INSPIRE 2020 European Data Portal web session on High Value Datasets
Publication Date/Time
2020-06-24T07:00:00+00:00
Country
Europe
Lessons learned from INSPIRE for the implementation of High Value
Datasets
The European Data Portal (EDP) facilitated an online workshop on
“High value datasets: What are the lessons learned from INSPIRE?
[https://inspire.ec.europa.eu/conference2020/webinars/european-data-portal-and-high-value-datasets]”.
The online workshop started with an introduction to high value
datasets [/en/highlights/high-value-datasets] (HVDs). We then moved on
to an interactive part during which the 177 participants could
contribute their thoughts and questions online.
The Directive on open data and the re-use of public sector information
(Directive (EU) 2019/1024
[https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1561563110433&uri=CELEX:32019L1024])
introduces the concept of HVDs, the re-use of which is associated with
essential benefits for the society and economy. The EU Member States
are expected to ensure the availability of HVDs free of charge, in
machine-readable formats, provided via Application Programming
Interfaces (APIs) and as bulk downloads.

It is not yet known which datasets will be considered high value
datasets. The European Commission is currently working with the Member
States on identifying high value datasets to be set out in
an Implementing Act
[https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-making-process/adopting-eu-law/implementing-and-delegated-acts_en].
The Open Data Directive
[https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1561563110433&uri=CELEX:32019L1024]
lists the following thematic categories of HVDs:

 	* Geospatial
 	* Earth observation and environment
 	* Meteorological
 	* Statistics
 	* Companies and company ownership
 	* Mobility

During the workshop there was a lively discussion in the chat about
why “geospatial” was named as a thematic category and how this
should be interpreted, geospatial being a _type_ of data which is
often found in the different domains also named as thematic categories
(e.g. most Earth Observation, environmental and meteorological data
can be considered “geospatial”).

WHAT DATASETS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED HIGH VALUE DATASETS?

The first online “discussion” focused on which datasets the
participants would consider to be high value datasets. Participants
used an online tool (sli.do) to type in their ideas and vote for the
inputs of their peers. The answer most strongly advocated was
“INSPIRE Annex I data”. For everyone not familiar with the INSPIRE
Directive this will need some explanation: The INSPIRE Directive lists
data themes
[https://inspire.ec.europa.eu/Themes/Data-Specifications/2892] in the
three Annexes of the directive. INSPIRE Annex I data themes consist
of:

 	* Addresses
 	* Administrative units
 	* Cadastral parcels
 	* Geographical names
 	* Hydrography
 	* Protected sites
 	* Transport networks

Other entries with strong support referred to further datasets covered
by INSPIRE such as energy resources, water, or natural risk zones. One
statement frequently voted for suggested to focus on data that is
_not_ strongly addressed by INSPIRE such as health or energy
consumption. While almost all suggestions have a strong spatial
relevance, also topics with little or no spatial reference were named:
This includes data linked to “economic processes” and
“composition of product”.
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/2020-06-24_inspire_2020_02.png]
Figure 1: What datasets should be considered High Value Datasets
(answers from workshop)

LESSONS FROM INSPIRE

With an ambitious endeavour such as building INSPIRE, there are quite
a few lessons to be learned in the process. The workshop invited the
participants to share their experiences with INSPIRE which could be
useful for the implementation of high value datasets. These “lessons
from INSPIRE” were named:

	* SIMPLICITY 

 	* Technical specifications need to be simplified for
'non-specialist' data providers
 	* Complexity in requirements hurts the use of data
 	* Data structures have to be "easy"
 	* INSPIRE is too complex for data providers
 	* Users and data providers do not understand models of INSPIRE,
especially from Annex III
 	* Complex GML is too complicated for users and tools. Change to
alternative formats such as GeoJson, Simple GML, and ... HTML.

	* FOCUS 

 	* To define clear (and few) priorities
 	* Focus on demand
 	* Focus on data that can be used in relevant use cases
 	* Need for user-driven requirements
 	* A single national dataset published by a coordinated process is
better than multiple regional submissions

	* HARMONISATION 

 	* Skip the harmonising part to get started quickly. Unharmonised
data is better than no data
 	* One size does not fit all
 	* pan European / cross border data need interoperability: common
data models are needed, but re-use of simpler structures/encoding -
ref. Alternative encodings
 	* Allow publishing of data as-is but let them be well documented
 	* Standard-based harmonisation of datasets improves the quality of
data to make available as open data
 	* Data specifications do not allow us to reach a suitable level of
data interoperability for European usage. Data harmonisation should be
a step forward

	* INTEROPERABILITY 

 	* do not deviate from (or extend) international standards
 	* Tie specification and implementation much closer to each other -
so that technical choices are still relevant when implementation is
finished
 	* HVD should not impose new technical formats or models, but use
existing ones

	* RE-USE 

 	* bulk download with good metadata description
 	* Include services as well as data. Or at least support the
development of services. APIs give an opportunity to develop important
microservices, e.g. gazetteer

	* VALIDATION 

 	* Provide high quality central tools for validation, early in the
process
 	* The validation instruments should be easier to use than for
INSPIRE. Many of the error reports are very cryptic.

	* STRATEGY 

 	* Be very clear with legal requirements so that there is no space
for interpretations
 	* Huge organisational efforts were made by member states to
implement INSPIRE, resulting in valuable assets to capitalise on
further
 	* The INSPIRE strategy should match the digital transformation
process developing within the industry and the public services - where
are the important user stories?
 	* Focus on building good catalogue capabilities to enable
discoverability (including differentiation between spatial and
non-spatial data types)
 	* Providing an infrastructure allowing the discovery and sharing of
spatial data.

An enthusiastic discussion evolved around whether usage of HVD would
“get flowing” more than the usage of INSPIRE data and services.
Participants agreed that this is because INSPIRE does not oblige to
share freely and are looking forward to more open licenses (while some
worried about the costs and are hoping for funding).

While the workshop had initially been planned as a face-to-face event
with discussions in smaller groups, this online workshop offered the
advantage of having a much larger audience: 177 participants attended
online as opposed to a planned number of 30 participants in Dubrovnik.

With this workshop, the team from the European Data Portal
accomplished their goal to provide a space for participants mainly
from the INSPIRE community to share and discuss their views on high
value datasets and their lessons on data sharing.

Thank you to your participants for joining the workshop. Missed the
workshop? The presentation
[https://inspire.ec.europa.eu/conference2020/webinars/european-data-portal-and-high-value-datasets]
and recording [https://youtu.be/MZD_3wwNAVQ] are available on the
INSPIRE 2020 website
[https://inspire.ec.europa.eu/conference2020/virtualprog]. Want to
stay up to date about high value datasets? Follow us on Twitter
[http://twitter.com/EU_DataPortal], Facebook
[http://www.facebook.com/EuropeanDataPortal] or LinkedIn
[https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8428984] to stay up to date! 

 

_This article was written by Antje Kügeler, a project manager for
__con terra_ [https://www.con-terra.com/]_. _
