The minutes summarise the main conclusions and actions from the meeting. Actions are indicated by using check boxes and are tracked in the dedicated "Actions" section below.
The meeting was chaired by the EC (JRC) and attended by experts from AT, BE, BG, HR, CZ, DK, EE, FI, FR, DE, EL, HU, IS, IE, IT, LV, LI, LT, LU, MT, NL, NO, PL, RO, SK, ES, SE, CH, the European Commission services (DG ENV, EUROSTAT and JRC), the European Environment Agency (EEA), and several invited experts.
Welcome and approval of the agenda
The agenda of the 79th MIG-T meeting was approved without changes.
Actions from the previous meeting (for discussion and agreement)
Actions from the 78th MIG-T meeting were reviewed and their current status is reflected in the dedicated wiki page. Several actions for MIG-T members are remain open.
MIWP Actions
Action 2.5. HVD and INSPIRE
Survey outcomes and next steps
GeoDCAT-AP release - what is new?
ISO & GeoDCAT-AP metadata implementation pilot (JRC & MS)
Action 2.3.1. Governance of artefacts
Updates and news on INSPIRE artefacts
July release
App schemas
TG conversion - status update
Open GitHub issues
Action 2.4 Central INSPIRE Components
ETF and Reference Validator
Latest and upcoming releases
Re3gistry software and INSPIRE Registry
July release content update
Action 2.5. HVD and INSPIRE
DG ENV updated on the status of the public consultation on the GreenData4All initiative, kicked-off in July 2024. The contractor in charge is working based on the results of the call for evidence. A first draft of the impact assessment should be available by October 2024. After an internal revision within the European Commission, the public consultation will be launched for 3 months, until the beginning of 2025.
A workshop on the revision of the INSPIRE legal framework may be organised as part of the public consultation process, tentatively in November 2024.
DG ENV to inform on the organisation of a possible workshop on the revision of the legal framework under the GreenData4All initiative.
DG ENV also reported on the process towards the alignment of INSPIRE and HVDs, enumerating the actions done until September 2024: two meetings of the ad-hoc sub-group under Action 2.5 ( and ), a dedicated session in the INSPIRE Conference 2023, and the activities of the Working Group on GeoDCAT-AP (kicked-off on).
In particular, regarding the actions to support the transformation of ISO to DCAT metadata, ENV shared the results of the dedicated questionnaire to capture the preferences of the MIG-T members with respect to HVD reporting. 17 Member States participated, with 24 answers in total. Four recommendations will be proposed based on the survey:
Register the ISO catalogues to be harvested from each Member State.
GeoDCAT-AP 3 should allow to express all INSPIRE metadata elements (minimising information loss).
HVDs should be identified in metadata by providing the link to the HVD Implementing Regulation and the HVD categories referenced in EuroVoc.
Licenses need to be structured and machine-readable. Only URI-based licenses and access rights should be allowed.
The JRC provided a quick summary of the GeoDCAT-AP 3.0.0 specification released on , result of the collaborative work of the GeoDCAT-AP Working Group led by the SEMIC group (DG DIGIT).
Subsequently, the JRC presented the proposal to launch an 'ISO & GeoDCAT-AP metadata implementation pilot', with the participation of interested Member States, the Publications Office of the European Union, DG DIGIT (SEMIC group) and DG JRC. The main objective of the pilot is to provide feedback for a potential revision of GeoDCAT-AP 3.0.0 specification and its accompanying XSLT transformation. The expected outcomes and benefits were also explained to the community with the objective to promote participation.
Member States to express their interest in participating in the ISO & GeoDCAT-AP metadata implementation pilot by .
JRC to schedule the ISO & GeoDCAT-AP metadata implementation pilot Kick-off meeting by end of September 2024.
Action 2.3.1. Governance of INSPIRE artefacts
The second release of the year for the INSPIRE artefacts took place on .
Technical Guidelines (TG): the release (v.2024.2) included changes agreed by the MIG-T/MIG, changes deriving from the IR amandments as well as the 11 TGs that had still to be converted in AsciiDoc.
Application Schemas: the release (v.2024.2) only included some limited, non-breaking changes.
UML models: no release happened.
INSPIRE Registry content: presented and covered in the 'Re3gistry software and INSPIRE registry' section.
Almost no comments were received by MIG-T members on change proposals #172 for TGs and #123 for schemas (about the latter, a similar change proposal #126 was opened).
