plan4all newsletter, issue 4, december 2010

Plan4all NewsletterIssue 4, December 2010

The harmonisation of spatial planning data according to

the INSPIRE Directive based on the existing best practices in EU regions and municipalities and

the results of current research projects

May 2009 - October 2011

co-funded by the Community programme

eContentplus

3 ... Plan4all Metadata Profile

5... Plan4all Data Model Definition

7... Plan4all Networking Architecture

10 ... Plan4all Thematic Workshop

12 ... Project consortium

Each newsletter introduces several partners of the

Plan4all consortium in more detail. This newsletter

introduces CEIT ALANOVA, NASURSA, GIJON

and HYPERBOREA

16 ... Upcoming events

2Plan4all Newsletter Issue 3, June 2010

Dear Reader

Welcome to the 4th issue of the Plan4all Newsletter. The aim of this newsletter is to introduce you with the results of the Plan4all project. In particular with the Plan4all metadata profile, Plan4all data models and Plan4all networking architecture.

Plan4all is a European project co-funded by the Community programme eContentplus. The main aim of the project is to harmonise spatial planning data and related metadata according to the INSPIRE principles.

The Plan4all project should contribute to the standardisation in the field of spatial data from spatial planning point of view. Its activities and results will become a reference material for INSPIRE initiative; especially for data specification. Plan4all is focused on the following 7 spatial data themes as outlined in Annex II and III of the IN-SPIRE Directive.

Please visit the Plan4all geoportal and find more information about the imple-mentation of the Plan4all solution in pi-lot regions.

Cordially

The Plan4all Teamhttp://www.plan4all.eu

[email protected]

Join us on the INSPIRE Forum:http://inspire-forum.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pg/groups/1892/plan4all/

Linked-In:http://www.linkedin.com/e/-bm0vvw-gdq6g3bo-1p/vgh/3374366/

Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Plan4all/144291828941248?ref=search


Plan4all Metadata ProfileŠtěpán Kafka (HSRS), Radek Fiala (UWB), Tomáš Mildorf (UWB )

Join us on the INSPIRE Forum:http://inspire-forum.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pg/groups/1892/plan4all/

Linked-In:http://www.linkedin.com/e/-bm0vvw-gdq6g3bo-1p/vgh/3374366/

Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Plan4all/144291828941248?ref=search

This article highlights the main features of the metadata profile for spatial planning – the Plan4all metadata profile. It is a candi-date for European spatial planning metadata profile that would make metadata consistent throughout Europe. The profile is compliant with the INSPIRE Metadata Regulation and reflects the requirements given by national legislation. The Plan4all profile was done within the frame of work package 3 of the Plan4all project (http://www.plan4all.eu).

Metadata are defined in the INSPIRE Direc-tive as “information describing spatial data sets and spatial data services and making it possible to discover, inventory and use them”. In other words, to be able to find spatial data sets and services and to decide whether they may be used and for what purposes, spatial data sets and services providers secure their descriptions in the form of metadata.

Discrete units of metadata are metadata el-ements [EN ISO 19115] (e.g. resource title, keyword, spatial resolution, responsible or-ganisation). In order to have the metadata compatible and usable in trans-boundary context, it is necessary to lay down rules for metadata. There are several initiatives that set out these rules. One of them is the IN-SPIRE Metadata Regulation. The Plan4all metadata profile is compliant to this Regula-tion. Above that, the profile is compliant to ISO 19115/19119/19139 standards.

The Plan4all metadata profile reflects the re-quirements given by national legislation on metadata and spatial planning and user re-quirements for spatial planning metadata. It is presented as platform independent list of metadata elements in tabular form, ISO19139 and INSPIRE mapping. There is no extension beyond ISO 19115/19119 to enable users to

Fig. 1: UML model of metadata model components relationship

maximise the interoperability across differ-ent software platforms.

The Plan4all metadata profile is intended not only for discovery but also as documentation of spatial plans (evaluation, use), its compo-nents (datasets) and corresponding services. Particular components are logically related / coupled and some links are set to map these relations.

Plan4all metadata records may be multilin-gual. From the perspective of European spa-tial planning activities it is recommended to provide metadata at least bilingual – in na-tional language and in English.

