Central INSPIRE components such as the Geoportal, Validator, Registry, Forum and INSPIRE Knowledge Base, are essential for the implementation and evolution of the INSPIRE infrastructure. All of those components were developed separately and under different contexts, which has led to the use of different technologies, establishment of individual helpdesks, highly customised systems. In addition, the tools are at present tightly coupled with the JRC infrastructure. At present, the JRC is mainly involved with the evolution of the central components. Such an approach is not sustainable in the long term. Establishing adequate governance mechanisms, creating communities and establishment of strategic partnerships within the INSPIRE community and with other stakeholders, e.g. open source communities would ensure smooth and shared evolution of the components. In addition most, if not all of the tools, can be reused in other contexts which in turn creates multiple opportunities for their long-term maintenance and evolution.
The goal of this action is twofold. Firstly, it will cover the operation of the central components, incl. for the needs of the annual monitoring and reporting. Secondly, the action will come up with practical solutions for the evolution of those key infrastructure components and come up with adequate governance models for the components and related artefacts which do not only rely on the work of the JRC. In doing so, the action will focus on streamlining the underlying software and systems, based on a proposal to phase out, consolidate and/or move them to EC corporate solutions, in order to simplify long-term maintenance.
The action is led by the JRC, with contribution by the MIG-T, European Commission DGs and the EEA. Temporary sub-groups and networks of experts will be established, and where necessary, procurements for ad-hoc tasks will be prepared.
| Task | Deadline (indicative) |
|---|---|
Task 1. Operate and evolve the central infrastructure components | December 2024 |
| Task 2. Perform annual INSPIRE monitoring and reporting based on the INSPIRE geoportal and validator | December 2024 [1] |
Task 3. Simplify and align the approaches for different solutions, incl. cloud hosting, common approach for helpdesks | December 2021 |
Task 4. Establish governance approaches for central INSPIRE components and ensure interaction with stakeholders for the long-term sustainability of the components | March 2022 |
| Task 5. Migrate central components to mainstream ICT tools and cloud hosting. | October 2022 |
[1] Individual deadlines apply as defined in Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/1372
Sustainable central INSPIRE components that are reusable within the context of the European Green Deal data space.