CoastGIS’99: geomatics and coastal environment
The only way to succeed in combining data, and to keep coherence in
the decision-making process is to create an infrastructure that makes
the reference data and system available for all users, from all fields,
regardless of the their work’s scope (from local, regional, national,
European to international level).
From the political point of view, we are still far from having reached
true awareness on the part of European decision makers, not to mention
achieving a true European Geographic Information (GI) policy. The
European Commission (EC) action for GI focuses more on Research and
Technology Development (RTD) and market development stimulation.
However, we hope that the growing number of national political imtiatives will soon act as catalysts for a European GI policy.
Before presenting the arguments for a European GI policy, we will first
analyse the role of the European Commission, in the GI context, what
is required to successfully integrate GI into the information society and
reach a true European GI single market.
The role of the European Commission on the Gl market
The European Commission plays three major roles on the market:
• a stimulation role;
• a market actor role, buying and distributing data;
• a political role.
• A stimulation role
The EC launches many programmes aiming at stimulating European
economic growth, improving Europe’s competitiveness in the global
market framework. The Commission’s mission, especially DG XIII/E,
is to contribute to the emergence of a European information society,
stimulating a competitive multimedia content industry, facilitating
access to and exploitation of European content resources and building
on Europe's culture and linguistic diversity.
To reach such objectives, the Commission has different tools of some interest
for the GI market: Info2000 and the 5
th Framework Programme (5EP).
Info2000
To stimulate the information market, Info2000 funds several shared cost
actions, with strong GI participation. These projects aim at creating
information services, contribute to building GI infrastructure and work
on interoperability issues improving access to data.
In addition to shared cost actions, the Commission also launched
several market surveys to try to assess and better understand the European information market. Three GI specific srudies were launched.
The main result of these studies is the difficulty in understanding the
market. GI is a complex horizontal market, linked with many other activities. The GI economy is mixed, with strong links between public and
private sectors. Finally, there is an important lack of awareness of the
GI market’s importance in social and economic life.
44
The only way to succeed in combining data, and to keep coherence in
the decision-making process is to create an infrastructure that makes
the reference data and system available for all users, from all fields,
regardless of the their work’s scope (from local, regional, national,
European to international level).
From the political point of view, we are still far from having reached
true awareness on the part of European decision makers, not to mention
achieving a true European Geographic Information (GI) policy. The
European Commission (EC) action for GI focuses more on Research and
Technology Development (RTD) and market development stimulation.
However, we hope that the growing number of national political imtiatives will soon act as catalysts for a European GI policy.
Before presenting the arguments for a European GI policy, we will first
analyse the role of the European Commission, in the GI context, what
is required to successfully integrate GI into the information society and
reach a true European GI single market.
The role of the European Commission on the Gl market
The European Commission plays three major roles on the market:
• a stimulation role;
• a market actor role, buying and distributing data;
• a political role.
• A stimulation role
The EC launches many programmes aiming at stimulating European
economic growth, improving Europe’s competitiveness in the global
market framework. The Commission’s mission, especially DG XIII/E,
is to contribute to the emergence of a European information society,
stimulating a competitive multimedia content industry, facilitating
access to and exploitation of European content resources and building
on Europe's culture and linguistic diversity.
To reach such objectives, the Commission has different tools of some interest
for the GI market: Info2000 and the 5
th Framework Programme (5EP).
Info2000
To stimulate the information market, Info2000 funds several shared cost
actions, with strong GI participation. These projects aim at creating
information services, contribute to building GI infrastructure and work
on interoperability issues improving access to data.
In addition to shared cost actions, the Commission also launched
several market surveys to try to assess and better understand the European information market. Three GI specific srudies were launched.
The main result of these studies is the difficulty in understanding the
market. GI is a complex horizontal market, linked with many other activities. The GI economy is mixed, with strong links between public and
private sectors. Finally, there is an important lack of awareness of the
GI market’s importance in social and economic life.
44