Complying with Europe. The High Value Sites of Earth Observation and Environment Regulation

The European Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/138 sets clear guidelines for public bodies on the availability of high-value datasets within 16 months from 20 January 2023. These high-value high value datasets (High value datasets or HVD) are grouped into the following themes, which were already described in this post: geospatial Earth observation and environment, Meteorology, Statistics, Societies and corporate ownership, and Mobility.

This article focuses on the category of Earth observation and environment, referred to as High Value Datasets for Earth Observation and Environment (HVDOM ).

Earth observation and environmental data in the regulation of high-value arrays

The HVDOM include data obtained in the following areas:

• Spatial or remotely sensed data.
• Ground or in situ data.

In particular, public bodies are faced with the obligation to make available to citizens high-value datasets that appear in various pieces of legislation:

1. The environmental and climate datasets listed in the annexes of the Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2007 establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe ( INSPIRE) indicated in the following visual:

2. Data sets produced in the context of legal acts and known as priority data, defined in the table below:

At this URL of the INSPIRE register, the list of datasets related to environmental reporting, to be made available by Member States in a step-by-step manner, is published.

To ensure the accessibility and re-use of all these valuable datasets, it is imperative to follow certain provisions to facilitate their publication. Here are the key requirements, which are common to all categories:

• Open licence: All datasets must be made available for reuse under a licence Creative Commons BY 4.0 or any equivalent less restrictive open licence. This encourages the freedom to share and adapt information.
• Open and machine-readable format: Data should be presented in an open, machine-readable format and be publicly documented. This ensures that the information is easily understandable and accessible to any person or automated system.
• Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and bulk downloading: Application programming interfaces (APIs) should be provided to facilitate programmatic access to data such as direct access download services like Web Feature Services, WFS. In addition, direct bulk downloading of datasets should be possible, allowing flexible options for users according to their needs
• Updated version: The availability of datasets in their most up-to-date version is essential. This ensures that users have access to the latest information, promoting the relevance and accuracy of data. Therefore, it will be necessary to have the most up-to-date datasets as well as historical versions of the available datasets.
• Scale and granularity: Data will need to be published at the available levels of generalisation up to the scale of 1:5000, and covering the whole Member State when combined. If datasets are not available at this scale, but are available at higher spatial resolutions, they shall be provided at the available spatial resolution.
• Metadata: The metadata describing the data concerning the set of themes within the scope of the INSPIRE infrastructure for spatial information shall contain at least the metadata elements set out in the Annex to the Commission Regulation (EC) No 1205/2008 of 3 December 2008of 3 December 2008.
• Semantics: The datasets shall be described in a comprehensive and publicly available online documentation describing at least the data structure and semantics.
• Vocabularies: The datasets shall use Union-controlled or internationally recognised and publicly documented vocabularies and taxonomies. Such as the checklists defined in the INSPIRE register.

In Spain, who is responsible for the creation and maintenance of the Earth Observation and Environment HVDs ?

There are several organisations responsible for these datasets, for example, at the national level, we highlight:

• The National Cartographic System (NCS), which publishes orthoimagery, hydrography, elevations, land use or land cover.

• The Geological and Mining Institute (IGME), responsible for geological data.

• The Spanish Institute of Oceanography  (IEO) of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) is responsible for oceanographic features.

• The General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Fine Arts of the Ministry of Culture publishes the protected sites of historical heritage and culture.

• The Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA) are responsible for the datasets subject to other environmental legislation, the priority data.

All these organisations play a crucial role in the implementation and enforcement of the INSPIRE Directives  INSPIRE Directives y LISIGE (Law on Geographic Information Infrastructures and Services in Spain), both of which are fundamental in the management of geographic and environmental information.

• The INSPIRE Directive was developed in cooperation with the Member States and accession countries of the European Union. Its main objective is to make available the geographical information needed for the management of EU environmental policies.
• In Spain, it is transposed by Law 14/2010, known as LISIGE, which was subsequently amended by Law 2/2018 Law 2/2018. This law regulates geographic data and services, applying to those that refer to a geographic area of the national territory and that have been generated or are under the responsibility of public administrations. These data must be in electronic format and be the responsibility of a public sector administration or body.

