids could be also used however they need a lot of harmonisation work as well as a number of conversion tools Some international organisations like WMO perform their operations using their own and purpose oriented grid construction

Hydrography

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Definition: Hydrographic elements including marine areas and all other water bodies and items related to them including river basins and sub basins Where appropriate according to the definitions set out in Directive 2000 60 EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy 2 and in the form of networks

Description: The theme Hydrography is a basic reference component and therefore of interest for many users and uses

For mapping purposes to provide a map background for orientation and to understand place relationships it includes the representation of all main hydrographic elements both natural and artificial To fulfill reporting requirements of EC water related directives it includes the river and channel network surface water bodies within river basin districts are categorised as rivers lakes transitional waters or coastal waters or as artificial surface water bodies or heavily modified surface water bodies Furthermore a topologically sound river network is necessary for GIS based spatial analysis and modeling

Geographically the theme Hydrography covers all inland water and marine areas covered by river basin districts as defined by WFD

Protected Sites

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Definition: Area designated or managed within a framework of international Community and Member States legislation to achieve specific conservation objectives

Description: Area designated or managed within a framework of international Community and Member States legislation to achieve specific conservation objectives
According to IUCN and adopted for the INSPIRE context a protected site is An area of land and or sea especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity and of natural and associated cultural resources and managed through legal or other effective means

Protected sites may be located in terrestrial aquatic and or marine environments and may be under either public or private ownership They may include localities with protection targets defined by different sectors and based on different objectives especially dedicated to the conservation of nature the protection and maintenance of biological diversity and of natural and where appropriate associated cultural resources The sites may receive protection due to more than one type of objectives and may have a double or multifarious designation status Protected sites differ from environmentally founded classifications of natural or cultural objects and also from area covering designations as included in CDDA as localisation boundary and area of protected sites are based on formal legal or administrative agreements or decisions
Although all protected sites meet the general purposes contained in this definition in practise the precise purposes for which protected sites are managed differ greatly The main purposes of designation are specified in categories of CDDA 4 5 2 National designation type category and according to the typology developed in the Standard Data Form for Natura2000 under the Habitat Directive furthermore categories of IUCN for Protected Sites and other international designation types have to be applied

A new classification system of protected sites with an overall set of categories under the INSPIRE directive therefore has to include Sites of Community Importance SCI under the Habitat directive and Special Protection Areas SPA under the Birds directive as well as further designation types on a global level This definition of protected sites does not exclude man made objects or other kinds of cultural heritage sites protected sites may therefore include where formal protection is given to buildings archaeological sites of all pre historic and historic times including medieval sites constructions or other cultural objects This may also be applied to protected sites comprising specific geological hydrogeological or geomorphological values

Protected sites in many cases have a formal delineation documentation in cadastral databases However delineation injunctions for protected sites are manifold and may just as often not follow cadastral boundaries e g for reasons of generalisation in small scale maps for Natura2000 Being spatial objects under the INSPIRE directive however protected sites need to have distinct boundaries of their own rather than being a mere specific category of some other spatial object type

Examples of legislation and policies regulating protected sites are Habitat directive 1992 Directive 92 43 EEC Birds directive Directive 79 409 EEC World Heritage Ramsar Convention Barcelona Convention Helsinki Convention OSPAR Convention national law and other international sector policies

Transport Networks

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Definition: Road rail air and water transport networks and related infrastructure Includes links between different networks Also includes the trans European transport network as defined in Decision No 1692 96 EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 1996 on Community Guidelines for the development of the trans European transport network 1 and future revisions of that Decision

Description: The transport component should comprise an integrated transport network and related features that are seamless within each national border In accordance with article 10 2 of the Directive national transport networks may also be seamless at European level i e connected at national borders Transportation data includes topographic features related to transport by road rail water and air It is important that the features form networks where appropriate and that links between different networks are established i e multi modal nodes especially at the local level in order to satisfy the requirements for intelligent transport systems such as location based services LBS and telematics The transport network should also support the referencing of transport flow to enable our navigation services