The profile is divided into three components including spatial plan metadata, dataset meta-data and spatial service metadata (see Fig. 1).

Spatial plan metadata contain metadata of spatial plan as a whole. It is useful for cata-loguing spatial plans on any level (region-al, national, European) even if they are not confirmed yet. We are aware that spatial plan consists of many components – docu-ments, maps in paper and digital form and


corresponding spatial data which maps are constructed from. Individual components may be optionally described by independent metadata records with links to corresponding spatial plan.

Dataset metadata are intended to hold meta-data of particular datasets used in digital spa-tial plan. Profile may be also used for other datasets used in spatial planning.

Spatial service metadata profile is very close to the INSPIRE profile for spatial data serv-ices.

It is important to keep links between Plan4all

metadata components. Generally, there is M:N relationship between spatial plan meta-data, dataset metadata and spatial services metadata. In spatial data infrastructure end users must have possibility to get informa-tion to all related components, address them, browse them, transverse between them and access corresponding spatial services if avail-able (see Fig. 2).

For more details please see the deliverable D3.2.2 – Plan4all Metadata Profile - Final version at: http://www.plan4all.eu/simplecms/?menuID=37&action=article&presenter=Article

Fig.2: Possible links between different Plan4all SDI components.


Plan4all Data Model Definition

The aim of the WP4 Plan4all data model def-inition was to define conceptual data models for the following spatial data themes defined in the INSPIRE Directive (INSPIRE, 2007):• Land cover• Land use• Utility and Governmental services• Production and industrial facilities• Agricultural and aquaculture facilities• Area management/restriction/regula-tion zones and reporting units• Natural risk zones

The work of the second part of WP4 – Task 4.2 Conceptual data model definition for se-lected Themes was a design and construction of conceptual data models based on analyses of data models for selected themes used in single countries and on results of previous project task. The definition of Plan4all con-ceptual data models results from the meth-odology used for INSPIRE data specification (see the figure below). This methodology is described in the documents D2.5, D2.6 and the INSPIRE Consolidated UML Model.

Otakar Čerba (UWB)


An example of the UML Class Model for Land Cover:

The final deliverable D4.2 Conceptual Data Models for Selected Themes is available at:

http://www.plan4all.eu/simplecms/?menuID=37&action=article&presenter=Article


Plan4all NETWORKING ARCHITECTURE

The intended objective of Plan4all Task 5.2 was to define the interfaces by which the different parties (the public sector and all the user groups involved in the planning process and results) can exchange the spatial planning data. The defined architecture is platform neutral and it is intended to provide the following serv-ices:

discovery;• access to data and visualisation;• machine-to-machine communication;• work flow following the “publish-find-bind” design pattern;• processing services;• Geo-RM services.•

The adopted approach is based on the standard Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing (RM-ODP) (which is the architecture reference model used also within ISO/TC 211 “Geographic Information – Refer-ence model”) and on the Open Geospatial Consortium Reference Model (ORM). The following diagram gives an overview on how some reference standards and specifications play a role in the Plan4all reference model.

Flavio Camerata, Giuseppe De Marco, Giuseppina Pellegrino, Runar Bergheim

Overview on how some reference standards and specifications play a role in the Plan4all reference model.

The RM-ODP allows to define an overall conceptual framework for building distributed systems in an in-cremental and coordinated manner. It is a widely used international standard for designing open, distributed processing systems. It provides a short, clear and explicit specification of concepts and constructs that define semantics, independently from the representation, methodologies, tools and processes used for the develop-ment of open distributed applications.


Relationships between the five RM-ODP viewpoints within the Plan4all Networking Architecture.

The ORM is based on RM-ODP and provides an overall conceptual framework for building geo-processing services. It describes the OGC Standards Baseline focusing on the relationships among the baseline docu-ments. The OGC Standards Baseline (SB) consists in the approved OpenGIS Abstract and Implementation Standards (Interface, Encoding, Profile, Application Schema) and Best Practice documents.

