Scholarly record

NATURE-SDIPLUS AS A CONTRIBUTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL DATA HARMONISATION

P. Vanis

Abstract

The nature does not respect administrative boundaries. However, the protected areas are very often located on the state boundaries and in many cases neighbour just on the boundary. Also establishment of Natura 2000 Network as the "Habitats" and "Birds" Directives invoked the need for interoperable, accessible and harmonised datasets in the European Union. The need to have information on nature conservation geo-referenced and available at the EU level increases in recent years due to a trend by European park authorities to develop management rules that respect the natural boundaries rather than the administrative ones, which often implies an international approach. Moreover, the required multi-disciplinary approach to environmental issues implies the management of seamless geo-information in the different application fields. These studies require a comparison of different environmental datasets such as protected sites boundaries, habitats, species distribution, water bodies and other elements as for instance designed railway. According to the INSPIRE philosophy the different datasets should be made available and re-usable at the EU level through the use of common standards and interoperable services. Also multilingual and multicultural aspects are very important for such data exchange. Nature-SDIplus Network aims, through state-of-the-art methodologies and best practice examples, to improve harmonisation of national datasets and make them more accessible and exploitable. Therefore, it contributes to the INSPIRE implementation with specific reference to a cluster of data themes on nature conservation. The main objective of the Nature-SDIplus Network is to: involve new stakeholders; share data and best practices; improve and stimulate exploitation and the re-use of information on nature conservation.

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