Addresses

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Definition: Location of properties based on address identifiers usually by road name house number postal code

Description: An address is an identification of the fixed location of a property The full address is a hierarchy consisting of components such as geographic names with an increasing level of detail e g town then street name then house number or name It may also include a post code or other postal descriptors The address may include a path of access but this depends on the function of the address

Addresses serve several purposes these include the four uses described in the Dutch Address Registration catalogue
i location e g for visits or the delivery of mail
ii identification e g in context of a building registration
iii jurisdiction e g authority responsible for the property identified by the address
iv sorting and ordering VROM 2006 There may be other uses identified in the INSPIRE user requirements survey for example to aid emergency response

A number of different object types can be related to property The most commonly recognised types that have addresses are land parcels and buildings including flats or apartments However other object types such as water pumping stations and agricultural buildings are also types of property Although they do not receive post they may need to have an address for other functions This is true in both rural and urban areas Some other property types that might have addresses include a sports ground a foothold or a mooring place Collectively objects which can have addresses are referred to as addressable objects

The location of an address is most often defined so that it characterises the location of the related addressable object

Although all national or local address systems share similar concepts and general properties differences exist in formal and informal standards rules schemas and data models within Europe Differences also exist in the extent of the address system for example it may be simplified in rural areas From revised D2 3

Coordinate reference systems

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Definition: Systems for uniquely referencing spatial information in space as a set of coordinates x y z and or latitude and longitude and height based on a geodetic horizontal and vertical datum

Description: The theme establishes a structure for spatial referencing of features by coordinates This topic shall link to appropriate standards for information technology and data where possible and provide a framework for the development of sector specific applications using geographic data

ISO 19111 describes the conceptual schema and defines the description for a minimum data to two cases for which 1 2 and 3 dimensional coordinates reference system information shall be given The first case is given by a coordinate reference system to which a set of coordinates is related The second case consists of a coordinate operation coordinate transformation coordinate conversion concatenated coordinate operation to change coordinate values from one coordinate reference system to another

There are no explicit accuracy numbers given in ISO 19111 We must consider that it has been developed for geographic information in general but not for precise positioning Spatial information may be referenced to the earth surface with an improving accuracy on the global scale for the future Such high accuracy level may be required for some themes of the Directive e g the trans European railway transport network Spatial referencing could no longer be considered as constant in time if we reach the sub centimetre level We need additional parameters compared to ISO 19111 in that case because that document considers changes in time of the coordinate reference only system through the date of realisation This model is not suitable to describe continuous movements of the spatial reference Kinematic models or so called loading models are examples to incorporate such dynamics A re iteration of accuracy aspects may be needed if specifications for Annex I and II are ready

The spatial referencing is usually referred to selected points of the earth surface Such point are e g given by geodetic markers stations performing permanent satellite observations levelling benchmarks or tide gauges As soon as the marker coordinates are given they provide a direct access to the realisation of the coordinate reference system

Geographical Names

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Definition: Names of areas regions localities cities suburbs towns or settlements or any geographical or topographical feature of public or historical interest

Description: A geographical name is a proper noun applied to a natural man made or cultural feature on Earth

A feature can have different names in one or several languages and the names may be provided together with appropriate information on the feature in different products like maps and gazetteers as well as respective services

An endonym is a name for a geographical feature in an official or well established language occurring in that area where the feature is situated An exonym is a name used in a specific language for a geographical feature situated outside the area where that language is widely spoken and differing in form from the respective endonym s in the area where the geographical feature is situated UNGEGN 2007

In some cases names can be applied as attributes of appropriately modeled spatial objects However often the definition classification geometry and other attributes of these objects do not correspond with the respective named features Besides commonly named features such as elevations islands natural shoreline features and stretches of water bodies are seldom modeled as objects in spatial data sets

