Survey: Would you use an EU-wide geolocation identification service? Deadline extended

The ELISE action, managed by the Joint Research Centre under the ISA² programme, has just published a survey on its EU gazetteer activity. All interested parties are called to provide their assessment on the usefulness of an EU-wide gazetteer service that identifies the locations of places by specifying a geographic name, address, administrative unit etc. The results will be used to implement relevant gazetteer solutions, starting with a pilot in 2018.

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 14/11/2017! The survey can be completed here. Completion will take about 15 minutes with an overview of results available in late 2017/early 2018.

The background

Key ‘high value’ datasets, such as geographical names and addresses, have many uses both inside and outside the public sector. They form the backbone of European location services. Such services may include a “gazetteer” functionality, linking place names and addresses to point to areas and locations. These datasets are often used in conjunction with other ‘high value’ data themes, such as land parcels, hydrography and transport networks.

This survey aims to analyse the extent to which access to pan-European complete, open and free location datasets and services would create new opportunities for data users and developers, beyond the services that are already available at national level. The survey also seeks a better understanding of situations where ‘official’ data is needed, where ‘community-sourced’ data may be applicable, and where such data may be sourced.

The survey on the upcoming gazetteer activity is launched by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) and EuroGeographics, the member organisation for European National Mapping and Cadastral Agencies. 

The JRC is undertaking this survey as part of the five-year European Location Interoperability Solutions for e-Government (ELISE) Action, which is supported by the ISA² Programme. 

EuroGeographics is undertaking this activity as part of the Open European Location Services (Open ELS) project, which is developing pan-European data services using authoritative geospatial information.  Open ELS is a two-year project co-financed by the European Union's Connecting Europe Facility. The survey’s results will be used to develop its pan-European Open ELS services. 

For further questions:

• On the gazetteer survey and ELISE action: EU-LOCATION@ec.europa.eu
• On the ISA² programme: isa2@ec.europa.eu