The Plan4all Networking Architecture describes a system able to ensure the interoperability and security of provided data and services. In particular, since an integration with the INSPIRE initiatives is needed, it is based on:

a methodological approach able to define a system architecture that is scalable and adaptable to the • specifications and standards currently being defined;the adoption of a Service Oriented Architecture based on WebServices and SOAP technology.•

As shown in the image below, the system is configured as an architecture made of levels or functional layers:presentation layer (Plan4all portal, INSPIRE portal, other users);• application layer (services and business logic, metadata, DRM policies);• data access layer (the nodes are the content providers).•

RM-ODP identifies five viewpoints, or perspectives, which address different aspects of a system: the Enter-prise, Information, Computational, Engineering and Technology viewpoints.


The deliverable D5.2 Plan4all Networking Architecture is available at:

http://www.plan4all.eu/simplecms/?menuID=37&action=article&presenter=Article

Plan4all technical architecture.

The image also shows how the system components are distributed.As made clear by this diagram, the Plan4all Architecture is a “metadata system”, and it implements the IN-SPIRE principles, according to which:

the data are to be collected once only and managed where this can be done in the most efficient way;• it has to be possible to combine data coming from different sources and to share them among many users • and applications;one has to be able to easily identify which geographic information is available, to assess its usefulness • according to his goals, and the conditions according to which it is possible to obtain and use the same information.

The planning data, once produced, can be either provided to the Plan4all Architecture by the same data provider, through his own Spatial Data Infrastructure, or by a third party (service provider), on behalf of the data provider.The service provider will have to expose OWS interfaces to the Internet, to be consumed by Plan4all, IN-SPIRE, or other users through the pan-European registry.The functionalities (Invoke, View, Download, Transfer, Discovery, DRM Services) provided by the Plan4all Architecture will allow for the search for data through queries on the metadata resources; the access to the resources will be managed according to DRM policies.


PLAN4ALL THEMATIC WORKSHOP AT LAZIO REGION

On October 13th, the day before the Plan4all project consortium meeting in Rome, Lazio Re-gion hosted a national thematic workshop on the project, named “Geographic Information Sys-tems and spatial governance – Strategic action, planning, management”.

The workshop was aimed at reporting the latest project results, in order to stimulate the discus-sion, among the national stakeholders, on the interoperability of spatial data and the search for new solutions.Invited speakers are experts at local, regional and national level, coming from institutions including:

regional, provincial and municipal adminis-• trations;

universities;• the Italian interregional committee for the • geographic and statistical information sys-tems (CISIS);Agenzia del Territorio (the national body • dealing with cadastre, cartography and real estate taxation);the national association of municipalities • (ANCI);ASITA, the national federation of scientific • associations for spatial and environmental information;the national spatial planning institute (INU).•


PLAN4ALL THEMATIC WORKSHOP AT LAZIO REGION

Some of the Plan4all partners (AVINET, DIP-SU, ISOCARP, MEEDM) were also invited to speak, and simultaneous translation was provid-ed: so other project partners, already in Rome for the project meeting that was to be held in the following days, could also attend the workshop.

The discussed themes spanned from the national standards for the interoperability of spatial data, to the role of the public administrations in the process, their interactions and the related prob-lems, and the needs of the planning profession-als and practitioners.

Examples of state-of-the-art practices were given by the public administrations, and the in-vited Plan4all partners illustrated also the latest results of the project.

A summary of the interventions will soon be published (in Italian) on the Lazio Region’s website (http://www.regione.lazio.it) and on the Plan4all website.


Urbanism, Transport, Environment, Information SocietyCEIT ALANOVA is an applied research institute which acts complemen-tarily with existing organizations and in close cooperation with scientific and researchinstitutions, enterprises and public administrations to ensure the flow of knowledge between research and practical application. The team consists of planners, geographers and technicians. All of them have worked in in-

ternational teams, have published in international journals and magazines and are committed to the vision of CEIT ALANOVA to advance the City of Schwechat the “mobility hub“ to become a “knowl-edge hub“ in the near future.