A geographical name serves as a means to identify a location Gazetteers and gazetteer services associate the names with corresponding features or locations by means of co ordinates feature types and or other necessary information A multi lingual gazetteer service shall most probably be established as a part of INSPIRE

Annex II

Geology

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Definition: Geology characterised according to composition and structure Includes bedrock aquifers and geomorphology

Description: In the INSPIRE context the Geology data theme can be seen as a quot reference data theme as it provides information for several other INSPIRE data themes e g Mineral resources Area Management Restriction and Regulation Zones Natural Risk Zones Soil Energy resources In Geology there is a specific relationship with one of the most important natural resources water through groundwater bodies contained in aquifers The theme also covers geomorphology that describes the Earth s present day surface and the location of the geophysical campaigns and measurements that provide valuable information on the physical properties of rocks like density porosity magnetic susceptibility etc regardless of their organization as geologic units
The INSPIRE Geology Theme is split into the following sub themes
Geology provides basic knowledge about the physical properties and composition of geologic materials rocks and sediments their structure and their age as depicted in geological maps as well as landforms geomorphological features The model also covers boreholes another important source of information for interpreting the subsurface geology
Hydrogeology describes the flow occurrence and behaviour of water in the subsurface environment The two basic elements are the rock system including aquifers and the groundwater system including groundwater bodies Man made or natural hydrogeological objects features such as groundwater wells and natural springs are also included
Geophysics focuses on the availability and location of key geophysical features It includes metadata on high rank gravity magnetic and seismological stations that are part of international and national observation networks as well as metadata on 2D and 3D seismic measurements that are most often requested by third party users It also provides collective metadata on gravity magnetic and airborne geophysical campaigns that cover large areas and provide basic geological information for scientific research and more detailed applied studies e g exploring earth resources hydrocarbons mineral deposits ground water geothermal energy

Orthoimagery

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Definition: Geo referenced image data of the Earth s surface from either satellite or airborne sensors

Description: The Orthoimagery data theme includes orthorectified image data of the earth s surface from either satellite or airborne sensors An orthoimage is a raster image that has been geometrically corrected orthorectified to remove distortion caused by differences in elevation sensor tilt and optionally by sensor optics Data is orthorectified to achieve an accuracy commensurate with a given topographic map equivalent The data theme includes orthorectified imagery from the radio through the visible to the ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum

Elevation

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Definition: Digital elevation models for land ice and ocean surface Includes terrestrial elevation bathymetry and shoreline

Description: The Elevation of a terrain surface whether land based or bathymetric in nature described the Earth s morphology The Elevation data theme includes digital elevation models for land ice and ocean surfaces both for terrestrial elevation and bathymetry as well as shorelines
The main purpose of a Digital Elevation Model is to provide an elevation property with reference to a specified origin vertical reference or datum This property may be height when the value is measured opposite to the gravity field of the Earth or depth when the value is measured in the direction of the gravity field In line with existing technologies three spatial representation methods have been provided grid vector and triangulated irregular network TIN Regarding provision of data the grid spatial representation type is mandatory for the description of land elevation whereas the other ones are optional Finally either the grid or the vector spatial representation type is mandatory for the provision of data describing the bathymetry whereas the other ones are optional

Land Cover

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Definition: Physical and biological cover of the earth s surface including artificial surfaces agricultural areas forests semi natural areas wetlands water bodies

Description: Land cover data is a physical or biological description of the earth surface In this way it is different from the land use data Annex III theme number 4 dedicated to the description of the use of the Earth surface
Land cover information has to be homogenous and comparable between different locations in Europe based on the infrastructures for Land Cover information created by the Member States if existing and made available and maintained at the most appropriate level
A land cover data set consists of a collection of land cover units These units may be points polygons or raster cells resulting in two core models one for vector data and one for raster data The land cover data set is also linked to a code list e g the CORINE Land Cover code list CORINE Land Cover as well as most regional and national land cover data sets can be represented using one of the core models
Land cover information used in monitoring linked to EU agricultural policy IACS in carbon monitoring LULUCF and used in land and ecosystem accounting based on CORINE Land Cover LEAC

