EuroGeographicsmessenger

In this edition …

ź NewsIntroducing the new President of EuroGeographics, Ingrid Vanden Berghe

Read about our agreement with the EEA that puts members' data at the heart of the GMES emergency management service

New Chairman of our Cadastre and Land Registry Knowledge Exchange Network (KEN)

Help improve interoperability across Europe

ź MembersResearch developments at the Finnish Geodetic Institute

Rosreestr leads ambitious project to unify Russian real estate and cadastre databases

100 years of cadastral surveying in Switzerland

Sweden's emergency services user group - bringing benefits to customers and data providers

ź Products and ServicesSpotlight on EuroGlobalMap, an ideal backdrop for planning, monitoring, network analysis and presenting environmental policies

A willingness to provide not just data,

but knowledge and experience too

EuroGeographics can count experts in geospatial data, cadastral systems, technology,

land registration, policy, quality, pricing and licensing among its membership and it is a

great pleasure to work with so many highly-skilled professionals who so willingly share

their knowledge and experience.

One way in which they do this is through our five knowledge exchange networks (KENs)

which focus on issues facing all national cadastral, land registry and mapping authorities.

You can also read about Julius Ernst, the new Chairman of our Cadastre and Land

Registry KEN and find out how its work is contributing to the European Location

Framework. Our members are also providing data for the GMES emergency management

service following our partnership agreement with the European Environment Agency, and

to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, as a result of a contract signed

with them on behalf of the European Commission.

In this issue of the Messenger, we introduce our new President, Ingrid Vanden Berghe

whose focus, together with our Management Board and Head Office, continues

to be on activities that deliver wide-ranging social, economic and environmental benefits –

a commitment shared by our members. For example in the Russian Federation, the

Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography (Rosreestr) is leading

an ambitious project to unify Russian real estate and cadastral databases whilst in

Sweden, Lantmäteriet - The Swedish Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registration

Authority's emergency services user group is playing a key role in ensuring rescuers have

access to reliable geodata.

This year Switzerland marks 100 years since the enactment of the Swiss Civil Code which

created a nationally standardised land registration and cadastral surveying system.

For the Federal Office of Topography, the centenary is an ideal opportunity to take a look

to the future as well as the past. Visitors to the Finnish Geodetic Institute's open day,

however fixed their sights firmly on the future with demonstrations showing the very latest

research developments.

Whether you are an experienced user of geographic information or just starting to discover

its many benefits, I hope you'll find something of interest in this edition of the Messenger.

As always, we welcome your comments, so do please

or visit our .

Best wishes

Dave Lovell OBE FRGS CGeog

Secretary General and Executive Director

contact us

website

eurogeographics.org

EuroGeographics76, Rue du Nord76, Noordstraat1000 BrusselsBELGIUMT : +32 2 888 71 93F : +32 2 888 71 94E: contact@eurogeographics.org

EG messengerissue 1/2012

Spotlight on EuroGlobalMap

EuroGlobalMap provides a geographic backdrop for large areas and is ideal for cross-border planning, monitoring and network analysis as well as presenting environmental policies. The 1:1 million scale topographic dataset contains six themes: administrative boundaries; names locations; transport networks; settlements; elevation; and the water network.

Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, is a key user and the first to benefit from the latest version which has been updated to cover 45 countries and territories. Existing EuroGeographics customers and distributors will be automatically sent the update in May 2012 when it is released to the market.

By providing a cross-border geospatial framework to identify transport lines and provide an overview of the entire region, EuroGlobalMap has helped in the planning, monitoring and review process for the EU guidelines on trans-European transport networks (TEN-T). It is also used to report on river basins for the EU Water Framework Directive by the European River Commissions covering the Elbe and Rhine.

EuroGeographics produces a range of pan-European datasets and services created through the active contribution of members and in cooperation with both private business and academic resources. To find out how our datasets, including EuroGlobalMap could benefit you, visit: http://www.eurogeographics.org/products-and-services/use-cases

Partnership agreement ensures access to reliable mapping data for European disaster and crisis response

You may have read about the recent partnership agreement between EuroGeographics and the European Environment Agency (EEA) that puts national mapping and cadastral authorities' data at heart of the GMES emergency management service. EuroGeographics is very pleased to be able to facilitate the delivery of members’ data and knowledge and is working with the EEA to ensure that emergency services can quickly access pan-European mapping in the immediate aftermath of disasters. This will help provide a common operational picture for those involved in crisis management to work from.