Fields of actionUrban, Environmental and Transport Technologies• Information Society• Sustainability and Resource Management• Urban Planning and Regional Development• Geographic Information Technologies and Spatial Scientific Management , GIS •

CEIT Alanova ProjectsCEIT Alanova has been involved in several projects both at the EU and at the national level. Relevant projects:

AIRCLIP –A research study Airports and Climate Preservation.• Busstop 3.0: Project on the future of public transportation stops.• Airport Cities: Study on airport’s strategic role in regional development.• CentropeMAP/CentropeSTATISTICS: Portal with datasets from local authorities of Centrope • Plan4all: The harmonisation of spatial planning data according to the INSPIRE Directive• Hlandata: harmonization of spatial planning data for Land Use and Land Cover• AmauroMap: interactive digital map for blind or visually impaired. • MAI: Mobility Pass for Residential Real Estate• Holodeck: Measures and steps for technology based instruments and methods in urban and trans-• port planning

ContactsCEIT ALANOVA gemeinnützige GmbHInstitute of urbanism, transport, environment and information society

Concorde Technology Center Schwechat (concorde.tcs)Concorde Business Park 2/FA-2320 Schwechat, Austria

Tel. +43 664 854 43 90Fax +43 1 90360-1299 Email: [email protected]: http://www.ceit.at


Navarra de Suelo Residencial, S.A.- NASURSA is a company specialized in spatial planning and urbanism, promot-ing the sustainable development of the region of Navarre. In 1999, NASURSA was established as a public society of the Government of Navarre. The com-pany exists of four sections, each cover-ing a different working area:

LAND DEVELOPMENT•

SPATIAL PLANNING •

NETWORK OF LOCAL OFFICES • FOR TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

TERRITORIAL OBSERVATORY OF NAVARRE - Established in 2006, the • Territorial Observ-atory of Navarre-OTN constitutes a research centre dedicated to the promotion of a Territorial Culture in Navarre and the orientation of political decisions on territorial development.

Investigation projects

Plan4all. Harmonizing spatial planning data in Europe.

Ulysses. Planning instruments for cross-border areas.

Report on the validity of the Territorial Strategy of Navarre-ETN.

INTERREG III C: RePlan - Re-assessing Planning Instruments, Cu.T - Cultural & Tourism Nets and Grisi for Soho.

Participation in networks related to spatial planning and urbanism

ESPON – European Spatial Planning Observation Network.

AEBR– Association of European Border Regions.

OSE – Spanish Observatory for Sustainability.

CTP – Working Commission of the Pyrenees.

SITNA – Territorial Information System of Navarre.

More details at: http://www.nasursa.es


Gijón is a city located in Asturias, a region in the North of Spain, bathed by the Cantabric Sea. The city was born in the 2nd century a.C., when the Romans chose the peninsula of Cimadevilla to set a new city called Gigia.

Gijón has a population of 280000, distributed among the 25 parishes, though the 90% of the popula-tion is concentrated in the centre of the city.

The city of Gijon has very good transport infrastructure: it has a good road and transport network, it is located at only 45 km from Asturias airport, and it has a big port as the Musel is, one of the most important ones in the North of Spain.

After a period rapid expansion up until the late seventies, Gijón´s economy was devasted by the restructuring of the steel, shipbuilding and coal industries. In response, the city took a leading role in negotiating a series of ambi-tious strategic plans and pacts for employ-ment with both local and external actors. The organizations and programmes forged in this period contributed to a new phase of employ-ment growth and urban regeneration in the late nineties and early parts of this century. They also formed the foundation stone for Gijón´s response to the current crisis.

Gijón has evolved from an industrial to a technological society, an example is Gijón´s Scientific and Technological Park promoted by Gijón´s City Council. The main objective of The Scientific and technological park is the support to the creation and installation of companies and institutes dedi-cated to the science and technology. Nowadays, there are 48 companies in this park and work over 1880 people.