Annex III

Atmospheric Conditions

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Definition: Physical conditions in the atmosphere Includes spatial data based on measurements on models or on a combination thereof and includes measurement locations

Description: The INSPIRE themes quot Atmospheric Conditions and quot Meteorological Features are covered together in one Data specification These themes provide basic concepts and data models for environmental protection related activities requiring information on atmospheric conditions like weather climate and air quality

Bio-geographical Regions

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Definition: Areas of relatively homogeneous ecological conditions with common characteristics

Description: Bio geographical Regions describe areas of relatively homogeneous ecological conditions with common characteristics The INSPIRE theme Bio geographical Regions has a strong linkage to other quot biodiversity themes
The Habitats Directive EEC 92 43 is the most important guiding document regarding to Bio geographical Regions which contains a list of apos bio geographical regions Article 1 iii These bio geographical regions are the basis of a series of seminars evaluating the Natura 2000 network and for reporting on the conservation status of the habitats and species protected by the Directive
However the theme was specified in a more generic way to allow for other concepts of BR e g European map of natural vegetation environmental stratification to be shared via INSPIRE

Buildings

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Definition: Geographical location of buildings

Description: A building is a covered facility usable for the protection of humans animals things or the production of economic goods A building refers to any structure permanently constructed or erected on its site Information on location of buildings may be supplied as points or with the actual basic form of the building Usually buildings are part of cadastre On the local level buildings are available within the large scale cadastral maps or cadastral data sets and are geometrically represented as surfaces
Most buildings can be identified geocoded by address separate theme in INSPIRE

Environmental Monitoring Facilities

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Definition: Location and operation of environmental monitoring facilities includes observation and measurement of emissions of the state of environmental media and of other ecosystem parameters biodiversity ecological conditions of vegetation etc by or on behalf of public authorities

Description: The theme scope includes two main aspects the first is the environmental monitoring facility as a spatial object the second is the data obtained through observations and measurements taken at this facility encoded using the ISO 19156 standard This information is complemented by further administrative information pertaining to the facility and activities undertaken there such as networks the facility is part of or programmes the facility provides data to The Environmental Monitoring Facilities theme is cross cutting to environmental domains thus the generic model allows the necessary freedom to bring in thematic specific needs while keeping a shared data structure

Human Health and Safety

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Definition: Geographical distribution of dominance of pathologies allergies cancers respiratory diseases etc information indicating the effect on health biomarkers decline of fertility epidemics or well being of humans fatigue stress etc linked directly air pollution chemicals depletion of the ozone layer noise etc or indirectly food genetically modified organisms etc to the quality of the environment

Description: The INSPIRE Human Health and Safety HH theme describes the geographical distribution of dominance of pathologies the effect on health or well being of humans linked to the quality of the environment
Thematic components are human health data biomarkers health care health services data health determinant measurement data and events related to safety
Direct or indirect links between pathologies and the quality of the environment the HH data model is able to accommodate all health data while linkage of specific health issues and the environment is a matter of a user decision

Land Use

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Definition: Territory characterised according to its current and future planned functional dimension or socio economic purpose e g residential industrial commercial agricultural forestry recreational

Description: Land Use theme is defined as the use and functions of a territory and it is description of land in terms of its socio economic and ecological purpose Land use theme is itself split in two different types
The Existing Land Use which objectively depicts the use and functions of a territory as it has been and effectively still is in real life
The Planned Land Use which corresponds to spatial plans defined by spatial planning authorities depicting the possible utilization of the land in the future
Two types of classification systems are supported by Land Use theme the obligatory Hierarchical INSPIRE Land Use Classification System which is a multi level classification system that will apply to the existing and planned land use the optional specific classification system in use in a member state

Mineral Resources

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Definition: Mineral resources including metal ores industrial minerals etc where relevant including depth height information on the extent of the resource