Both the SCN an instrument regulated by the LISIGE that publishes geographic information through the coordination of national organisations and the Autonomous Communities, has been set up by the LISIGE. The Spanish and Spanish public administrations, such as MITECO and MAPA, in coordination with the autonomous communities, provide access to a wide range of data and information related to biodiversity, climate change, environmental quality and many other environmental issues. This includes the maintenance of the Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) of MITECO and MAPA, which is aligned with the INSPIRE, environmental and LISIGE Directives, publishing the datasets through interoperable services and locatable in the Official Catalogue of INSPIRE Data and Services (CODSI)where geographic data and services regulated by the LISIGE on environmental and Earth observation matters are available .

We highlight, for example, that MITECO is making efforts to ensure the adaptation of the main datasets of the Spanish Inventory of Natural Heritage and Biodiversity to the INSPIRE Directive, covering topics such as biogeographic regions, habitats, biotopes and species distribution.

 MITECO plays an essential role in the implementation of the INSPIRE and LISIGE Directives in Spain, providing access to key geographic data and information for the management of environmental policies and the protection of natural heritage, as historical and cultural heritage falls under the Ministry of Culture.

Does Spain comply with the HVD Regulation on Earth observation and environment?
 

Thanks to the continued work of the Consejo Directivo de la Infraestructura de Información Geográfica de España (CODIIGE) since the implementation of LISIGE, Spain has reached an important achievement. Currently, in the INSPIRE Geoportal portal is currently available a wide variety of information, classified as high-value Earth observation and environmental datasets. This information comes from the resources stored in CODSI.

As of May 2024, Spain has published the following information on the CODSI Geoportal:

• INSPIRE Datasets:  The number of datasets published by Spain in each of the mandatory INSPIRE themes is shown below.

See here for the definition of each of the INSPIRE themes.

• Environmental legislation: refers to priority datasets grouped by relevant environmental reporting legislation. The commission called these datasets "Priority Data" to reinforce their importance once the baseline data were already published

https://inspire-geoportal.ec.europa.eu/srv/eng/catalog.search#/qsEnvDomain

All categories are listed below (also indicating those that do not apply to Spain with the acronym N/D):

*N/D= No data, these categories do not apply to Spain

The publication of all these high-value datasets is an achievement that reflects our country's continued commitment to transparency and access to high-quality environmental and Earth observation data.

Spain has made significant progress in complying with the High Value Sets of Earth Observation and Environment Regulation, with a remarkable amount of datasets available through the INSPIRE Geoportal. This ranges from Directive 2008/50/EC on air quality to Directive 2008/56/EC on Marine Strategy, reflecting a holistic approach to environmental information management.

Compliance with European Directives and regulations demonstrates Spain's commitment to transparency and access to high quality environmental information. In addition, efforts to ensure the updating and accessibility of data are highlighted, including the adaptation of the main datasets of the Spanish Inventory of Natural Heritage and Biodiversity to the INSPIRE Directive.

The joint effort between MITECO, MAPA and the National Cartographic System and the autonomous communities underlines the importance of a collaborative approach to the management of environmental information and Earth observation, fundamental in the protection and sustainable development of natural heritage.

In short, we can say that Spain currently complies with the HVD Regulation in almost all categories, but does not comply in the following categories:

No API or bulk download

• Orthoimaging
• Oceanographic geographical features

Lack of data related to the following environmental legislation:

• Directive 98/83/EC - Drinking Water Directive
• Directive 2002/49/EC - Noise Directive
• Directive 2012/18/EU - SEVESO III Directive
• National legislation - National bio-geographical regions
• Recommendation 2014/70/EU - Recommendation on hydraulic fracturing
• Regulation (EU) 2017/852 - Regulation of Mercury

In summary, Spain has demonstrated a strong commitment to transparency and accessibility to high quality environmental information, complying with most European directives, although it still needs to improve in specific areas such as the provision of APIs and the updating of certain environmental datasets.

Content prepared by Mayte Toscano, Senior Consultant in Data Economy Technologies. The contents and points of view reflected in this publication are the sole responsibility of the author.