Latest Contributions by Jill_Saligoe-Simmel

Read the ArcGIS Blog article, the first in a two-part series that provides an overview of the FAIR data principles and looks at how ArcGIS supports geospatial data providers in making your data FAIR. The article provides an overview of the FAIR data principles and industry adoption, and shows how ArcGIS helps you implement the FAIR principles in an end-to-end workflow. The Appendix details how ArcGIS supports each of the FAIR sub-principles from a technical product perspective. Read the article Help to make your data FAIR: Part I ... View more

Within the broader context of the European Strategy for Data, the Joint Research Centre (the European Commission’s science and knowledge service) is collaborating with the EU Member States on modernising the technological stack for INSPIRE.As part of this modernisation, there is now an effort to use data standards “as is” rather than developing INSPIRE-specific extensions to them, thus facilitating the use of “off the shelf” software for the delivery of INSPIRE data. The shift to simpler, modular, web-based standards brings with it many benefits to EU Member States, data providers, data users, and software developers alike. This year,OGC API - Features is joining that stack. Learn how modernizing INSPIRE with OGC APIs will empower users to immediately start interacting with the data in this article INSPIRE and OGC APIs - Part 1: Modernising INSPIRE. Esri is pleased to support future directions of GIS in the EU with ArcGIS INSPIRE Open Data. ... View more

New Orleans, LA -- At a pair of sessions presented at the annual conference of the National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) on Sept. 22 in Dallas, representatives from the US Department of Transportation delivered the latest update in the efforts to build a robust National Address Database to meet the needs for open and authoritative data across government and industry. Steve Lewis, Geospatial Information Officer for the USDOT, provided a live demonstration of an innovative new visualization tool for the National Address Database (NAD), developed in partnership with geospatial technology giant Esri. This “sneak peek” offered a glimpse of the future of the NAD, which had been previously available only in bulk download. “The National Address Database is clearly moving forward with greater momentum as additional partners bring their unique insights and tools to the table,” said NSGIC President Frank Winters, who serves as Geospatial Information Officer for the State of New York. Over his leadership term with NSGIC, Winters has devoted significant energy to convening a widening group of private sector firms to discuss authoritative data for wayfinding and other use cases for a true National Address Database. Throughout the US, states and local governments work together to build and maintain geographic information systems (GIS) data for addresses, states, bridges, exit numbers, and work zones. NSGIC work as a convenor has taken the form of seeking out and developing new partnerships to help states maximize the benefits of the complex work of data development. “We don’t expect our citizens and visitors to go to our state GIS websites in huge numbers to experience our work,” said Winters. “Instead, we reach our citizens and visitors by working with commercial GPS, wayfinding, mobile phone mapping, and vehicle companies. Even package delivery can be made noticeably more efficient using these data, reducing vehicle emissions and improving the economy. When millions of people, through billions of trips, benefit from our work, our impact scales.” The existence and proper location of every address is essential to public safety, enabling dispatchers to quickly and accurately send help when needed and improving highway safety by notifying drivers of work zones or providing bridge clearance data so wayfinding apps or even automakers can consider vehicle heights when suggesting a route. With 24 states currently contributing to the National Address Database and 11 more in the queue, the NAD has become a clear solution for uses across the public and private sectors. More from NSGIC partners: “The National Address Database is a true example of effective partnerships across all levels of government. These state, local, and tribal government partnerships allow USDOT to compile a cost effective, authoritative, and open database of address points. It should be a model for many other National Geospatial Data Assets.,” said Steve Lewis, US Department of Transportation Geospatial Information Officer. “Esri is happy to contribute to the creation of this new tool,” said Jack Dangermond, Esri founder and president. “Accurate location data is crucial for the many government agencies charged with maintaining the structural integrity and safety of the nation’s infrastructure, and NSGIC has been instrumental in bringing that information to the professionals who need it the most.” “Open access to authoritative geospatial data has always been critical for personnel