Croatia - 2022: Country Fiche

Table of Contents

Introduction
State of Play
- Coordination
- Functioning and coordination of the infrastructure
- Usage of the infrastructure for spatial information
- Data Sharing Arrangements
- Costs and Benefits
Key Facts and Figures.
- Monitoring Indicators

Introduction

The INSPIRE Directive sets the minimum conditions for interoperable sharing and exchange of spatial data across Europe as part of a larger European Interoperability Framework and the e-Government Action Plan that contributes to the Digital Single Market Agenda. Article 21 of INSPIRE Directive defines the basic principles for monitoring and reporting. More detailed implementing rules regarding INSPIRE monitoring and reporting have been adopted as Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/1372 on the 19th August 2019.

This country fiche highlights Croatia progress in the various areas of INSPIRE implementation. It includes information on monitoring 2021 acquired in December 2021 and Member States update.

State Of Play

A high-level view on the governance, use and impact of the INSPIRE Directive in Croatia. More detailed information is available on the INSPIRE knowledge base.

Coordination

National Contact Point

Name of Public Authority:

State Geodetic Administration

Postal Address:

Gruška 20., 10000 Zagreb

Contact Email:

Click to email

National INSPIRE Website:

https://www.nipp.hr

https://dgu.gov.hr/

MIG Contacts:

Contact Person:

Maric Ljerka

Email:

ljerka.maric@dgu.hr

Contact Person:

Tomislav Ciceli

Email:

Tomislav.Ciceli@dgu.hr

MIG T Contacts:

Contact Person:

Tomislav Ciceli

Email:

Tomislav.Ciceli@dgu.hr

Coordination Structure & Progress:

National Contact point

Name of the public authority	State Geodetic Administration
Contact information:	SGA Sector for Spatial Data Infrastructure
Mailing address	Gruška 20, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Telephone number	+385 (0)1 6165404
Telefax number	+385 (0)1 6165484
Email address	infonipp@dgu.hr
Organisation’s website URL	https://dgu.gov.hr/
Contact person (if available)	Ljerka Marić
Telephone number	+385 (0)1 6166533
Email address	Ljerka.Maric@dgu.hr
Contact person - substitute (if available)	Tomislav Ciceli
Telephone number	+385 (0)1 6166535
Email address	Tomislav.Ciceli@dgu.hr

Coordination Structure
- The main governing body of NSDI in the Republic of Croatia is the NSDI Council. It is a body that implements the NSDI within the Republic of Croatia and coordinates the activities of NSDI subjects within the scope and with rights and obligations determined by the Law on National Spatial data infrastructure (OG 56/13, 52/18, 50/20). Governmental authorities at the level of ministries mainly join this NSDI Council, but also relevant (branch) associations as well as National Contact Point (NCP).
- The Act Amending the National Spatial Data Infrastructure Act (OG 50/20) of 2 May 2020 introduced changes in the composition of the NSDI Council in order to achieve its more efficient work. Therefore it was proposed that the President of the Council was a representative of the National Contact Point and that a new member from the State Hydrometeorological Institute was included in the new composition. Additionaly, it governs that exchange and sharing of data at the national level is regulated by a protocol, whereas the sharing of spatial data between NSDI entities and European Commission bodies is regulated by an agreement.
- At the managerial level is the NSDI Board, a permanent body for NSDI implementation. The NSDI Board is appointed by the NSDI Council and consists of three representatives from the NSDI Council, three from the NCP, and the heads of NSDI working groups.
- At the operational level, till February 2021, three NSDI working groups were established for the purpose of elaborating certain tasks and obligations within the scope of the NSDI implementation.
  - Workgroup for NSDI technical standards
  - Workgroup for NSDI capacity building
  - Workgroup for NSDI spatial data.
- The NCP is responsible for leading the implementation of the NSDI and the coordination of the activities of the NSDI subjects within the scope and with rights and obligations determined by the Law.
Progress
- As the Republic of Croatia became official EU member 1 July 2013, it was not obliged to submit the INSPIRE monitoring and reporting forms before that date. The first Reporting was submitted in 2016 and progress has been made in many areas in the period from 2016-2021. Also from the last update of the Country fische in 2021 the number of identified spatial datasets, as well as documentation of data through NSDI geoportal and Metadata Catalogue, has grown as seen in the Monitoring results. Accessibility of data through network services is also much higher as well as conformity of spatial data sets and services.

