Experts from Europe and Canada are a step closer to establishing an international network focusing on geospatial quality issues after meeting recently in Brussels. Discussions between specialists from EuroGeographics’ Quality Knowledge Exchange Network and Canada’s GEOIDE Network’s researchers, who are working on legal, ethical and data quality issues related to geospatial data, revealed many common concerns as well as suggesting solutions for tackling them. “There is no geographical divide when it comes to quality issues in geographic information (GI),” says EuroGeographics’ Quality Knowledge Exchange Network Leader, Carol Agius. “Sharing ways to overcome interoperability issues, manage quality and meet standards, can only benefit the wider GI community.
“Meeting with our colleagues from Canada was very exciting, not only did it provide the opportunity to exchange information and experiences, it is also a significant step forward in forging wider network for future collaboration in the creation of continental Spatial Data Infrastructures which help to address social, economic and environmental challenges. Collaborations like these also help us to support EuroGeographics’ focus on delivering the definitive location framework for Europe using the reference data available from its members.” “It was very interesting to compare the issues discussed within a European network with those within our GEOIDE project,” Marc Gervais, the GEOIDE IV23 project leader added. “It was also nice to continue our discussion from the GSDI 11 conference in Rotterdam and see all the similarities on both sides, which enables a global knowledge exchange and enriches the geocommunity on both sides of Atlantic.” The spring plenary meeting of EuroGeographics’ Quality Knowledge Exchange Network, which included a day of discussions with representatives from the GEOIDE Network, was hosted by IGN Belgium in Brussels from 4 to 7 May 2010. The Quebec Cadastre; civil aviation spatial data quality requirements; metadata issues; the European Spatial Data Infrastructure Network (ESDIN) project; the challenges posed by volunteered geographic information (VGI); and the ethical issues posed by geospatial data were among the topics debated by delegates.
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