in government,” said Sean Breyer, Esri ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World program manager. “The organizations and departments that deal with the physical assets that the country relies on are particularly dependent on valuable sources of information that can be easily accessed and visualized. This new tool makes their jobs easier to do at a greater scale than ever before.” “The National Address Database is a trusted data source that will allow Google Maps to more seamlessly keep its US map accurate and up-to-date - empowering Americans everywhere to navigate, explore, and get things done,” said Holli Howard, Data Operations at Google Maps. “TomTom is proud to support NSGIC, and the continued development of the National Address Database (NAD),” said Robert Hoyler, TomTom Senior Partner Development Manager. “The can-do enthusiasm of the NSGIC membership creates an impressive synergy, which drives collaborative action and promotes awareness of the importance of geospatial data. This is the basis from which beneficial public private partnerships can ultimately emerge. Access to open authoritative geospatial data, such as the NAD, will allow TomTom to more effectively contribute towards impactful solutions for the benefit of the public.” # # # The National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) exists to advance effective national coordination of geospatial information by supporting state-level cooperation by serving as a national forum for the development of capable and future-oriented geospatial leadership. Established in 1991, NSGIC’s members and collaborators are state government Geospatial Information Officers, other state GIS leaders, representatives from local, regional, tribal, and federal governments, subject matter experts from the private sector, and other national nonprofit organizations. For more information, visit nsgic.org or email Executive Director Molly Schar at molly.schar@nsgic.org.   Photo by Adrian Curiel on Unsplash ... View more

For some time, ArcGIS Hub supports DCAT for catalog federation to other data aggregation portals, such as the US Data.gov. ArcGIS Hub now supports DCAT-AP, the de facto standard for European data catalogues, in support of the European PSI-2 / Open Data Directive.   What is DCAT and DCAT-AP? Data Catalogue vocabulary, known as DCAT, is an international standard established by the W3C. It is an RDF vocabulary designed to facilitate interoperability between data catalogues published on the Web. It is a way to federate metadata from your content libraries into third party data portals. The DCAT Application Profile for data portals in Europe (DCAT-AP) is currently the de facto standard metadata interchange format across European data catalogues. DCAT-AP is a joint initiative of two Directorates-General of the European Commission, namely
 DG Connect and DG Informatics, and the Publications Office of the EU, and is supported by the European Commission’s ISA2 programme.   How does it work? ArcGIS Hub automatically translates the metadata of your public items (for example, INSPIRE Metadata v2) to generate a DCAT-AP feed for your curated catalogue. The DCAT-AP feed provided by ArcGIS Hub is an RDF machine-readable and compliant JSON-LD format.     Now you can easily federate your ArcGIS Hub open data catalogue to content aggregators, such as the European Data Portal data.europa.eu. To see the DCAT or DCAT-AP endpoint in action, append the following to the base URL of a public ArcGIS Hub site: DCAT Profile Parameter Details DCAT-US POD v1.1 <HubSiteURL>/data.json US Project Open Data (POD) used by and data.gov DCAT-AP (Europe) <HubSiteURL>/catalog/dcat-ap/2.0.1.json Europe DCAT-AP (v2.0.1) used by data.europa.eu   For example, view the ArcGIS INSPIRE Open Data demonstration Hub’s DCAT-AP feed: https://arcgis-inspire-esri.opendata.arcgis.com/catalog/dcat-ap/2.0.1.json  Then, register your catalogue endpoint with the appropriate open data content aggregators. TIP: Popular browser extensions are available that enable viewing of “pretty” JSON structure. For example, ‘JSON Formatter’ is a popular Chrome browser extension.   Benefits of ArcGIS Hub and DCAT-AP Your content is dynamic. ArcGIS Hub automatically updates your DCAT-AP feed when you edit the details of your item’s metadata or add new public items to your catalogue. Because it is based on the metadata you already maintain in ArcGIS, there is no need to manually create separate DCAT metadata. By using a common metadata schema to describe datasets: Data publishers increase the discoverability of the data and thus re-use Data re-users can search across platforms without facing difficulties caused using separate models or language differences DCAT-AP provides a common specification for describing public sector datasets in Europe to enable the exchange of descriptions of datasets among data portals. This application profile is a specification for metadata records to meet the specific application needs of data portals in Europe.   Additional Resources Read more about DCAT-AP on Europa JoinUp Read the paper on DCAT-AP Towards an open government data ecosystem in Europe using common standards Read the ISA2 DCAT-AP brochure ... View more