Since the eighties till today, Gijón has actively joined the European project.In this sense, the City Council has joined in numerous initiatives and, nowadays, it is one of the most active city councils in the European scene of cities.The main fields of external local action of Gijón City Council are the following:

Promoting participation in European calls and International initiatives among the different mu-1. nicipal services and areas, as the use of the project Plan4all (eContentPlus)Organizing the participation of different municipal departments in city networks and other fo-2. rums of interest, as the participation in EUROCITIESDissemination of European information in the municipal scope, recently incorporated into the 3. social networks world (Facebook, Twiter, blogs, …)

For more information visit http://www.gijon.es/


PROFILEHyperborea is a company that operates since 1995 in the ICT sector, applying computer technologies to the environment and cultural heritage fields. It is formed by a group of dynamic people able to adapt their competences to continuously evolving domains. The interdisciplinary know-how, improved dur-ing the years, defines the company‘s offering and it is able to satisfy any kinds of needs coming from very different marketplaces. Hyperborea has built a business model oriented to quality, becoming the partner of public and private organisations: the company manages an integrated offering for different production contexts, from the cultural heritage field to the environmental field through the Informa-tion & Communication Technology sector.

OFFERINGHyperborea has a flexible company structure in order to manage a diversified offering and a team with different skills and competences. The company organizes its activities and its offering through differ-ent divisions: 3 business units which are able to operate with complete autonomy under a production and commercial point of view.The “Environment Business unit” works for the application of ICT technologies to environmental sector matters; the “Cultural Heritage Business unit” is engaged in the realisation of software and services for archives, museums and libraries; finally the “System Integration Business unit” plans technological solutions in the domain of enterprise content management, knowledge management and business process reengineering, mobile solutions. Hyperborea‘s value-added is the ability to mix different competences in an integrated offering, which is able to satisfy the needs of different markets: from the environmental sector, to the cultural heritage sector through the Information&Communication Technology.

R&DHyperborea has a structured R&D department: an opportunity that provides the possibility to face up to a high level innovation context, searching the best practices to manage the internal process and the design of new solutions for the market. Hyperborea‘s R&D department, engaged in EU and international projects activities, aims at follow-ing the development of international competitive context and current innovation tendencies and at enriching its competences and its know how through activities managed with high standard of profes-sionalism: participation in international activities and EU projects; management, consolidation and expansion of the partnership network in EU context; management of EU projects, in areas with high level of innovation and technology. Hyperborea can rely on the collaboration of a consolidate international partnership, with which it co-ordinates various projects: the focus is the definition and the development of innovative ICT systems and services, which can be applicable in both public and private contexts.

Head office: Tel. +39 050 754241Hyperborea s.r.l. Fax +39 050 754240Via Giuntini 25 int. 6 [email protected] Navacchio (PI) http://www.hyperborea.com


Upcoming events

GIS Ostrava - Plan4all Seminar23 - 26 January 2011Ostrava, Czech Republichttp://gis.vsb.cz/gisostrava/

Plan4all Clustering Workshop24 February 2011Brussels, Belgiumhttp://www.plan4all.eu/simplecms/?menuID=29&action=article&presenter=Article

Plan4all Conference24 - 25 March 2011Pisa, Italyhttp://www.plan4all.eu/simplecms/?menuID=29&action=article&presenter=Article

Conference REAL CORP18 - 20 May 2011Essen, Germanyhttp://www.corp.at/

“Cities, Technologies and Planning”20 - 23 June 2011Santander, Spainhttp://www.unibas.it/utenti/murgante/ctp_11/descr.html

INSPIRE Conference 201127 June - 1 July 2011Edinburgh, United Kingdomhttp://inspire.jrc.ec.europa.eu/index.cfm/pageid/501

8th EFITA and 8th WCCA Conferences11 - 14 July 2011Prague, Czech Republichttp://www.efita2011.cz/

Plan4all Newsletter, an online newsletter published by the Plan4all project.

© Plan4all (http://www.plan4all.eu)

The Plan4all project received funding from the Community programme eContentplus.

Views expressed in this newsletter are those of the individuals, partners or the consortium and do not represent the opinion of the Community. The Community is not responsible for any use that might be made of information contained herein.

Please note that, after a period of time, links to certain articles in the newsletter may become inactive.The newsletter home page is at: http://www.plan4all.eu/simplecms/?menuID=38&action=article&presenter=Article

plan4all newsletter, issue 4, december 2010

Documents

plan4all profile

plan4all metadata records

plan4all datamodels

plan4all solution

plan4all newsletterissue

plan4all project http

plan4all thematic workshop12

cordiallythe plan4all