INSPIRE Directive

INfrastructure for SPatial InfoRmation in Europe

The INSPIRE Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2007, defines the basic legal framework for an European spatial data infrastructure. INSPIRE is designed to simplify the cross-border use of spatial information for the citizen, the administration and the economy in Europe. The European Union wants to support Community environmental policy decisions. The directive was published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

In practice INSPIRE calls for a uniform (interoperable) description and dissemination of spatial data and their deployment in the Internet, with services for search (Discovery), visualization (View) and download. Based on the spatial data infrastructures of the Member States, geospatial data can be provided to 34 given » topics (Annex I to III).

The directive has legal obligation for the member states and includes explicit » deadlines.

Further information to the directive you will find on the website of the European Commission » http://inspire.jrc.ec.europa.eu/.

INSPIRE Austria

The legal implementation of INSPIRE in Austria is at the level of the federal state by the federal act on environmentally relevant spatial data infrastructure of the federal state (Infrastructure for Spatial Information Act - » GeoDIG).

Further information about INSPIRE and the implementation in Austria you will find on the website » http://inspire.gv.at.

INSPIRE GBA

The Geologic Survey of Austria provides spatial data and spatial data services on the topics of Annex II (geology) and Annex III (mineral resources).