Thanks for joining the Esri UC 2021 session, ArcGIS: Understanding SDI and Geospatial Infrastructure! The session recording will be available later today. We are honored to share just a few of the many great examples of collaborative SDI & geospatial infrastructure by our users. Below are links to the use cases, in the order presented: Loudoun GeoHub (Loudoun County, Virginia) Data.gov (United States) California State Geoportal California Created a Knowledge Base with GIS (ArcUser article) Maryland's GIS Data Catalog Open Data DC Addressing in DC NC OneMap Planning Is Key to Building a Collaborative Hub: NC OneMap (case study) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Ireland SDG Hub UAE SDG Hub Hawaii SDI Hub Aloha Challenge UN Open SDG Data Hub Ireland's COVID-19 Data Hub Esri's Disaster Response COVID-19 GIS Hub (resources) Please follow this space (subscribe) as we continue to learn from you and share use cases and good practices throughout the year. To explore more, visit Integrated Geospatial Infrastructure and modern SDI. ... View more

This spring, a new user interface for the INSPIRE reference validator was released, improving its usability. The most outstanding updates are: alignment with the visual identity of the European Commission more user-friendly approach for starting tests and navigating/filtering the test reports Managed by the European Commission Joint Research Centre B6 Unit, the INSPIRE Reference Validator helps data providers, solution providers and national coordinators to check whether data sets, network services and metadata meet the requirements defined in the INSPIRE Technical Guidelines. It allows you to verify that the resources you provide meet the INSPIRE Directive requirements.  The Validator provides detailed test reports to help implementers understand how well their data, services, metadata or software solutions are doing (or where improvements may be needed). Importantly, validation results from INSPIRE Metadata provide input to INSPIRE Monitoring process that takes place each year in December. The following ArcGIS tutorials have been recently updated for using the latest INSPIRE Reference Validator: Create INSPIRE Metadata v2 with ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Enterprise Portal Create INSPIRE Metadata v2 with ArcGIS Pro Add-In Create INSPIRE Metadata v2 with ArcGIS for INSPIRE 10.8.1 and Geoportal Server Subscribe to this space to follow upcoming news about ArcGIS INSPIRE solutions. ... View more

This lesson steps you through how to create INSPIRE Metadata v2 for dataset metadata using the ArcGIS Pro Metadata Editor.  UPDATED 12 April 2023 to remove references to install an add-in. INSPIRE v2 Metadata is available in ArcGIS Pro (without installation of a separate Add-In). UPDATED 23 June 2021 to include steps using the new INSPIRE Reference Validator, plus additional tips for 'Legal Constraint > Use limitation' to improve your open data catalog.   Before You Begin Configuring ArcGIS Pro correctly is the first step toward creating metadata content that complies with the INSPIRE Metadata v2.0.1 guidelines. Configure ArcGIS Pro for INSPIRE v2 Metadata Configure ArcGIS Pro for INSPIRE v2 Metadata Choose' Metadata' from the sidebar on the ArcGIS Pro Settings > Options. Select ‘INSPIRE Metadata Directive’ from the Metadata style dropdown menu. Click ‘OK’   Create Metadata Edit an item's metadata in the metadata view. When you edit metadata in the metadata view, validation rules are applied based on the INSPIRE Metadata v2.0.1 Technical Guidelines. The ArcGIS Pro INSPIRE/ISO 19139 Metadata Editor has three main sections in the left sidebar interface: Overview, Metadata, and Resource. Each section has pages containing associated metadata elements. For example, the Overview page contains the ‘Item Description’ section with associated metadata elements. Where required content is identified as missing, the section in the Contents pane is denoted with an “X” icon. When all required content has been provided, the page will be identified in the Contents pane as being valid with a "✔︎" icon. Warning messages for missing required values are denoted with a "!" icon, and the associated dialog box is highlighted. Depending on if you have some metadata already completed, the displayed elements may differ slightly from what is shown below. Click through each page and provide the required information in the field specified. The following provides detailed guidance for completing each metadata element to create valid INSPIRE Metadata: Overview > Item Description Title - the name given to the data resource Description (Abstract) - a brief narrative summary of the content of the resource as free text; consider including the definition from the INSPIRE theme register http://inspire.ec.europa.eu/theme as part of your abstract Use Limitations - choose a Use Limitation