Civil protection agencies, national and local emergency services, humanitarian aid organisations and European Union bodies will all be able to use the rush-mode mapping and damage assessment maps created as part of the GMES emergency management service. This service may be activated on any day at any time and aims to provide reference maps just 6 hours after gaining access to earth observation data and damage assessment maps within 24 hours. “Disasters in Europe are more frequent and more damaging than ten years ago,” Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director of the EEA, said. “We need to be able to respond even more quickly to all kinds of disasters, such as floods, storms, earthquakes and industrial accidents. This agreement is extremely important, bringing together the most up-to-date geospatial data to rapidly produce emergency response maps. This collaboration will save lives.”

EuroGeographicsmessenger

Events:

PPP-RTK & Open Standards Symposium, 12 to 13 March 2012Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Geospatial World Forum 201223 to 27 April 2012 Amsterdam, Netherlands

GEOFORUM-2012 (17th International and Technical Conference)25 to 27 April 2012Lviv, Ukraine

FIG working week 20126 to 10 May 2012Rome, Italy

100 years of cadastral surveying in Switzerland9 May 2012Bern, Switzerland

Annual meeting of cadastral institutions of the countries of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire23 to 25 May 2012Celje, Slovenia

eurogeographics.org

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Cadastral surveying Switzerland Serving society for 100 years

Cadastral surveying in Switzerland is celebrating its centenary in 2012, marking 100 years since the enactment of the Swiss Civil Code which created a nationally standardised land registration and cadastral surveying system.

For EuroGeographics' member, the Federal Office of Topography, the anniversary is an ideal opportunity to take a look into the future as well as the past with a centennial publication and special commemorative jigsaw.

Through the contributions of more than 30 authors, the 144-page publication, which is available in German, French and Italian, covers cadastral surveying of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. The 1000-piece puzzle shows a map of Switzerland sprinkled by humorous scenes of cadastral surveying.

Celebrations will start on 9 May 2012 at Federation Square in Berne. The official Day of Cadastral Surveying will be held on 12 May 2012 with events in all 26 cantons. An overview of all activities, further information and order forms for the jigsaw and publication, are available at or from .www.cadastre.ch/2012/ infovd@swisstopo.ch

Research developments at the Finnish Geodetic Institute

The Finnish Geodetic Institute (FGI) threw open its doors recently to demonstrate its latest research projects. Among the developments on show were the creation of a platform for handling maps in large LCD displays such as on a tablet; printable physical 3D landscape models created from lidar-based data and orthophotos; and the cost-effective collection of aerial data using unmanned vehicles.

Antti Jakobsson, EuroGeographics Programmes Manager, was one of the guest attending the open day. He said: “In common with other EuroGeographics' members, FGI is committed to research and development to maximise the use and benefit of its data. It is well known for its research expertise in areas such as data acquisition and the exploitation of geospatial information so this open day was a welcome opportunity to find out about its latest projects.”

For more information about FGI's work, visit .www.fgi.fi

eurogeographics.orgEuroGeographicsmessenger

Sweden's emergency services user group brings benefits

to both customers and data providers

Being able to find a specific location easily

and quickly is crucial for the emergency services

and in Sweden, Lantmäteriet - The Swedish

Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registration

Authority; has a dedicated user group which

is playing a key role in ensuring rescuers have

access to reliable geodata. The twice-yearly

gathering not only enables users to increase their

understanding of its benefits, but also gives valuable

insight into how data is being used so that providers

can meet current demands and plan for future

needs.

The group is made up of SOS Alarm Ltd - who has

responsibility for handing 112 emergency calls and

coordinating rescues - the Swedish Association

of Local Authorities and Regions; the Police;

Transport Administration; Civil Contingencies

Agency; Ambulance; and the State Emergency -

which includes air, mountain and sea rescues.

The first task for the group was to identify

any concerns, such as missing content, lack

of uniformity, timeliness, areas for improved

communication, pricing and a lack of suitable

geodata services. An action plan was then produced

to address these issues. From 2011 a cooperation

agreement between 16 geodata providers

in Sweden has given better access to their

information. Communication between the various

user group members has become much more

frequent, enabling further exchanges of knowledge

and an increased understanding about demand

and supply.

Sweden is also part of an agreement to exchange

cross-border data for crisis management between

the Nordic countries. Together with Denmark,

Finland, Iceland and Norway, it provides access

to standard vector and raster maps, addresses

and place names to be used by the relevant

organisations to prepare emergency responses

in each country.

Bengt Kjellson, General Director of Lantmäteriet

says: “Thanks to the Agreement, geodata

has already been used in exercises and in practical

cases, but there is still a lot of work remaining

in integrating data from different countries. I think,

however that we are on the right path!”

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Invitation to help improve interoperability across Europe

People across Europe have until 16 March to participate in the development of three fundamental collections of technical definitions that will be used for online electronic public administration services. These definitions will help solve the problem of incompatible vocabularies used by the individual developers of public administrations' IT systems.

