Malta - 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 Malta. More detailed information is available on the INSPIRE knowledge base.

Coordination

National Contact Point

Name of Public Authority:

Planning Authority

Postal Address:

Planning Authority

St.Francis Ravelin

Floriana

Malta

Contact Email:

Click to email

Telephone Number:

+356 2290 1650

Telefax Number:

+356 2290 0000

National INSPIRE Website:

https://msdi.data.gov.mt/

MIG Contacts:

Contact Person:

Omar Hili

Email:

inspire@pa.org.mt

Contact Person:

Frankie Farrugia

Email:

inspire@pa.org.mt

Contact Person:

Joseph Gauci

Email:

inspire@pa.org.mt

Telephone Number:

+356 2290 1578

MIG T Contacts:

Contact Person:

Omar Hili

Email:

inspire@pa.org.mt

Contact Person:

Frankie Farrugia

Email:

inspire@pa.org.mt

Coordination Structure & Progress:

National Contact point

Name of the public authority	Malta Information Technology Agency
Contact information:
Mailing address	Malta Information Technology Agency Gattard House Blata l-Bajda Hamrun Malta
Telephone number	+356 21234710
Telefax number	+356 21234701
Email address	inspire.mita@gov.mt
Organisation’s website URL	www.mita.gov.mt
Contact person (MIG-P Contact person)	Martin Saliba
Telephone number	+356 21234710
Email address	martin.j.saliba@gov.mt
Contact person - substitute (MIG-T Contact person)	Rene Agius
Telephone number	+356 21234710
Email address	rene.agius@gov.mt

Coordination Structure
Progress
- - MITA co-ordinates the implementation of the SDI programme. Through the Technical Governance Advisory group, it provides advisory services to the INSPIRE Team. The INSPIRE Team, which falls within MITA, is a multi-disciplinary team that provides the resources for the programme. The INSPIRE Team also has the main co-ordination function that brings together the members of the INSPIRE Group. The INSPIRE Group is a multi-disciplinary group which is made up of representatives from various entities including public authorities (data owners and data providers) and data consumers.
  - MITA, being one of the largest ICT agencies in Malta, has established a very good working relationship with the Public Authorities contributing to the implementation of the INSPIRE Directive. Apart from this, MITA has a strong relation with other organisations contributing indirectly to this initiative, such as organisations co-ordinating and implementing the re-use of Public Service Information Directive, and other national strategies.
  - Through the well-established structures and co-ordination of related initiatives, Malta has managed to achieve significant progress in the implementation of the INSPIRE Directive.

Functioning and coordination of the infrastructure

The Malta Spatial Data Infrastructure (MSDI), found at https://msdi.data.gov.mt, is a portal that shares geospatial information through graphical user interface and web services to the general public, public service and public sector organisations.
Further improvements were seen in data sharing and data/service compliance, when compared to previous analysis, considering that; the spatial data infrastructure is continually being updated and the challenges encountered to gather and publish relevant geospatial data. Related metadata was made compliant to MD v2.0. The MSDI also acts as a common infrastructure that provides data sharing facilities to local public authorities that do not have the necessary geospatial infrastructure.
Apart from the available network services, the MSDI offers a simplified approach to data sharing and use through the provision of an online electronic form request (eGoverment’s electronic forms), which automatically processes online requests for; metadata, download and view information. This service was upgraded to use the government’s new Workflow Automation Solution.
The Malta Planning Authority embarked on an ERDF.02.030 SIntegraM (Developing Spatial Data Integration for the Maltese Islands) project which was aimed at integrating and disseminating spatial information across the public service and sector. The datasets that are consumed by SIntegraM emanate from the diverse entities who have committed to create datasets in line with the respective directives amongst which the INSPIRE Directive. This was and will be maintained through activities such as the creation of a new base map, the programming of a re-projection tool that will convert the Maltese non-Earth GI datasets (the current standard status) and convert to projection requirements such as UTM WGS84, LAEA and any other requirements. SIntegraM also created a dissemination portal and acquired hardware/software to enhance spatial data capture, analysis and dissemination.
INSPIRE Directive and Data sharing updates are continuously performed through various communication channels to public authorities.
Connection to the MSDI is continually ensured with the EC INSPIRE geoportal and access to the infrastructure, datasets and metadata is available through the EC geoportal.

Usage of the infrastructure for spatial information

The use of the INSPIRE infrastructure and its corresponding datasets, enabled Malta to obtain a clear picture of its available spatial data and identify gaps to ensure a complete spatial infrastructure. It has also brought together a network of data providers with the aim of streamlining spatial requirements in the creation of new data. This can be seen from the diversified and continuous requests for personal use and requests from the industrial and academic sector.

Data sharing arrangements

Costs and benefits

The estimated costs, covering the period from January 2016 till December 2020, consist of: IT infrastructure costs €42 400 interoperability/compliance cost €221 400 and human resource effort costs €669 500. The effort cost is an aggregation of the efforts used for administration and upkeep of the Malta geoportal, Monitoring and Reporting, general co-ordination and support, and co-ordination of horizontal measures. The human resource effort costs exclude effort required for the INSPIRE Directive implementation by stakeholders (data owners and public authorities).
There are many benefits that can be derived from the implementation of the INSPIRE Directive, some of which include the relocation of spatial datasets to a central repository which facilitates data discovery, the use of common technical standards that allow interoperability amongst public authorities and member states, and the sharing and reuse of spatial data using a common infrastructure.

Key facts and figures