Compass Informatics will co-sponsor the CEN/TC 287 Interoperability Workshop to be held on March 1st  in Paris.  This will be a particularly important meeting as it will bring the key organisations of CEN, ISO, Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), and JRC/INSPIRE together with a view towards an agreement of further geo standards developments. Gearóid Ó Riain, managing director of Compass Informatics, will present at the workshop, which will also be attended by other policy and technical Compass staff. The topic of his presentation will be development and implementation issues surrounding the Irish SDI and especially INSPIRE compliancy.

The CEN/TC 287 interoperability workshop will be hosted by AFNOR, at their head offices in Paris. 

In the field of geographic information, CEN/TC 287 is mandated to create European specific standards, technical reports, guidelines and other documents where appropriate. The aim is to achieve interoperability and consistency of geographic information across borders in CEN member states. While CEN is the European standards body, its members reach beyond Europe into countries who agree to adopt these standards.

It is widely recognized that the work carried out by INSPIRE is of international interest, while maintaining its strong European focus, and CEN needs to be ready to complement this important work in the form of best practices and standards.

OGC has, for some time now, successfully promoted development of geomatics industry standards and operated test beds for these standards. To combine these activities will lead to a stronger, more interoperable Europe. While based in the USA, OGC has regional affiliates, including OGC Europe Ltd, where nearly half of its total membership have offices or significant operations.

The ISO  TC 211 Geographic information committee develops and maintains international standards. However, there is an increased awareness that the development of European standards specifically to meet the needs of Europe will be of benefit, specifically in the area of creating European profiles for the global ISO geo standards.

This workshop will look at how national spatial infrastructures, mandated by the INSPIRE Directive, can be supported by CEN/TC 287 for the purpose of both best practice and interoperability, taking into consideration the standards making or testing activities of both ISO and OGC.

For more information adn to register see http://www.gistandards.eu.