Well-performing Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) are not straightforward to implement due to many interdependent aspects (such as legal, economic, technological, organisational, and public administrative). In order to meet the INPSIRE directive, it is important for EU member states to know the key elements that lead to successful SDI implementation. In addition, the key areas for further research should be identified as soon as possible, to give the scientific community the possibility to carry out research supportive of the INSPIRE implementations. The ‘INSPIRE atlas of implementation methods’ meets these issues, by providing firstly a structured overview of INSPIRE implementation methods across the member states with references to the key documents in every state.

Studying the experiences of the INSPIRE implementations is an important part of this inventory. Secondly, the atlas defines a research agenda for INSPIRE related topics. To accomplish this, two workshops are organised: one in spring 2009 and another one in winter 2010. The project is different than other similar projects such as ESDIN, eSDInet+ and INSPIRE State of Play, since it is explicitly a research project.

The input of EU member states is very valuable for our project. In addition, participation in our workshop helps individual states to learn from each other and to define common areas for further research. Therefore, we hereby invite the appropriate persons to participate in the workshop. As input for the workshops, we distribute a questionnaire among the participants beforehand, to get an overview of the current implementation methods and experiences as well as a preliminary list of areas for further research. The questions are structured among the following themes: Economics, Law, Sociology, Public Administration, and Technology. In discussions during the workshop, the participants elaborate on their INSPIRE experiences in the context of every theme: what are good examples and what are bad examples of implementation? What further research is required to support the INSPIRE implementation as well as future requirements with respect to the INSPIRE directive. A member state presentation of a characteristic example (selected from the analysis of the questionnaire results) could be used to introduce a discussion.
The duration of the second workshop, where much time is dedicated to discussions, is one and a half day (14-15 January, see also program presented below). We aim at having two persons of each EU-member state: one from the organisation responsible for the INSPIRE implementation policy and another one  from the scientific community. The second workshop is mainly based on the findings of the first workshop (29-30 april 2009).
If you are interested in participating this workshop, you are kindly requested to register yourself online (see Registration below).

Please register before 15 December 2009.