Description: The Mineral resources data theme refers to the description of natural concentrations of very diverse mineral resources of potential or proven economic interest The important attributes such as the nature genesis location extent mining and distribution of resources reflect the two main identified categories of potential use These are
Management of resources and their exploitation and exploration activities provision of information on inventoried mineral resources as well as on the quantitative assessment of undiscovered mineral resources and the modelling of mineral deposits
Environmental impact assessments mapping and measuring environmental geological parameters for assessing geological material to be used for construction and rehabilitation at the mine site

The Mineral resources data model is organised around two major categories of information description and location of mines and mining activities the description and location of quot earth resources including their classification estimates of amount as well as a description of the main market commodities The energy resources such as coal oil and gas are excluded in this theme as they are found in theme energy resources

Oceanographic Geographical Features

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Definition: Physical conditions of oceans currents salinity wave heights etc

Description: An Ocean Geographical Feature OF represents the physical or chemical properties of a Sea Region This type of information is essentially a coverage describing the ocean and could be presented as a set of point data gridded data but also as vertical profiles through ocean depths and trajectories along the ocean surface The Ocean Geographical Features theme employs the ISO 19156 Observations and Measurements standard for consistent encoding of measured modelled or simulated data

Population Distribution - Demography

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Definition: Geographical distribution of people including population characteristics and activity levels aggregated by grid region administrative unit or other analytical unit

Description: Population Distribution deals with datasets of statistical information describing how some phenomenon regarding human population is spread within some part of the 2D space The theme has no direct spatial features only contains attributes allowing to describe population phenomenon related to statistical units Population data is linked to spatial object statistical units through their common identifier e g NUTS codes

Production and Industrial Facilities

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Definition: Industrial production sites including installations covered by Council Directive 96 61 EC of 24 September 1996 concerning integrated pollution prevention and control 1 and water abstraction facilities mining storage sites

Description: The theme Production and Industrial Facilities comprises information about industrial facilities and activities of production focusing on extraction transformation or storage of resources including energy production and the main related environmental issues
The description of production and industrial facilities e g types or activities in INSPIRE is based on the Integrated pollution prevention and control Directive 2008 1 EC as recently amended by Industrial Emissions Directive 2010 75 EU the European pollution and transfer register regulation 166 2006 EC the SEVESO Directive its amendments 96 82 EC A the NACE regulation 1893 2006 EC and other relevant legislation and industrial standards

Sea Regions

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Definition: Physical conditions of seas and saline water bodies divided into regions and sub regions with common characteristics

Description: A Sea Region SR is a 2D geometry of an area or line with common physical or chemical characteristics that is covered by an ocean sea or similar salt water body The model allows the concept of named seas as well subdivisions and aggregation of seas according to physical or chemical properties The Sea Regions theme provides mechanisms to describe both the sea bed and sea surface as well as inter tidal areas and the shoreline

Soil

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Definition: Soils and subsoil characterised according to depth texture structure and content of particles and organic material stoniness erosion where appropriate mean slope and anticipated water storage capacity

Description: Soil represents the upper part of the earth s crust formed by mineral particles organic matter water air and living organisms It is the interface between rock air and water which hosts most of the biosphere
INSPIRE Soil data theme comprises information on
Soil inventories that provide one off assessments of soil conditions and or soil properties at certain locations and at a specific point in time and allow soil monitoring providing a series of assessments showing how soil conditions and or properties change over time
Soil mapping that provides a spatial representation of the properties linked to the soils including soil types typically soil maps are derived with the help of data available in soil inventories Also other soil related information derived from soil properties possibly in combination with non soil data are within the scope

Species Distribution

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Definition: Geographical distribution of occurrence of animal and plant species aggregated by grid region administrative unit or other analytical unit

