From 29th April to 1st May 2008 1Spatial offered the geospatial community an opportunity to gather and discuss a number of areas pertinent to Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs), notably with a European SDI perspective concerning INSPIRE - the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe. The first event was a free INSPIRE seminar and metadata workshop.

 A short introduction was made by Steven Ramage, a member of the Association for Geographic Information (AGI) Action Working Group for INSPIRE and Business Development Director at 1Spatial. Steven introduced some of the key areas that are relevant across SDIs as a whole, such as certifying geospatial data as fit for purpose and finding methods to assess, measure and record geospatial data quality, for example through metadata.

 The seminar itself, hosted by Robin Waters, Chair of the AGI Action Working Group for INSPIRE, provided a comprehensive introduction to INSPIRE covering the potential business impact of the Directive on stakeholders. Robin managed an open debate from a number of audience members from organisations such as the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Defra, the European Commission Joint Research Centre, the Open Geospatial Consortium and the European Environment Agency.

Rob Walker, Independent Consultant and 2008 Chair of AGI, who is also a Member of AGI Action Working Group for INSPIRE, picked up on the data quality themes from the seminar and used them to run an interactive workshop. Delegates were challenged to produce examples of clearly articulated metadata content statements relating to well-known industry datasets. The workshop also highlighted and explained the draft Implementing Rules for Metadata (which have since been approved by the INSPIRE Committee members) and how metadata issues can be addressed by organisations responsible for datasets affected by INSPIRE.

Graham Stickler, Product and Marketing Director for 1Spatial said:

"INSPIRE has naturally become a hot topic in the Geospatial Industry over the last 12 months since the Directive became European Law.   Many people are already involved in INSPIRE through the Drafting Teams, the Legally Mandated Organisations and the Spatial Data Interest Communities. However, we felt that many more still seem unsure of what INSPIRE actually means to them and how they can get involved.  What we wanted to do was run a free event that provided education on INSPIRE, highlighted the additional potential involvement that could be made by both the public the private sector around compliance checking and metadata quality elements, as well as address some of the business implications for INSPIRE.

 The session was designed to be as interactive as possible and we were pleased with both the attendance and the level of audience participation. We would like to thank those who participated and the AGI, particularly Rob and Robin for their support."

 The presentations from the INSPIRE event can now be downloaded, for free, at: http://www.1spatial.com/news_events/events/presentations/index.php

 Other presentations relating to SDIs from the 1Spatial Conference 2008 made by the European Commission Joint Research Centre, EuroGeographics, Intermap, OGC Data Quality Working Group and PSMA are also now available on the 1Spatial website, please visit: http://www.1spatial.com/conference/signup.php