Establishing the national spatial information infrastructure: research development innovation component (INIS-RDI)

At the European Community level, several issues have been identified regarding the accessibility, quality, availability, organization, and sharing of spatial data necessary for achieving the goals outlined in public policies and environmental management. To address these challenges, the establishment of an infrastructure for spatial information, known as INSPIRE, was mandated through Directive 2007/2/EC. This paper outlines the solution developed by the INFRAINIS project for distributing geospatial information, which aligns with the objectives of the INSPIRE Directive. The proposed solution will provide the technical means for entities holding geospatial datasets, coordinated by the National Research Authority of Romania, to publish these datasets in accordance with the INSPIRE Directive. The IT infrastructure developed will utilize a foundation of free and open-source software solutions that have been proven to be highly effective in other projects, while also offering lower implementation and administrative costs compared to proprietary solutions. Institutions holding relevant datasets will upload them to the platform via a web application that enables automatic publication as web GIS services. The INSPIRE themes that will be addressed include land cover, geology, soil, oceanographic features, geographical features, and maritime regions. This IT infrastructure is expected to reach Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6, facilitating informed decision-making on policies and activities with direct or indirect environmental impacts. The proposed platform will also enhance access to harmonized spatial data for public authorities, researchers, academics, the private sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and the general public.