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(Submission #397)
The creation of INSPIRE compliant data is only the first step forward in the way to interoperability and cross-boundary usability of environmental data. This paper aims at giving an overview of main obstacles hindering the true usability of INSPIRE data, particulatly in a GIS environment, and at providing recommendations and suggestions to overcome these obstacles. One major obstacle can be found in the data providers attitude to consider INSPIRE as just a legal obligation to fullfil instead of an opportunity. Too often, produced INSPIRE datasets are kind of ‘empty boxes’, voidable fields are left empty and this, though still valid from a formal validation point of view, is a useless effort. Another obstacle is that software tools are not yet mature enough to proficiently deal with INSPIRE data. A first example is related to nested data structures and xlinks attributes: in some cases, currently available GIS software are not able to handle the nested structures of the GML encoding and xlinks efficiently. Another example is related to the use of the "urn" encoding for Coordinate Reference System: INSPIRE Technical Guidelines propose "to use the http URIs provided by the Open Geospatial Consortium as coordinate reference system identifiers". Nevertheless, the use of "http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/EPSG/0/" can cause incorrect geolocation of the GML data in some GIS tools, such for example QGIS. The use of the "urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::" encoding to address the Coordinate Reference System in the GML file avoids such an inconvenience. Sharing these and further examples of obstacles, as well as practical solutions to overcome them, can be beneficial for the whole INSPIRE community and, ultimately, for a succesfull implementation of the Directive itself.
Topic Area: [2.2] Technologies and tools required to deliver INSPIRE Abstract Type: Oral Presentation
Comments: data usability, best practices
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