The EU’s infrastructure for spatial information (Inspire)

SUMMARY OF:

Directive 2007/2/EC establishing an infrastructure for spatial information in the European Community

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE DIRECTIVE?

Directive 2007/2/EC lays down general rules setting up an infrastructure for spatial information* in Europe for the purposes of European Union (EU) environmental policies and for policies or activities that may have an impact on the environment.
The European infrastructure builds on that of spatial information that is established and operated by EU Member States.

KEY POINTS

The directive applies to spatial data that:
- cover areas where Member States have jurisdictional rights;
- exist in electronic format;
- are held by, or on behalf of, a public authority or another body using the network;
- relate to environmental information.
Member States are responsible for ensuring that metadata* are created for the various environmental spatial data* sets and services listed in the legislation. Depending on the subject, these must be established within 2 or 5 years of the rules coming into force.
The European Commission, assisted by a committee, adopts the technical arrangements to ensure spatial data sets and services can work together and harmonises them where this can be put into practice.
These implementing rules were to be adopted no later than 15 May 2009 or 15 May 2012, depending on the subject.
Member States must establish and operate a network with the following services:
- discovery: to search for spatial data sets and services;
- view: to display, navigate, zoom in and out, pan or overlay viewable spatial data sets;
- download: where this can be put into practice, to access directly and download copies of spatial data sets;
- transformation: to transform spatial data sets to achieve interoperability.
Public authorities must be able to link their spatial data sets and services to the national network.
Member States may limit public access to spatial data sets and services for various reasons, such as legal confidentiality, public security, intellectual property rights or protection of the environment.
The Commission operates an EU Inspire geoportal, which gives access to the national networks.
The legislation does not require the collection of new spatial data.

Evaluation

In July 2022, the Commission published its evaluation staff working document on the implementation of the Inspire directive (2007/2/EC).
The evaluation was legally required and builds on the 2016 REFIT evaluation of the directive that was published as Commission report COM(2016) 478 final of 20 July 2016.
The evaluation demonstrated that the Inspire directive is still very relevant for addressing data sharing obstacles from the past and data needs for the future. Against this increasing relevance, it was also shown that the legal framework can be improved in terms of its effectiveness.
The evaluation will inform the GreenData4All initiative announced in the European strategy for data, for which a call for evidence was launched on 26 February 2024.

FROM WHEN DO THE RULES APPLY?

The directive had to be transposed into national law by 15 May 2009.

BACKGROUND

For further information, see:

Inspire (European Commission).

KEY TERMS

Infrastructure for spatial information. It covers metadata, spatial data sets and spatial data services; network services and technologies; agreements on sharing, access and use; and coordination and monitoring mechanisms, processes and procedures.

Metadata. Information describing spatial data sets and spatial data services, making it possible to discover, inventory and use them.

Spatial data. Any data with direct or indirect reference to a specific location or geographical area, such as addresses, transport networks, elevation and land use.

MAIN DOCUMENT

Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2007 establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (Inspire) (OJ L 108, 25.4.2007, pp. 1–14).

Successive amendments to Directive 2007/2/EC have been incorporated into the basic text. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.

Choose the experimental features you want to try