statement from the dropdown menu, for example, “no conditions to access and use”; see the INSPIRE Registry for definitions of Conditions Applying To Access and Use https://inspire.ec.europa.eu/metadata-codelist/ConditionsApplyingToAccessAndUse Overview > Topic & Keywords Topic Category - a high-level classification scheme to assist in the grouping and topic-based search of available spatial data resources; select one or more topics using topic categories in accordance with the ISO 19115 metadata standard Keywords - the primary INSPIRE theme keyword of the dataset; click the “+” to reveal the Keyword dialog, then click the “Lookup” button to open the GEMET Keyword Lookup Browser. After a moment, the ‘GEMET INSPIRE Data Theme’ popup will open. ⁃ Choose a language as appropriate in the language dropdown. ⁃ Click on the theme title to select exactly one GEMET Keyword (note, choosing more than one theme keyword may produce “Fail” results in the external INSPIRE Validator). Click ‘OK’ Date - under Thesaurus Citation > Dates, enter date of publication of the GEMET Theme Keyword Thesaurus; enter "2008-06-01” (enter exactly as written, without quotes) Identifier Code - Under Identifier > Code enter "publication” (enter exactly as written, without quotes) Metadata > Details Metadata Language - the language in which the metadata elements are expressed; choose the language from the dropdown menu Metadata > Contacts Add+ new contact or load a saved contact from dropdown menu Organization Name - the name of the organisation responsible for the metadata as free text Email - a contact email address as a character string Role - choose “Point of Contact” from the dropdown list Add+ new Contact Information Email - a contact email address as a character string Resource > Details Resource Language - choose the language(s) used within the resource. Spatial Representation Type - choose a value from the dropdown list, for example, ‘Vector’ for a Feature Layer Resource > Extents Add+ new Extent Add+ new Bounding Box West - the extent of your data with at least one decimal (e.g., -49.9) East - the extent of your data with at least one decimal (e.g., 42.7) South - the extent of your data with at least one decimal (e.g., 27.4) North - the extent of your data with at least one decimal (e.g., 68.9) Resource > Points of Contact Organization Name - the name of the organisation responsible for the dataset as free text Email - a contact email address as a character string Resource > Constraints Legal Constraint > Use limitation - when Member States limit public access to spatial data sets and spatial data services under Article 13 of Directive 2007/2/EC, this metadata element shall provide information on the limitations and the reasons for them; If there are no limitations on public access, this metadata element shall indicate that fact as free text. Tip: If you add a Creative Commons license (CC0, CC BY, CC BY-SA) by either the name or the URL and share to a Hub catalog, the item’s dataset page will display the Creative Commons license icon and will link to the appropriate license details web page. If you add an Open Data Commons license (PDDL, ODbL, ODC-By), the dataset page will display the license name and link to the appropriate license details web page.   Security Constraints - NOTE: security constraints typically only have military use; ignore the warning message and leaving the default Classification value “Empty” will still produce valid metadata results. Go to bottom of page… Legal Constraint > Access Constraints - choose an Access Constraint statement from the dropdown menu, for example, “no limitations to public access”; see the INSPIRE Registry for definitions of Limitations on public access https://inspire.ec.europa.eu/metadata-codelist/LimitationsOnPublicAccess Legal Constraint > Use Constraints - choose a Use Constraint statement from the dropdown menu, for example, “no conditions to access and use” Resource > Spatial Reference Code - Enter the spatial reference code “WGS84” (enter exactly as written, without quotes) Resource > Quality Scope Level - choose a value from the dropdown menu; for example, choose “Dataset” Add + New Report Type Report Type - choose “Domain Consistency” Add + New Conformance Result Conformance Result - if your dataset conformance is congruent with the above conformance explanation, check the box for ‘Pass’ from the dropdown list Explanation - a citation of the specification against which conformity was tested, for example (without quotes): “See the referenced specification” (note, specification title will be selected in the following steps) Title - the title of the specification used for the conformance result. Choose the language of the INSPIRE specification title from the dropdown list to add the full title in the specified language to the Metadata record. Dates > Published - enter “2010-12-08” (enter exactly as written, without quotes) Resource > Lineage If Scope is Dataset or Series, a Lineage Statement is required. (INSPIRE). – Enter a lineage statement, for example, “Data were loaded from source data into INSPIRE GDB template, then published to ArcGIS Online” Resource > Distribution Format Name - Enter “GeoService” without quotes Format Version - A value is required. Enter “n/a” without quotes Add + New Digital Transfer Options Add + New Online Resource Linkage - enter a URL of online resource (note, this can be updated after publishing a hosted feature service) Export XML Metadata Check your Metadata using the external INSPIRE Reference Validator In a web browser, open the official INSPIRE Reference Validator and click ’Test your data, services, or metadata’ to start a test.    