71st MIG-T meeting 2022-10-07

Action 1.1. Good Practices

• The Good Practices dedicated to "Building one access point to dispersed data sources" and "Making spatial data downloadable via WMS services" are endorsed. The Good Practice library on the INSPIRE Knowledge Base is updated accordingly.
• The work on GeoPackage as encoding format for INSPIRE data is advancing well. In accordance with the process for endorsement of Good Practices, a webinar will be organised on 27 Oct 2022 between 13:30 and 15:30.

• All MIG-T members are encouraged to attend the GeoPackage webinar and promote it on the national level.

Action 2.3.1. Governance of INSPIRE artefacts

• The work is carried out in accordance with the already agreed workflow for the governance of artefacts.
• v.2022.2 of the schemas, TGs and UML models were released during the summer.
• The sub-group met on 13 Sep 2022 to discuss the new change proposals; those approved will be voted for endorsement in the MIG/MIG-T meeting in November.

• AT to provide the expected feedback to change proposal #60 on schemas by 31 Oct 2022, otherwise the workflow on the proposal (already endorsed by the MIG) will be considered to be completed.
  
• Within the context of Action 2.3.1, MIG-T members to provide feedback to change proposal #61 on schemas and #72 on TGs.

• Conversion of TGs in the AsciiDoc format is progressing according to the plan.

• JRC to discuss with data transformation solution providers the approach for versioning schema releases and report back to the MIG-T for possoble optimisation(s).
  

Action 2.3.2. Data-service link simplification

• The good practice (GP) candidate is progressing well. Two new meetings have been held after the last MIG-T meeting, on 23 Sep 2022 and 06 Oct 2022.
• The group is finishing the quality checking of the consolidated proposal for the data-service simplification specification (Part A of the GP), while drafting the concrete change proposals to technical guidelines on metadata, view and download services derived from the specific consolidated proposal on the remapping of Extended capabilities (Part B of the GP).
• A work plan, including an outreach webinar, was presented with the objective to submit the GP for final endorsement in the upcoming MIG/MIG-T meeting in November.

Action 2.4. Central INSPIRE Components

• INSPIRE Reference Validator and ETF
  • v.2022.3 of the INSPIRE Reference Validator, used for the INSPIRE Monitoring and Reporting in 2022 was released in September 2022; a beta release (anticipating v.2023.0 due in January 2023) is under preparation.
  • v.2.1 of the ETF testing framework was released in August 2022. It brings important changes for the INSPIRE community, e.g. the fix of a bug on geometry validation and the end of support for WMS 1.1.1 for security reasons.
  • A dashboard (internal to the JRC) was developed to analyse the use of the INSPIRE Reference Validator. This will be shown at the next MIG/MIG-T meeting in November, and in case of sufficient interest it could be potentially integrated in the future IKB.
  • The ETF was proposed as an OSGeo Community Project (pending approval from OSGeo) and as a software is included in OSGeoLive v.15, to be released soon.
  • Some opportunities are available:
    

• Interested MIG-T members to approach the JRC in case they need support for deployment of an ETF instance.
  
• Interested MIG-T members already using the ETF to share with the JRC the characteristics of their validator instances as well as the availability for an interview.

• INSPIRE Registry and Re3gistry
  
  • A new pre-release of the Re3gistry software - version v2.4.0-rc.1 - was delivered on 07 Oct 2022 and is ready for users testing. It includes minor bug-fixes and new features or enhancements, like the inclusion of an optional simplified workflow for managing the registry content, alternative to the one defined by ISO 19131. The definitive release - v2.4.0 - is expected during October 2022.
  • Information on the helpdesk management workflow, and on the release strategy of the Re3gistry software (including related milestones), was summarised.
  • The new INSPIRE Registry, based on Re3gistry software v2.3.1, is already online. The rollout successfully took place on 06 Oct 2022. Having completed this milestone, in the next months the workflow for managing change proposals to the content of the INSPIRE Registry, along with the activity of the Control Body, will be reactivated.
  • A brief summary on the activities on community building around the Re3gistry software, the Registry Federation tool and the INSPIRE Registry was provided. To be highlighted:
    • The Showcase on potential reuse of the Re3gistry by the European Union Publications Office and the European Commission Directorate General for Human Resources.
    • Presentation on the Re3gistry software and the Register Federation Tool in the past FOSS4G Conference 2022, on 26 Aug 2022.
    • Potential presentation on the Re3gistry software in the upcoming ENDORSE Conference 2023, to be held from 14 Mar 2023 to 16 Mar 2023.

• • MIG-T members to promote testing of the pre-release of the Re3gistry software - version v2.4.0-rc.1
  • MIG-T members to test the new INSPIRE Registry and report back any issues encountered through the corresponding helpdesk.

M&R 2022 recap

• The INSPIRE M&R 2022 will be run in an automated way starting from 16 Dec 2022 and following the usual procedure, with 19 indicators calculated using the INSPIRE Geoportal and the INSPIRE Reference Validator.

• Operators of national discovery services, in light of the forthcoming M&R exercise, should start testing the new INSPIRE Geoportal backend infrastructure at the earliest possible.
  

Geoportal Infrastructure

• Update on the project for the INSPIRE Geoportal revamp, including an overview of the beta-testing of the new GeoNetwork backend, initiated during the 70th MIG-T Meeting held on 07 Jul 2022.
• The preparation for the beta-testing process included a 1st training session for MS / EFTA countries on the use of the new backend, held on 15 Jul 2022, along with the opening of an ad-hoc online survey on 22 Jul 2022  for providing feedback on the user experience and a first evaluation of this new software component. The survey remained open until 15 Oct 2022 for those MS still willing to contribute.
• A 2nd training Q/A session for MS / EFTA countries was organised on 05 Oct 2022 for presenting the preliminary results of the GeoNetwork backend beta-testing process while allowing MS to provide direct feedback on the tool.
• An overview of the preliminary results of the beta-testing was provided, including:
  • A comparison of the main Geoportal indicators obtained for all national endpoints through using both the current INSPIRE Geoportal harvesting console and the new GeoNetwork backend. In general, the results are quite positive, despite some anomalies identified regarding the indicator on accessibility for download services in the case of FR, DE and IT.
  • A table with the global evaluation provided by 10 MS / EFTA countries (AT, BE, DE, EL, FI, HR, NL, PL, PT, SK) in the survey, representing the 59% of them, which in general shows similar or better results in terms of functionality, usability, performance and improvement of the new GeoNetwork backend.
• The revamped INSPIRE Geoportal will be used in the forthcoming M&R exercise, at the end of 2022.

• MIG-T members are encouraged to engage relevant stakeholders in their MS / EFTA countries in the revamped INSPIRE Geoportal beta-testing.
  
• JRC to organise by the beginning November 2022 a 3rd training session on the revamped INSPIRE Geoportal, including the use of both the new backend and the new frontend / user interface.
• JRC to organise bilateral meetings with MS / EFTA countries whose discovery endpoints are still having problems to be successfully harvested, due to particular national implementations (LI, PL, RO).
  
• JRC to organise additional bilateral meetings with MS / EFTA countries where anomalies are observed in the harvesting of national discovery services (FR, DE, IT).

• • Bilateral meetings with other MS / EFTA countries on the use of the new Geoportal infrastructure to be organised upon request.

• The next 16th MIG meeting, jointly organised together with the 72th MIG-T meeting, will be organised in Brussels on 24 Nov 2022 and 25 Nov 2022:
  • technical sessions are foreseen for 25 Nov 2022 (morning)
  • a workshop with the GeoNetwork community is planned for 24 Nov 2022 (morning, details tbc)