Functioning and coordination of the infrastructure

In 2021 the State Geodetic Administration prepared a report on the implementation of measures and activities from the National Spatial Data Infrastructure Strategy 2020 and the National Spatial Data Infrastructure Strategic Plan for the period 2017-2020, which was firstly adopted by NSDI Council and after that adopted by the Croatian Government in the beginning of 2022.
The Act on Amendments to the National Spatial Data Infrastructure Act (OG 50/20) was adopted by the Croatian Parliament in April 2020. Pursuant to the Act Amending the Act, the current National Spatial Data Infrastructure Act is harmonized with the INSPIRE Directive, which was amended with the entry into force of Regulation (EU) 2019/1010 of the European Parliament and of the Council. Also, the composition of the Council of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure is changed in order to achieve more efficient work of the Council, as well as the competences of the National Contact Point regarding reporting by Member States to the European Commission. Furthermore, the Act on Amendments to the National Spatial Data Infrastructure Act (OG 50/20) , with the aim of harmonization with the Law on State Information Infrastructure (Official Gazette, No. 94/14), proposes that the exchange and sharing of data at the national level is regulated by a protocol, while the sharing of spatial data between NSDI entities and European Commission bodies is regulated by an agreement.The Act Amending the National Spatial Data Infrastructure Act (OG 50/20) entered into force on 2 May 2020.
The Law on Amendments to the Law on National Spatial Data Infrastructure (OG 52/18) was adopted by the Croatian Parliament in May 2018 and it fully complies with Directive 2007/2 / EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of March 14th, 2007 establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE).
In September 2017 the government of the Republic of Croatia adopted the Decision on the adoption of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure Strategy 2020 and the Strategic Plan of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure for the period 2017-2020 (OG 96/17). The adoption of the NSDI Strategy will help all stakeholders, primarily NSDI subjects, to achieve compliance with the INSPIRE Directive. It will further emphasize the centralized access to spatial data of the public bodies through the NSDI geoportal, which will result in greater efficiency of state administration in areas directly or indirectly linked to spatial data. Fulfillment of the strategic goals will increase the number of spatial data present, primarily at the regional and local level, where the largest number of new NSDI subjects are expected.
The Law on National Spatial Data Infrastructure (OG 56/13) was adopted by the Croatian Parliament in May 2013.

Usage of the infrastructure for spatial information

Quantitative information about the use of the spatial datasets exists only for those datasets for which are developed network services. NSDI subjects that have developed such services for their datasets are State Geodetic Administration, Ministry of Environmental Protection and Energy, Croatian Highways, Ministry of Construction and Physical Planning, City of Zagreb, Croatian Forest, Croatian Water, and PSP. The most used network services are State Geodetic Administration’s Digital orthophoto, Topographic Map 1: 25 000 and Cadastral parcels and Cadastral municipalities.
NCP has encouraged NSDI subjects to implement their own metadata catalogues based on NSDI Metadata Specification and now NSDI geoportal is harvesting two such catalogues from the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development and Croatian Bureau of Statistics.
The use of the infrastructure for spatial information has grown in previous years which can be seen from larger numbers of access to NSDI geoportal for more than 30%.
NSDI is also used in education in the Republic of Croatia. Research made on several high schools and universities in Croatia showed that NSDI is used for educational purposes in at least 3 faculties and 1 high school.
State Geodetic Administration, from 2019 to 2021 was implementing the project "Strengthening Capacities for the Establishment of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure". The project was co-financed by the European Social Fund from the Priority Axis 4, Operational Program Effective Human Resources 2014-2020, Investment Priority 11.i., Specific goal 11.i.1. The main goal of the project was to strengthen the existing NSDI capacities at the National Contact Point and local promoters, as well as to raise NSDI knowledge at the local, regional and national levels thus resulting in the increase of the number of NSDI subjects. In scope of project, during 2021, 11 workshops were organised primary for representatives from local government. As part of the project, in 2021 the State Geodetic Administration published the brochure "Spatial Data and NSDI for Connected Croatia" and the publication "National Spatial Data Infrastructure in Implementation" intended for NSDI subjects and all other users of spatial data.
State Geodetic Administration, from 2019 to 2021, was implementing the project „Increasing the availability of NSDI spatial data through e-services“ funded from the European Regional Development Fund, aiming to increase availability and interoperability of spatial datasets in Croatia. In scope of project, the module "Example of good practice for the use of NSDI spatial data" was developed and it is publically available as a part of the NSDI Geoportal browser.
In 2020, new version of NSDI Metadata Specification was implemented to the national catalogue on the national Geoportal.
At the end of 2019, a new version of the NSDI Metadata Specification, that is fully compliant with the new INSPIRE Implementing rules for metadata “Technical Guidance for the implementation of INSPIRE dataset and service metadata based on ISO/TS 19139:2007 ", was adopted. In the Specification the emphasis is on implementation rules of xml coding of metadata elements in accordance with norm ISO / TS 19139: 2007 taken as a reference, international standard for metadata coding. New Specification, in which metadata elements are divided into compliance classes, provide better support in automatic metadata validation.
The State Geodetic Administration, in cooperation with NSDI subjects, in 2019 developed a spatial data viewer “GeoHrvatska” aiming to bring the NSDI spatial data closer to the public, specially to ordinary citizens. The viewer consolidates and visualizes the NSDI spatial data, divided into six thematic areas: Environmental Quality, Land, Nature Around Me, Leisure, Protected Areas and Pollution in the Near Area.
Communication Plan of National Spatial Data Infrastructure was written in December 2018 and its goal is to define the best methods for communication with different stakeholders including the general public and further raise the awareness on benefits of spatial data infrastructure.

