1) The document discusses problems with the availability, quality, organization, accessibility and sharing of spatial information across Europe and how public sector information is not fully realizing its economic potential. 2) It proposes that INSPIRE infrastructure and France's adoption of policies for open data and reusing public sector information can help address these problems by making more public data available through standardized and interoperable systems. 3) This could provide economic, environmental and social benefits like enabling innovation, reducing costs for studies and data management, and better informing citizens and administrative decisions.

1. Example of France
beyond PSI; INSPIRE infrastructure to share
public data.
Marc Leobet
For the French Point of contact
MIG/LBT - 15.06.12

2. PSI & INSPIRE :
A solution to known problems
• Problems of availability, quality, organization,
accessibility and sharing of spatial information
(paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 6 of Directive 2007/2/EC)
• Significant divergences in the exploitation of
public sector information, which hinder the full
realization of their economic potential (Directive
2003/98/EC of 17.11.2003 on the re-use of public
sector information)
• Also in USA, Japon, New-Zealand, Bresil…
MIG/LBT - 15.06.12

3. What for? Three reasons
• European context : specially in the environmental
field, citizens have to act as « informed actors »
 The more they are informed, the more decisions
are explained, the less the judge is called.
• Most often, the responsibility of public action
follows a chain local sub-national national
 It implies to link information systems
• The public data availability leads to innovation
and create value.

4. The challenge, assembling a
variety of sources for a given use
National
website
Network services
Townwebsite Community
Local website
website
4

5. How much will it bring back?
• All studies (Catalonia, UK, New-Zealand…)
show a return on investment in a year (which is
huge)
• The three main sectors concerned are GIS
industry, environment or urban planning and
tourism.
• A french study on digitalization of plan use
shows the same ROI (authorization of building
permits)

6. Non-financial benefits
• Those linked to e-government :
• Time savings for environmental studies
(impact of a project, water management,waste,
noise…)
• Simplest access to public information for
citizens in administrative procedures (ex.
authorization to build a plant or a house)
• Better ability of small enterprises to create
value-added services
• Narrowing the gap between large and small
communities in the service to the user.

7. But…
• Complex and too technical to address a
political agenda
• Often obscured by IT references
• We build an infrastructure, but few people care
about the road when they take their car to go
to the office.
–We are not visible, and that is normal
• The challenge is to link INSPIRE with a
highlighted policy
• To be able to raise money for the human and
technical investissments.
MIG/LBT - 15.06.12

8. The light of Open Data
• The PSI directive was transposed in French law
in 2005.
– The Open data policy, based on PSI rules and
transparency willingness, really starts in 2010.
• The French Prime minister launches data.gouv.fr
in 2011
– The higher directors in ministries and municipalities
heard they had to do something
• INSPIRE becomes a way to implement the public
data policy at lesser cost.
– As an infrastructure, it delivers described data with
harmonised services
MIG/LBT - 15.06.12

9. Conclusion
• INSPIRE is a tool to reach political and economical aims :
– Inform citizens to reinforce the protection of environment,
– Minimize the cost of studies and data management,
– Open the files to increase innovation and value.
• Open data, as re-use of public services information, follow
the same mind
– The trend is clear and is extending.
• What could be the beginning?
– Documentation and metadata will never be a lost
of time
– And will protect the value of your data
MIG/LBT - 15.06.12