INSPIRE Knowledge Base

Cyprus - 2021: 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 the progress in the various areas of INSPIRE implementation. It includes information on monitoring 2020 acquired in December 2020 and Member States update.

State Of Play

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

Coordination

National Contact Point
Name of Public Authority: 
Ministry of Interior
Contact Email: 
Click to email
National INSPIRE Website: 
http://www.moi.gov.cy/dls
MIG Contacts: 
Contact Person: 
Andreas Hadjiraftis
Email: 
ahadjiraftis@dls.moi.gov.cy
Contact Person: 
Anthi Lakkotrypi - Koukkouri
Email: 
alakkotrypi@dls.moi.gov.cy
MIG T Contacts: 
Contact Person: 
Andreas Hadjiraftis
Email: 
ahadjiraftis@dls.moi.gov.cy
Contact Person: 
Anthi Lakkotrypi - Koukkouri
Email: 
alakkotrypi@dls.moi.gov.cy
Coordination Structure & Progress: 
  • National Contact point

 

Name of public authority

Ministry of the Interior

Mailing address

Dimostheni Severi Avenue,

1453, Nicosia

Cyprus

Telephone number

+357 22867800

Fax number

+ 357) 22 867872 / 22804881

E-mail

perm.sec@moi.gov.cy

Website address

www.moi.gov.cy

Contact person

Andreas Hadjiraftis, Secretary for PPP and Contact Point

Telephone number

(+ 357) 22 804813

E-mail

ahadjiraftis@dls.moi.gov.cy

Contact person substitute

Anthi Koukkouri-Lakkotrypi, Representative, Ministry of the Interior

Telephone number

(+ 357) 22 804911

E-mail

alakkotrypi@dls.moi.gov.cy
  • Coordination Structure

  • The Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Cyprus, based on the Law N.43 (I) /2010, has undertaken a coordinating role in the implementation of the INSPIRE Directive in Cyprus, while the Department of Lands and Surveys, the Department of Information Technology Services and the Department of Environment have undertaken a leading role in its organisation and implementation. Under the legislation, provisions are made for the creation of a Management Council, a Management Team, Technical Committees and Working Groups, as shown in detail in the diagram above, which are already established.

  • Progress

Cyprus has made good progress on INSPIRE implementation since 2014. To remediate the delay on INSPIRE implementation which led to a legal pilot against Cyprus, Cyprus has initiated the following projects in 2014 which have led to implementations in 2015 and operational systems in 2016:

  1. INSPIRE strategic plan and preparation of internet applications and data.
  2. Preparation of a strategic plan for the Department of Lands and Surveys (DLS) and of three written calls for the further development of the new Land Information System (LIS), the development of an infrastructure for spatial and other data in Cyprus and the establishment of a pilot programme.
  3. Development of a geoportal at the DLS (DLS-Portal), which includes four pillars: (a) Citizens portal, (b) Electronic Applications, (c) Interactive Maps, and (d) INSPIRE Geo-Portal (main gateway to e-services). All of these pillars are fully operational and include a very rich content. (http://portal.dls.moi.gov.cy).

The new strategic plan (see point 1 above) for implementing the INSPIRE programme, includes a detailed analysis of the current state of play, it details the risks and costs and provides recommendations on how to fully comply with the Directive and the timetables.

The spatial data was documented and published in a catalogue and these metadata were posted on 14 January 2016 on the geoportal of the Republic of Cyprus at www.geoportal.gov.cy. Further updates are regularly done and monitoring reports are prepared.

In addition to the above, a team of technical experts were invited in Cyprus to examine the existing INSPIRE developments and provide solutions and recommendations. This team visited Cyprus twice in 2019, managed to solve a series of technical problems, and provided a report with recommendations for further developments. The report was officially submitted to the Management Council for approval and further instructions. Based on this report, further improvements were done to the current applications and e-services by local technical experts and private company technicians.