Data sharing arrangements

Costs and benefits

Benefits:

Although no quantitative values of the INSPIRE implementation benefits can be given, there are many positive feedbacks to INSPIRE implementation and using National Spatial Data Infrastructure:

Using NSDI has led to cost reduction as data can be re-used in other institutions and duplication of data acquisition can be avoided.
Stakeholders use the Metadata Catalogue and NSDI geoportal for their needs regarding spatial data since all necessary information regarding the data can be found there (e.g. terms of use, resolution, data coverage).
NSDI subjects when providing INSPIRE services for their spatial datasets decide to make them free of charge, thus allowing companies to use these data to create new products and expand the spatial data market.
Generally, NSDI is contributing a lot in raising knowledge on spatial data management issues.

Costs:

According to the report on the implementation of measures and activities from the National Spatial Data Infrastructure Strategy 2020 and the National Spatial Data Infrastructure Strategic Plan for the period 2017-2020 overall costs for was 10 814 566 Euros divided in 7. Strategic goals. Implementation costs for each of the strategic goal were:

Strategic goal no. 1: NSDI is known and the benefits it brings

The cost in this strategic goal during the period 2017 - 2020 amounts to 51 188 euros and mainly refers to participation in workshops and conferences and implementation of spatial data portals of some NSDI subjects.

Strategic goal no. 2: Spatial data and services are available and meet the needs of users

The cost in this strategic goal during the period 2017 - 2020 amounts to 4 614 244 euros and it refers to the development of network services (view and download).

Strategic goal no. 3: Terms and fees for the use of spatial data are easy to understand

The cost in this strategic goal during the period 2017 - 2020 amounts to 12 088 euros and it refers to development of standard licenses (open and special) for spatial data and workshop on licensing of data.

Strategic goal no. 5: There are sufficient operational options available for the effective and efficient use of the NSDI

The cost in this strategic goal during the period 2017 - 2020 amounts to 5 766 823 euros and it refers to all the projects aiming to implementation and development of NSDI in Croatia, co-financed from EU funds, especially of those in which information systems and INSPIRE network services have been developed.

Strategic goal no. 6: NSDI supports other important policies and programs at the national and international level

This strategic goal refers to compliance to INSPIRE of datasets, network services and metadata and the cost in this strategic goal during the period 2017 - 2020 amounts to 166 750 euros.

Strategic goal no. 7: NSDI stakeholders (NSDI entities and beneficiaries) cooperate through partnerships and other types of agreements

This strategic goal refers to concluding cooperation agreements and inclusion of NSDI subjects and their metadata in the Catalog of Metadata on the NSDI Geoportal and the cost during the period 2017 - 2020 amounts to 203 473 euros.

Key facts and figures