ELFI: A European Location Framework

Transcription

1 1 ELFI: A European Location Framework 1. Our Ambition Project ELFI will foster the wider use of geo-information and enable the creation of innovative valueadded services. 2. Our Objectives We aim to create a sustainable European Location Framework (E.L.F) for re-use of authoritative public sector reference geo-information at multiple levels of detail during the pilot phase and beyond. We'll do this by following objectives to:- Figure 1: Building an E.L.F. platform from National data Add value to INSPIRE data by accomplishing cross border harmonisation; Provide a high performance E.L.F. platform and cloud services that support multiple national feeds and a wide spectrum of value-added services;

2 2 Develop operational services which support the policy and legislative programme being developed in parallel in the ISA 1 funded EULF initiative lead by JRC; Demonstrate the usability of the E.L.F. platform and cloud services for key European policy areas and other users including SMEs; Support integration of 3rd party thematic datasets and National Spatial Data Infrastructures (particularly extending beyond the INSPIRE themes provided by NMCAs) for service implementations based on specific user needs; and Provide a user friendly interface to find, view and compare the geo-information provided by the E.L.F. platform. 3. Our Proposal The purpose of this project is to deliver the European Location Framework (E.L.F) required to provide up-to-date, authoritative, interoperable, cross-border, reference geo-information for use by the European public and private sectors. Our versatile cloud and cascade supporting architecture provides a platform of INSPIRE compliant geo-information, harmonised at a cross-border and pan- European level. 1 1 ISA: Interoperability Solutions for European Public Administrations

3 3 Figure 2: E.L.F. platform and geo-tools connecting European Reference Geo-information 4. Our Approach Through a Three phased approach (see above diagram) we can provide early wins by providing EuroGeographics existing pan-european data products via the E.L.F platform, then apply harmonisation and higher levels of detail firstly within cluster areas and later apply these implementations across Europe. The development of the E.L.F. platform and content will be in tandem with the necessary agreements between suppliers and users needed to make the concept sustainable. Together these aspects are tested against the user providing feedback and insights as the iterations progress (see below diagram).

4 4 Figure 3: progression path for technology and legal is guided by user engagement

5 5 5. Our Target Outcomes a) One Reference Geo-Information Service for Europe As illustrated below, at the heart of our E.LF. Platform concept is NMCA data as currently used at national levels and available via INSPIRE-compliant services. Figure 4: Bringing authoritative geo-information to the platform Extending and then using the harmonisation geo-tools created during the ESDIN 2 project to further process these national datasets, we will be able to create INSPIRE/E.L.F compliant data to an extended specification. In doing so, we will support the one-stop production of, and access to, regional and pan-european reference geo-information. To stimulate content markets our proposal targets: Significant volumes of public sector geo-information from the membership of EuroGeographics and other sources such as Regional Spatial Data Infrastructure and commercial and non-commercial providers of INSPIRE theme data. Simplification of access by assuring the rights to distribute via a Data as a Service (DaaS) model and making the users rights transparent and non-discriminatory via a web based Geo Product Finder. The implementation of a standards based approach to provision, protection and adaptation of the contributory data and services. Multilingual access and interrogation of the data via the systems and processes we adopt. Genuine user needs as a driving force to shape applications produced that prove the utility of the E.L.F. Platform. 2 An econtent plus programme project, which involved a number of this proposal s consortium members.

6 6 b) A Set of Underlying Building Blocks Underpinning Target Outcome One described above, a number of building blocks are key deliverables on the project. As identified in the table below, each will provide a critical component in addressing the interoperability issues and achieving the project's objectives. No. Objective: To Building Blocks/ Key deliverables 1 Create a sustainable European Location Framework (E.L.F.) for the re-use of authoritative public sector reference geoinformation A pan-european framework agreement for the supply and access of geographic reference data for sustainable long-term use and re-use at multiple levels of detail Geospatial data from Authoritative sources during the pilot phase and beyond. European Location Framework Policy. 2 Add value to INSPIRE data by accomplishing E.L.F Reference Data Specifications cross border harmonisation. Harmonisation Tools. 3 Provide a high performance E.L.F. platform that supports multiple national feeds and a A performant, flexible, standards-based platform architecture wide spectrum of user applications; A 3 tier operational service infrastructure. 4 Align with the policy and legislative programme being developed in parallel in the ISA funded EULF initiative lead by JRC; 5 Demonstrate the usability of E.L.F. platform for key European policy areas and other users including SMEs; 6 Support integration of 3rd party thematic datasets and National Spatial Data Infrastructures (particularly extending beyond the INSPIRE themes provided by NMCAs) for service implementations based on specific user needs; 7 Provide a user friendly interface for finding, viewing and comparing data provided by the E.L.F. platform. Joint Meetings and workshops with EU Location Framework Working Group Example end user applications supporting European Policy and SMEs. Testimonials from platform/example application end users Open access of the E.L.F. Platform to the competition proposed in ICT PSP 2012 Objective 2.2 d Competitions Example applications that use 3rd party data An inventory of available data from 3rd Parties An integration plan, covering technical and legal aspects etc., and including national SDIs A GeoProduct Finder service All necessary legal arrangements made A demonstration service c) Progress Measurements and Uptake Growth (National and International) Based on our project plan, our planned KPIs will show upward trends when: monitoring the amount of information available through connected services for services available, those that are free at point of use the number of accesses to the services. As described above under Target Outcome 2, in order to obtain, manage and access a critical mass of content we are proposing a flexible architecture that supports both cascading services and cached content approaches and exploits existing cloud-based SaaS services.

7 7 A developer friendly platform 3 will make the authoritative reference geo-information available for a range of services. These services will cover a number of INSPIRE related thematic areas and will address the concepts 4 within those themes (e.g. a Statistical Health service will assist policy and planning within the Human Health and Safety theme see Target Outcome 2 above for further information on planned applications). Figure 4: Value added services in theme areas define the E.L.F. platform In order to access a critical mass of content we propose a flexible architecture supporting both cascading services and cached content approaches that exploit existing cloud based SaaS services. Growth in use beyond the end of the project is well founded as the communities of users and the code sprints with external developers and our example services put momentum behind uptake (see later spiral diagram, section 3.1a). The project will provide an operational platform and harmonisation tools implemented both in Proprietary and Open Source software. 45 nations will be providing data (beyond the 14 NMCAs within the project consortium). The specification for large scale E.L.F. data will have been developed and rolled out in our cluster areas (see below). 3 Platform: a framework of data and software upon which applications can be run 4 Terminology as used by EIONET:

8 8 Figure 1: Providers of NMCA data and the cluster regions