Core Vocabularies help to describe data entities by defining their components. When applied in IT systems, these Core Vocabularies make data easier to reuse and share and can be used as a starting point for developing new e-Government services, helping to enable interoperability between widely different IT systems across sectors and borders.A set of three Core Vocabularies - Core Person, Core Business and Core Location - developed by three working groups of specialists from the European Commission, international standards organisations, academics, and experts from 21 EU Member States, are now open for a month-long public review organised by the European Commission's ISA (Interoperability Solutions for European Public Administrations) programme. The Core Vocabularies cover specific features that can be used to catalogue and describe a person, such as place or date of birth, and describe data entities in the domains of business and geographical location.

The public's comments are a crucial part of developing e-Government Core Vocabularies. Only when the comments resulting from this consultation have been taken into account will the Working Group seek endorsement from EU Member States. Endorsement does not make the use of Core Vocabularies a legal obligation, but it will give them further exposure.

You can take part in the review by visiting https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/asset/core_business/release/02

Introducing our new President, Ingrid Vanden Berghe

We are pleased to announce that Ingrid Vanden Berghe, General Administrator, National Geographic Institute, Belgium was elected President of EuroGeographics at our 2011 General Assembly.

Ingrid has served as an adviser to several Belgian Cabinet Ministries and a before taking up her current role at the Belgium national mapping agency, was Director of the Christian Democrat parties' Centre for Political, Economic, and Social Studies (CEPESS). She started her professional career as a scientist at the Leuven University, Belgium, entering public service in 1989 as an agricultural engineer for the Department of Land Use Development in the Flemish Region.

She comments: “As President, it is a great privilege to represent so many highly-skilled and knowledgeable GI professionals. This is an exciting time for EuroGeographics as its members work towards creating the European Location Framework, a technical infrastructure which delivers authoritative, interoperable, cross-border geospatial reference data for analysing and understanding information connected to places and features.

“We want more people to understand the value of interoperable authoritative geo-information and we want more people to be using it so that it benefits all sections of European society. Raising awareness of its uses is one of my key aims for the next two years.”

Ingrid will be writing a regular column about EuroGeographics for GeoInformatics. Her first report features in the March issue.

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New Chairman for EuroGeographics' network of cadastre

and land registry specialists

Julius Ernst, from Austria's Federal Office of Metrology and Surveying,

is the new Chair of the Cadastre and Land Registry Knowledge

Exchange Network (C&LR KEN).

The C&LR KEN is one of five knowledge exchange networks within

EuroGeographics and its members are working to provide state-of-the-

art services for the diverse range of users in property and land

information markets.

EuroGeographics' knowledge exchange networks, which also focus on business

interoperability; European policy; quality; and implementation of the INSPIRE Directive,

bring together experts from its member organisations to share best practice, exchange

experiences and discuss the day-to-day issues facing all national cadastral, land registry

and mapping authorities. GI professionals can contribute to these debates by registering

at www.eurogeoforum.eu, an online resource for facilitating the exchange of views

and information.

For a subscription of EuroGeographics newsletter please visit: http://www.eurogeographics.org/newsletter/subscribe

Ambitions to unify Russian real estate and cadastre databases

being realised by Rosreestr

Significant improvements to the availability and quality

of rights registering and cadastral services are being

delivered through an ambitious project to unify real estate

information systems in the Russian Federation.

Led by the Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre

a n d C a r t o g r a p h y ( R o s r e e s t r ) , a m e m b e r

of EuroGeographics, the work covers the activities of all

regional offices, subordinated institutions and related

organisations in the Federation's 81 subjects.

The project has already developed software to create a territorial information resource

to consolidate the data of the State Real Property Cadastre and the Real Property Rights

Register and ensure their interoperability. Working with others in real estate, Rosreestr

is also gathering and publishing information about market conditions detailing useful

statistics about the growth or fall in prices for selected periods.

Services will be delivered electronically via Rosreestr's official website -

which will ultimately enable users to register property units online, providing a legally

recognised electronic document equal to its paper counterpart. Payments and enquiries

about the status of an application will also be possible. The website explains how

customers can access and receive information, such as document searches, office

locations and rules and order of actions, and provides a range of interactive services,

including online data delivery from recording systems and the Public Cadastral Map.

The project will also enable the paper-free delivery of information from Rosreestr's data

recording systems to all interested state and municipal institutions via the Unified Federal

Information System.

The project is due for completion by 2014 and receives funding from the State Budget

of the Russian Federation and a World Bank loan.

www.rosreestr.ru