News from the partners

FreeGIS.net , MapServer open source and INSPIRE
R3 GIS is the technological partner of the project Interreg Italy-Switzerland FreeGIS project. During the project, the compatibility of the software open source MapServer with the specifics of INSPIRE  for the multilingual View Services was improved/perfected . This adaption work was done by Stephan Meißl: the work was commissioned by R3 GIS and the changes were formalized in the RFC (Request for Comments) 75 http://mapserver.org/development/rfc/ms-rfc-75.html.  On March 3 2012, the Project Steering Committee of MapServer voted positively RFC 75 allowing so the integration of the changes in the next version (6.2) MapServer. Thanks to the support of the FreeGIS.net project, it will be possible to create multilingual view services that are compatible with the view INSPIRE specifications.

FreeGIS.net at FOSS4G-CEE

FOSS4G-CEE, http://foss4g-cee.org/,the conference for the Central and East European countries regarding the free geographic software took place from the 21st to the 23rd of May in Prague. Several communications focused on the implementation of the INSPIRE Directive. Peter Hopfgartner of R3 GIS (http://foss4g-cee.org/program/presentations/freegis-net-free-data-and-gis-tools/) presented a report about the current situation of the FreeGIS.net project. The audience was very interested in the activities and the results that have been achieved until now. In particular, there were several questions about the licenses for the geographical data. Who wants to know more about this argument can find more details and documentation on the blog of Simone Aliprandi who is a member of FreeGIS.net's advisory board, here: http://aliprandi.blogspot.it/2012/05/opendata-graph.html

News from the territory
 
During these months there were different meetings with several other projects that relate to issues covered by FreeGIS.net. In particular projects such as INTEGREEN ( http://www.integreen-life.bz.it  )and  OPENGISDATA can benefit from the technological know how provided by FreeGIS.net as basis for their purposes. The will increase the synergies between the projects and their potential.

News from the FreeGIS.net'network and from IG

On the website INSPIRE is now available the document: "A Conceptual Model for Developing Interoperability Specifications in Spatial Data Infrastructures"
http://inspire.jrc.ec.europa.eu/index.cfm/newsid/10721
 This document provides a complete view on the component of the Spatial Data Infrastructure  and shows how to achieve the  interoperability of the existing data, thanks to the refinements for achiving the interoperability objectives  and by showing how the data should be transformed in order to acquire  such results. It is a useful reference text for policy makers, public officials and researcher who intend to deal with the definition and implementation of a process for the harmonization of the geographical data of its own structure.


Published on the portal OGC the report on "Open Standards and INSPIRE" https://portal.opengeospatial.org/files/?artifact_id=48623
The report has a list of the standards OGC, CEN and ISO within INSPIRE and integrates the documentation already available for the stakeholders and the experts. It emphasizes the fact that INSPIRE provides elements, which are binding from a legal point of view, and also optional elements. In fact, the Implementing Rules of Inspire are legally binding but make no explicit reference to norms or technologies. Differently, the technical guides that integrate the Implemeting Rules are not legally binding but provide the necessary details in order to implement the rules. These documents refer to the OGC, ISO and other standards. The report was give to all the OGC members: Everyone can submit a request in order to change any OGC's standard , here http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/cr  . The feedback will be taken into consideration in the following six months (October 2012) and revision of the document will be published by the end of 2012.

Conference INSPIRE 2012

http://inspire.jrc.ec.europa.eu/events/conferences/inspire_2012/index.cfm/page/prel
This year the coonference INSPIRE takes place in Istanbul (Tturkey)from June 23 yo June 27. The theme of this year is "Sharing environmental information, sharing innovation". The scenario of the policies for sharing geographical information has changed drastically since the introduction of the INSPIRE Directive. The Communication by the Commission on the Shared Enviromental  Information System(SEIS,2008) and the follow-up activities on national and European level have contributed to catch on a new coordinated idea/view  for the implementation and monitoring of environmental policies. Governance, contents and technologies are the three " pillars" that can support and consolidate  this new view. The conference is laso about the open technologies.  Tuesday 26th at 11 a.m (Üsküdar Hall 2 but also on  the network) the session "Open source solutions for geo-portals and registries". The program is available here:
http://inspire.jrc.ec.europa.eu/events/conferences/inspire_2012/index.cfm/page/prel

"Digital rights and open data: the basis for Smart Cities and Communities"
Conference of "Stati Generali dell'Innovazione", Bologna, July 2, 2012

The association "Stati Generali dell'Innovazione" organizes together with the Region Emilia Romagna an event about the Geographical Information for the Smart Cities. The meeting addresses the issues of Geographical Information for what concerns "Smart cities" and "Digital Cities" which are promoted in different ways and they are also joining a growing number of municipalities and communities. Each project deals with one or even more areas, based on the priorities and sensibilities of their promoters: energy efficiency, mobility, environmental monitoring, communication with citizens, promoting tourism are just some of them. However, for them all the Geographical Information plays a key role in enabling infrastructure and the geomatic technologies contribute to the creation of innovative services.
The event in Bologna will be an opportunity to start an initial study among all stakeholders of the Smart Cities (relying on subjects such as: creativity of young people, merit, and knowledge-based work-Digital Inclusion-Innovation as an opportunity for busines/enterprises development- Open Governament) and formulate proposal, ideas and solution in order to start the innovation in the country, taking benefit also from the contribute of the geomatic sector.
The work includes the development of the following sectors:

•    Innovative Infrastructures of Geograohical Data for efficient Smart Cities and Smart Communities
•    Open Data: Communities that are able to benefit from geographical information
•    New format for the public and interactive communication: participatory planning, territorial and social innovation.

The promoters propose a plan that grafting in the roadmap of the association "Stati Generali dell'Innovazione" in the following months, will keep on elaborating those themes on the network and during the public meeting/events where they will be discussed: conference AM/FM Gis(end of September) Smart City Exhibition (Bologna, October 29 to 31), ASITA Conference (Vicenza, 6-9 November), GFOSSDAY 2012 (Turin, November 14 to 16) and other events..
We invite the readers of this newsletter to follow the communication of the association http://www.statigeneralinnovazione.it/online/.
In the following days the program will be published on the website, here you will also find the material of the open talk still on the web site; you can also examine the material that will be produced in preparation for open talk.