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13 Apr, 2015  
     

INSPIRATION - Spatial Data Infrastructure in the Western Balkans

The multi-country INSPIRATION - Spatial Data Infrastructure in the Western Balkans project is  financed by the European Union. The project aims at promoting spatial data infrastructure (SDI) and coordinating its  implementation in the Western Balkans with a view to preparing beneficiaries to meet the objectives of the EU INSPIRE Directive. INSPIRATION will contribute to a favourable environment for accurate, up-to-date, high-quality, well structured and accessible spatial data in local, regional and state administrative bodies in the region.
 
The project's implementation period is from 1 Jan, 2012 to 31 Dec, 2013. The beneficiary countries are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Kosovo*.



INSPIRE Directive


The INSPIRE directive came into force on 15 May 2007 and will be implemented in various stages, with full implementation required by 2019.

The INSPIRE directive aims at creating a European Union spatial data infrastructure. This will enable the sharing of environmental spatial information among public sector organisations and better facilitate public access to spatial information across Europe.

A European Spatial Data Infrastructure will assist in policy-making across boundaries. Therefore the spatial information considered under the directive is extensive and includes a great variety of topical and technical themes.

INSPIRE is based on a number of common principles:
  • Data should be collected only once and kept where it can be maintained most effectively.
  • It should be possible to combine seamless spatial information from different sources across Europe and share it with many users and applications.
  • It should be possible for information collected at one level/scale to be shared with all levels/scales; detailed for thorough investigations, general for strategic purposes.
  • Geographic information needed for good governance at all levels should be readily and transparently available.
  • Easy to find what geographic information is available, how it can be used to meet a particular need, and under which conditions it can be acquired and used.


* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/99 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.