Description: Species Distribution is a biodiversity theme focused on geographical distribution of occurrence of biological organisms aggregated by grid region or any administrative or analytical unit Distributions may be represented in a wide range of formats such as points grid cells at different scales or polygons of specifically defined areas To achieve harmonization EU Nomen is the preferred reference list for species taxon names to be used the second choice is European Nature Information System and finally Natura2000

Statistical Units

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Definition: Units for dissemination or use of statistical information

Description: Statistical unit informs on the location of statistical data and information The principle of this theme is to provide stable and identified representations of the statistical units and statistical data refers to these objects through their identifier Recommendations are provided on how to give stable identifiers to statistical unit and use these identifiers to attach statistical information on them This is particularly important if the responsibility for geometry and statistical data are shared between different institutions e g mapping agency and statistical offices Other INSPIRE data specifications such as Population Distribution use this referencing mechanism

Agricultural and Aquaculture Facilities

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Definition: Farming equipment and production facilities including irrigation systems greenhouses and stables

Description: The theme Agricultural and Aquaculture Facilities concerns the description of all the physical instruments and constructions with permanent or semi permanent emplacement inland or outland that are related to agricultural and aquaculture activities
Agriculture refers to the set of process and activities consisting in cultivating soils producing crops and rearing animals it includes harvesting milking breeding animals keeping animals for farming purposes and according to Council Regulation 73 2009 maintaining the land in good agricultural and environmental condition Agricultural facilities include facilities ranging from entire holdings to installations such as irrigation systems drainage systems greenhouses stables barns silos and tanks
Aquaculture covers activities and techniques related to the production breeding and treatment of fish molluscs seaweed and other kinds of aquatic resources vegetables or animal Aquaculture facilities only include permanent or semi permanent systems or constructions for breeding treatment and raising of organisms Aquaculture facilities may exist both in marine waters inland water environments and as terrestrial production systems
Catching hunting or collection of natural resources vegetables or animal on their natural environment is not considered as an agricultural activity unless it is supported by relevant physical instruments and constructions Similarly forestry is not considered as an agricultural activity with the exception of tree nurseries

Area Management Restriction Regulation Zones and Reporting units

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Definition: Areas managed regulated or used for reporting at international European national regional and local levels Includes dumping sites restricted areas around drinking water sources nitrate vulnerable zones regulated fairways at sea or large inland waters areas for the dumping of waste noise restriction zones prospecting and mining permit areas river basin districts relevant reporting units and coastal zone management areas

Description: The theme quot Area management restriction regulation zones and reporting units is thematically broad and encompasses any zones that are established in accordance with a legislative requirement related to an environmental policy or a policy or activity that may have an impact on the environment at any level of administration international European national and sub national
The zones are typically established to deliver specific objectives related to any environmental media for example air water soil and biota plants and animals This includes but is not limited to objectives established to protect and improve environmental quality includes reducing pollution levels protect and conserve environmental and natural resources protect and control risk from natural and man made hazards protect plant animal and human health or control development
The theme also addresses reporting units which are defined as quot spatial objects that provide the spatial reference for any non spatial data exchanged under environmental reporting obligations The reported non spatial data must include a property that contains a reference to the spatial object This is typically an identifier code or name and is a join key between the spatial and non spatial objects enabling the data to be combined This allows the non spatial data to be visualised as a map or enable spatial analysis
Different INSPIRE spatial object types can perform the role of quot Reporting Unit For example surface waters rivers lakes and canals from the Annex I theme Hydrography are quot Reporting Units for indicators of chemical and ecological status Thus Reporting units cannot be modelled as a distinct spatial object type and no specific reporting units data model is defined Instead the theme defines obligations on how to make reporting units spatial data available under INSPIRE

Meteorological geographical features

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Definition: Weather conditions and their measurements precipitation temperature evapotranspiration wind speed and direction

Description: Historical versions of the theme definition are found in the INSPIRE IMS and Scoping papers