MIG-T members to share their position on change proposals #172 for TGs and #123 for schemas (for future discussion).
JRC to schedule the next Sub-group Meeting on the Governance of INSPIRE artefacts in November 2024.
The next release (v.2024.3) happened on and completed the tests for Part B of the data-service linking simplification GP by introducing ATS and ETS for Download Services (WFS and Atom). The release also removed tests for metadata v.1.3, as agreed during the 78th MIG-T meeting, and introduced a slightly different UI due to the upgrade to Europa Component Library (ECL) v.4.
Some MIG-T members reminded the JRC about open issues in the helpdesk about timeout issue for OGC API - Features (#1112) and docker deployment (#1113).
The latest releases are v2.5.3 (March 2024) and v2.6.0 (June 2024).
The next release (v2.6.1) is expected in September 2024 and will include solutions to the issues listed here. These include changes to improve reliability and other specific improvements and bug fixes to increase robustness.
INSPIRE Registry content
The latest INSPIRE Registry content releases were delivered in v2024.1 (end of January 2024) and v2024.2 (end of July 2024), which took place together with the release of the rest of INSPIRE artefacts.
The next release (v2025.1) is expected in January 2025, and will potentially include the change proposals listed here.
MIWP Actions
Action 2.4 Central INSPIRE Components (continued)
INSPIRE Geoportal
Publication system fixes
Sandbox environment
Link-checker
Catalogue administrators registration
INSPIRE Geoportal
The JRC reported on the latest updates of the INSPIRE Geoportal frontend (user interface) available from , with specific improvements and fixes:
Revised queries to filter agricultural (GSAA and LPIS) IACS data sets (#172, #168).
Limitation on the maximum amount of metadata records shown in the Geoportal result pages (#169).
Correction of aesthetic artefacts derived from the adoption of an updated version (v.4) of the Europa Component Library (ECL).
Additionally, a new release of the user interface was announced, adding entries for Moldova and EUROSTAT. It will be available in the coming weeks.
Concerning the INSPIRE Geoportal backend, the JRC informed about the status of the work for evaluating and improving the server architecture:
After the analysis performed with GeoCat, the current architecture will be kept, implementing some changes to improve it and rationalize costs.
The system for publishing the harvested results, from the production harvesting console to the frontend, was fixed. It is operational since July 2024.
The production harvesting console is being adapted to prevent further issues with the publication system. Meanwhile, the console will remain closed to Member States, and the JRC will trigger official harvesting processes. When the enhancements become available, reopening the console will be reconsidered (#206).
A new Sandbox console environment is available here (#190), including a reinforced authentication system, with the same capabilities than the production harvesting console (except for the publication of results). Member States may use it to test their harvesting results.
Member States to check their access to the new INSPIRE Geoportal Sandbox console, and report any potential issues to the JRC INSPIRE team.
Next steps:
The collaboration between GeoCat and the JRC is in progress (reactivated since May 2024), to provide specific improvements in the Geoportal.
The main strands of work are the enhancement of the Geoportal Link-Checker and the completion of the Data-Service Linking Simplification implementation (#173, #184,#205, #208). Other improvements may be addresed as well (e.g. #181). The goal is to make them available for the next INSPIRE Monitoring.
Member States were reminded to duly update their list of National Catalogue Administrators (including both the Primary and Deputy roles), as discussed in the 78 MIG-T Meeting. At the moment, the updated information is missing for 5 Member States. The tool for communicating the updates was explained again to the audience.
Member States to revise and check that the updates on their list of National Catalogue Administrators, including all the necessary details, have been duly completed.
The workshop is jointly organised by EUREF and EuroSDR and will happen on 22-23 October in Tromsø, Norway. Focus will be on improving/simplifying geospatial data sharing across borders, in particular when dealing with reference frames and the use of multiple EPSG codes at the national level (see the official website of the workshop).
The call for proposals/presentations is open until .
News from EC services 🇪🇺
EEA
EUROSTAT
JRC
relevant publications
EEA
The EEA delivered a presentation with a main emphasis on the streamlined and modernised environmental reporting data flows in ReportNet 3.
EUROSTAT
EUROSTAT delivered a presentation on the 'Census 1km Population Grid' Pan-European data set.
JRC
The JRC infomed about a selected set of recent publications, which could be interesting in the scope of the MIG-T.
Wrap-up and next steps
The next 80th MIG-T meeting is scheduled online on .