Functioning and coordination of the infrastructure

  • The INSPIRE Directive was transposed in the national law of the Republic of Cyprus with the enactment of Law N.43(I)/2010 on 14 May 2010.
  • Cyprus connected their national discovery service to the EU geoportal, allowing for the publication of metadata for the available spatial data sets and services on the EU geoportal.
  • The catalogue of spatial data and services is generated by the Ministry of the Interior and is updated by all responsible parties under Law N.43 (I)/2010.
  • Information is available through the geoportal of the Republic of Cyprus at www.geoportal.gov.cy which is the main website providing also direct links to e-services (DLS-Portal) and national open data portal.
  • Following issues identified in the strategic plan for the development of INSPIRE in Cyprus, recommendations were made and are gradually being implemented under the governance of the INSPIRE Management Board to optimize the functioning and coordination of the infrastructure.
  • The Department of the Environment is represented in the coordination structure and has started to address the provisions of the INSPIRE Directive in relation to other EU Environmental Directives.
  • Six years after the enactment of Law N.43 (I) / 2010 and the transposition of the INSPIRE Directive the application still showed some bottlenecks that needed further addressing such as:
    • Incomplete application of rules
    • Non-interoperable information systems
    • Lack of expertise
    • Time consuming procedures for further upgrading the LIS and the national portal.
  • Most of the above problems have been solved, as indicated in the previous section. The Department of Lands and Surveys managed to correct and improve the system, to complete data, metadata and e-services for which is directly responsible. In addition, it helped other departments and services to improve their data. Some problems are still present regarding Annex III which includes mainly responsibilities of the Ministry of Agriculture and specifically the Department of Environment and the Department of Water Development. Problems regarding lack of expertise and technical experience still exist in these departments. Suggestions were submitted to the Management Council for the involvement of external technical experts, that will help and complete the required implementation for these departments.

Usage of the infrastructure for spatial information

  • Public authorities are using the infrastructure for different tasks e.g. town planning, environmental studies, statistical analysis, network development (water, sewerage, telecom, electricity etc), census, web applications (eg on-line applications for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, cadastral applications, cartographic applications etc), and academic research.
  • The general public has access to the spatial data through the national geoportal and the DLS Land Information System (LIS/DLS-Portal). Actual numbers are provided daily by the Technical Support Branch. Public access and use was significantly improved. The geoportal is fully operational and the supporting DLS LIS is upgraded following a 5-year development plan. The full upgrade of the GIS component is scheduled to be completed within 2021 based on latest technology and standards, whereas the LIS Legal/Fiscal Component is expected to be completed gradually within a 5-year period.
  • Cross-border use of the infrastructure is also significantly improved and includes among others participation in European initiatives such as collaboration with neighbouring countries, EuroGeographics, EuroSDR, ICA, ISPRS, IHO, UN, and international projects. 

Data sharing arrangements

  • More than 95% of the data and e-services are available for free access and use/re-use. Only a small number of data are available for a very small fee. Most of the data are also available through the National Open Data Portal of Cyprus (https://www.data.gov.cy/?language=en). The current data-sharing application used in the Republic of Cyprus can be considered adequately successful and effective. Further use of the electronic services already created will, in the near future, indicate whether the existing policy needs to be adjusted slightly.
  • The obligation to establish rules for the sharing of spatial data under a single licensing framework is described in Law N.43 (I) / 2010. These rules will become more concrete with the further implementation of the national geoportal. The fact that most data are fully open for viewing, downloading and re-use simplified the whole process, as the Government recognised that these data are very important and contribute significantly to the economy and the sustainable developent of the country.
  • The provisions relating to the sharing of spatial data among the public authorities of Cyprus will be applied in the same manner to public authorities of other EU member states and EU institutions, solely for environment related purposes.

Costs and benefits

  • The actual cost for the further development of the current National Geospatial Information Infrastructure cannot yet be specifically determined.
  • Costs are divided into three categories: infrastructure development cost, cost of production of basic geospatial reference data, and compliance costs for data producers.  
  • Concrete strategic actions, their implementation costs (human resources and budget) and the roadmap for implementation are outlined in the strategic plan (p.68 – p.71) which is gradually implemented.  The implementation report contains an extract from this strategic plan with information on estimated costs of the strategic actions for the implementation of the infrastructure. In addition to the Strategic Plan, a technical report was prepared by a team of technical experts in 2019 as indicated above. This report, analyses the current situation, describes the corrections that were done to the INSPIRE Geoportal, identifies additional issues, and provides a cost analysis for the full implementation of the Directive, which concentrates mostly on Annex III and the remaining obligations of the Department of Environment and the Department of Water Development, emphasizing on the Priority List.
  • Many qualitative benefits are outlined such as the rationalization of the economic investments and of the operational costs, thanks to the removal of duplications; a stronger participatory democracy and better competitiveness thanks to the public access to data, growing transparency and data sharing. 
  • Actual benefits are seen and verified everyday by numerous users, as the free access and availability of e-services, datasets and information, for viewing, direct accessing, downloading and re-using proved that they contribute significantly to the sustainable economy of Cyprus.
Key facts and figures