Weather conditions and their measurements precipitation temperature evapotranspiration wind INSPIRE IMS 2003
Weather conditions and their measurements precipitation temperature evapotranspiration wind speed and direction INSPIRE Scoping 2004 In order to place into context the range of spatial data types relevant to this theme we consider the typical forecast cycle of a national meteorological service NMS
This will
a collect meteorological observations over say a six hour interval
b assimilate these into a numerical model to produce an estimate of the current atmospheric state
c use this analysis as the initial condition for a model forecast run forward in time typically out to several days
Four broad types of data are involved at different phases of the cycle

1 Observations around 11000 surface stations globally make up the Global Observing System reporting such atmospheric parameters as weather cloud temperature humidity wind visibility pressure A subset of these stations make climate observations which include daily temperature minimum and maximum sunshine hours rainfall amount etc In addition around 1000 upper air stations make radiosonde free rising balloon observations of pressure wind temperature and humidity Voluntary observing ship and drifting buoys make marine observations including sea surface temperature and wave height and period Several hundred thousand reports per day of pressure winds and temperature are made from aircraft observations
2 Synoptic analysis Gridded wind temperature humidity geopotential height precipitation etc Also sensible weather elements fronts cloud thunderstorm activity etc will be analysed
3 Forecasts Numerous forecast products are produced operationally A conventional weather forecast contains similar elements to the synoptic analysis
4 Climatological data Long term time series of data either observations or analyses may be analysed statistically to create climatologies e g 20th century decadal averages seasonal monthly minimum or maximum etc There is considerable overlap and ambiguity between the themes Atmospheric conditions and Meteorological geographical features e g weather conditions Meteorological geographical features including precipitation temperature wind etc are precisely components of the atmospheric state Atmospheric conditions
Numerous suggestions have been made by stakeholders to resolve this ambiguity They include
merging the themes it is impossible to amend the Directive but it would be sensible to consider the themes jointly during data specification development
distinguishing field based data Atmospheric conditions from point based data Meteorological geographical features
distinguishing time series amp near real time data Atmospheric conditions from gridded climate data Meteorological geographical features
distinguishing climate data Atmospheric conditions from observations and forecasts Meteorological geographical features
To resolve the ambiguity between themes we consider the multi level approach to data needs assessment applied in the INSPIRE Environmental Thematic User Needs Position Paper 2002 Data at local or regional level are often needed for management and policy implementation while lower resolution smaller scale data are often required for reporting and policy development evaluation The latter includes summaries and integrated data products
The scope of Meteorological geographical features thematic data should be limited to local level high resolution weather related data typically observations
This includes synoptic observations from stations making up the WMO RA VI European Regional Basic Synoptic Network The WMO operates a dedicated network the Global Telecommunications System to distribute observations and data products Data exchange is governed by WMO Resolution 40 which provides for free and unrestricted exchange of observational data essential for forecast activities Additional nominated data and products may be provided with charge while all data must be supplied free of charge excluding costs of reproduction and delivery for research and education The ECOMET Catalogue http www meteo oma be ECOMET Categories of data and products htm provides a one stop shop index of both essential and chargeable data and product offerings from European NMSs A similar catalogue is available for the European Centre for Medium range Weather Forecasting ECMWF http www ecmwf int products catalogue

Energy Resources

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Definition: Energy resources including hydrocarbons hydropower bio energy solar wind etc where relevant including depth height information on the extent of the resource

Description: Energy Resources in INSPRE covers historic current and future energy resources and the entire lifecycle of energy resources irrespective of its viability in terms of economic social and technological aspects It takes into account resources that are depleted due to exploitation in the past and resources currently not viable but may become so in the future Information about location and the potential of energy resources have a significant impact on the environment This impact can have both positive and negative implications therefore appropriate knowledge about the extent distribution and volumes of the resources is of great value
There is a main distinction between fossil fuels and renewable energy resources The concept of energy resources provides focus to the resource aspect and the extent distribution of the resources Energy use e g petrol consumption is not covered by this theme Fossil fuel resources include oil accumulation natural gas accumulations coal lignite or peat deposits and Uranium ore deposits
Renewable energy resources include Hydropower in which water resources mapped according to energy potential
Bio energy resources contains forest resources cereals or agricultural residues which can be used for energy purposes Wind energy estimated by wind measurement together with topographical information Geothermal energy the natural heat flow is of high interest as a renewable and clean energy source

