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INSPIRE Knowledge Base

Overview

A European spatial data infrastructure to support Community environmental policies that enable cross-border data sharing and provide interoperable services in support of policy makers and implementers, as well as business, science, and citizens.

About

The INSPIRE Directive: a brief description

The INSPIRE Directive aims to create a European Union Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) for the purposes of EU environmental policies and policies or activities which may have an impact on the environment. This European Spatial Data Infrastructure will enable the sharing of environmental spatial information among public sector organisations, facilitate public access to spatial information across Europe and assist in policy-making across boundaries.

INSPIRE is based on the infrastructures for spatial information established and operated by the Member States of the European Union. The Directive addresses 34 spatial data themes needed for environmental applications.

Find more about the Directive in the Legislation section:

MORE ABOUT LEGISLATION

INSPIRE Principles

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.
  • It should be 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.
Use

An overview for the users

Community support
Community support

Starting from January 2021, all the INSPIRE helpdesks and discussion platforms are operated and managed into the INSPIRE Maintenance and Implementation GitHub space

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Maintenance and Implementation

The INSPIRE Maintenance and Implementation Group (MIG), a Commission expert group consisting of representatives of the INSPIRE National Contact Points, coordinates the joint activities between the European Commission (DG Environment and the JRC), the EEA and the EU Member States to support the maintenance, implementation and evolution of the INSPIRE Directive. The MIG plays a key role in the ongoing process of modernization and evolution of INSPIRE.

Find out more.

INSPIRE Coordination

Find out more on mechanisms for coordinating the contributions across the various levels of government

Who is who

Find out more on tasks of INSPIRE Coordination Team (CT), INSPIRE Committee (IC) and National Contact Points (NCPs)

Our privacy policy

Please take into account that, although we operate under the European Commission Privacy Policy, for any matter related to INSPIRE this Privacy Policy is applied.