Habitats and Biotopes

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Definition: Geographical areas characterised by specific ecological conditions processes structure and life support functions that physically support the organisms that live there Includes terrestrial and aquatic areas distinguished by geographical abiotic and biotic features whether entirely natural or semi natural

Description: Habitats and Biotopes is a biodiversity theme that deals with habitats and biotopes as areas and their distinct boundaries Spatial data model provides characterisation of geographical areas being functional for living organisms biotopes being the spatial environment of a biotic community habitats being the spatial environment of specific species To achieve harmonization on local national and international level habitat types should refer to the the European Nature Information System habitat classification in the first place but could also use Habitats Directive 92 43 EEC and Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008 56 EC as a reference

Natural Risk Zones

Details and resources for theme in INSPIRE Knowledge Base

Definition: Vulnerable areas characterised according to natural hazards all atmospheric hydrologic seismic volcanic and wildfire phenomena that because of their location severity and frequency have the potential to seriously affect society e g floods landslides and subsidence avalanches forest fires earthquakes volcanic eruptions

Description: Natural risk zones are zones where natural hazards areas intersect with highly populated areas and or areas of particular environmental cultural economic value
To define or pre estimate a Risk following parameter are necessary potential hazard probability of its occurrence and vulnerability of the exposed populations and of the environmental cultural and economic assets in a specific zone
Natural hazards can be classified by origin namely geological hydro meteorological or biological Hazardous events can vary in magnitude or intensity frequency duration area of extent speed of onset spatial dispersion and temporal spacing Specific examples for different types of hazard were identified Floods calculation of flood impact reporting and flood hazard risk mapping Risk Management Scenario an example from a national perspective Landslides hazard mapping vulnerability assessment and risk assessment Forest fires danger vulnerability and risk mapping and Earthquake insurance
Following four key spatial object types that are modelled Hazard area Observed event Risk zone and Exposed element

Utility and Governmental Services

Details and resources for theme in INSPIRE Knowledge Base

Definition: Includes utility facilities such as sewage waste management energy supply and water supply administrative and social governmental services such as public administrations civil protection sites schools and hospitals

Description: The theme Utility and Government Services provides basic information e g the location basic technical characteristics or involved parties on a wide range of administrative and social services of public interest
The theme is split in the following subthemes
Utility Networks Node link node structured networks for collection transmission and distribution including electricity oil gas and chemicals sewer thermal water or not mandatory telecommunications networks
Administrative and social governmental services Local and governmental services and social infrastructures selected with respect to the INSPIRE scope focused on public amp environmental aspects represented as points of interest
Environmental management facilities Generic facility descriptions for waste management sites water treatment plants and regulated or illegal areas for dumping

Please, select one or more themes based on their definition and description.

Summary

1 Selected themes:

Interactive Workflow

INTERACTIVE WORKFLOW

Annex I

Administrative Units

Cadastral Parcels

Geographical grid systems

Hydrography

Protected Sites

Transport Networks

Addresses

Coordinate reference systems

Geographical Names

Annex II

Geology

Orthoimagery

Elevation

Land Cover

Annex III

Atmospheric Conditions

Bio-geographical Regions

Buildings

Environmental Monitoring Facilities

Human Health and Safety

Land Use

Mineral Resources

Oceanographic Geographical Features

Population Distribution - Demography

Production and Industrial Facilities

Sea Regions

Soil

Species Distribution

Statistical Units

Agricultural and Aquaculture Facilities

Area Management Restriction Regulation Zones and Reporting units

Meteorological geographical features

Energy Resources

Habitats and Biotopes

Natural Risk Zones

Utility and Governmental Services

Summary

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