The validator is already configured to test your metadata using the Technical Guidelines version 2.0 for data sets and data set series metadata. Verify your answer to the antispam question.   Add your metadata to be tested Follow the instructions to provide your metadata to test and click ’Start test’.   Check the Status of your report The validator runs its tests and generates a report. View the results to see your metadata "Passed" inspection. If you left fields blank or incorrectly filled in metadata elements when creating your metadata, it may fail some tests. Click the “See report” link to expand sections and view detailed results. Then, return to the ArcGIS Metadata Editor and update your metadata, as needed.   For your convenience, you can download the example metadata file used in this lesson along with the Validator 'Passed' report (generated 9-June-2021) to assist you in your metadata creation. Continue your publication workflow If you publish a feature layer from ArcGIS Pro that already contains metadata, the metadata will flow through to ArcGIS Online and/or Enterprise. ... View more

This lesson steps you through how to create INSPIRE Metadata v2 for dataset metadata using the ArcGIS Online metadata editor (Classic). With ArcGIS Enterprise 10.9, this tutorial also applies to creating INSPIRE Metadata in the ArcGIS Enterprise portal metadata editor (Classic). UPDATE 2-March 2024. Create INSPIRE Metadata using ArcGIS’s New Metadata Editor. Stay tuned for the new ArcGIS metadata editor in ArcGIS Enterprise and ArcGIS Pro future releases! UPDATED 23-June-2021 to include steps using the new INSPIRE Reference Validator, plus additional tips for 'Legal Constraint > Use limitation' to improve your open data catalog.   Before You Begin This lesson assumes that you have content in ArcGIS Online, for example, a hosted Feature Layer, and your organization administrator has enabled metadata with the European ‘INSPIRE Metadata Directive’ style. Verify that you are signed in, have privileges to create content and that your organization has enabled metadata. From the 'My Content' tab of the content page, click the title of the item you want to create INSPIRE metadata. Review Layer Settings Begin by reviewing the item Settings and updating as needed. Click on the ‘Settings’ tab.  As appropriate, mark the item as ‘Authoritative’ and check the box to enable delete protection. Check the ‘Export Data’ box to allow others to export different formats. This will enable downloads for your open data. Click ‘Save’ then return to the Item ‘Overview’ tab to return to the Item details page. Open the Metadata Editor In the ‘Overview’ Item details page, click the ‘Metadata’ button to open the Metadata Editor and follow the instructions below. INSPIRE/ISO 19139 Metadata has eight main sections presented in a tabbed interface in the Metadata Editor. Each section has tabbed subsections containing associated metadata elements. When you open the editor for the item for the first time, the editor is populated with existing metadata elements from the Item details page: title, tags, snippet, description, accessinformation, licenseinfo, and extent. If you published the feature layer from a layer in ArcGIS Pro that already contained metadata, the metadata would flow through to ArcGIS Online.  Open the ‘Validate’ Dialog Click 'Validate' to reveal the INSPIRE required elements dialog. Clicking the metadata editor 'Validate' runs a check to see what required elements have not yet been completed. A click-through dialog is presented for the missing required values, denoted with a yellow circle. Use this dialog to guide you through the creation of your INSPIRE metadata. Depending on if you have some metadata already completed, the metadata elements required to be completed may differ slightly from what is shown below. Create Metadata To start, click ‘Hierarchy Level - A value is required.’ Your cursor moves automatically to the element in the metadata editor, in this case, ‘Hierarchy Level’ with a dropdown menu. Continue clicking through each Validate message and provide the required information in the field specified. The following provides detailed guidance for completing each metadata element to create valid INSPIRE Metadata: Metadata Information Hierarchy Level - choose ‘Dataset’ from the dropdown menu to document dataset metadata Metadata Language - the language in which the metadata elements are expressed; choose the language from the dropdown menu Organization Name - the name of the organisation responsible for the metadata as free text Email - a contact email address as a character string Resource Information Date - one of Creation Date, Publication Date, or Revision Date is required; enter a calendar date in the specified format, e.g., yyyy-mm-dd, or click ’Now’ to populate this element with the current date Code - enter "publication” (enter exactly as written, without quotes) Description (Abstract) - a brief narrative summary of the content of the resource as free text; consider including the definition from the INSPIRE theme register http://inspire.ec.europa.eu/theme as part of your abstract Resource Language - choose the language(s) used within the resource. Country - choose a country from the dropdown list Spatial Representation Type - choose a value from the dropdown list, for example, ‘Vector’ for a Feature Layer Topic Category - a high-level classification scheme to assist in the grouping and topic-based search of available spatial data resources; select one or more topics Keywords - the primary INSPIRE theme keyword of the dataset; click “Lookup” to open the GEMET Keyword Lookup Browser. After a moment, the ‘GEMET INSPIRE Data Theme’ popup will open Choose a language as appropriate in the language dropdown.  Check a box to select exactly one GEMET Keyword matching the INSPIRE Theme of the layer (note, choosing more than one theme keyword will produce “Fail” results in the external INSPIRE Validator). Click ‘OK’ Organization Name - the name of the organisation responsible for the dataset as free text Email - a contact email address as a character string Access Constraints - choose an Access Constraint statement from the dropdown menu, for example, “no limitations to public access”; see the INSPIRE Registry for definitions of Limitations on public access https://inspire.ec.europa.eu/metadata-codelist/LimitationsOnPublicAccess Use Limitations - choose a Use Limitation statement from the dropdown menu, for example, “no conditions to access and use”; see the INSPIRE Registry for definitions of Conditions Applying To Access and Use https://inspire.ec.europa.eu/metadata-codelist/ConditionsApplyingToAccessAndUse At least one Geographic Bounding Box is required - toggle the control to turn on Geographic Extent   Use the popup map to interactively draw a bounding box around the extent of your data; Click ‘OK’ At least one use limitation is required. (INSPIRE) - when Member States limit public access to spatial data sets and spatial data services under Article 13 of Directive 2007/2/EC, this metadata element shall provide information on the limitations and the reasons for them; If there are no limitations on public access, this metadata element shall indicate that fact as free text. For example, enter “CC0” Tip: If you add a Creative Commons license (CC0, CC BY, CC BY-SA) by either the name or the URL and share to a Hub catalog, the the item’s dataset page will display the Creative Commons license icon and will link to the appropriate license details web page. If you add an Open Data Commons license (PDDL, ODbL, ODC-By), the dataset page will display the license name and link to the appropriate license details web page.   Quality Information Scope Level - choose a value from the dropdown menu; for example, choose “Dataset” Report Type - choose “Domain Consistency” Explanation - a citation of the specification against which conformity was tested, for example (without quotes): “See the referenced specification” Degree - if your dataset conformance is congruent with the above conformance explanation, choose ‘Conformant’ from the dropdown list; otherwise, choose “Non Conformant” Title - the title of the specification used for the above conformance result. Choose the language of the INSPIRE specification title from the dropdown list to add the full title in the specified language to the Metadata record Publication Date - enter “2010-12-08” (enter exactly as written, without quotes) Distribution Information Format Name - Enter “GeoService” without quotes Format Version - Enter “n/a” without quotes Reference Information Code - Enter the spatial reference code “WGS84” (enter exactly as written, without quotes) Quality Information *Note, depending on your answers to the above metadata elements, additional elements may be required. Click ‘Validate’ again to reveal required quality information. If Scope is Dataset or Series, a Lineage Statement is required. (INSPIRE). – Enter a lineage statement, for example, “Data were loaded from source data into INSPIRE GDB template, then published to ArcGIS Online” Click 'Save' then view your metadata Click ‘Save’ to save the metadata. Click ‘View’ then the ‘Save and View’ button to view the metadata in a separate tab. Important: The metadata are presented in human-friendly HTML. However, the external INSPIRE Reference Validator requires XML encoded metadata. To view as XML, find and delete “&output=html” from the URL string (hit ‘Enter’ on your keyboard to refresh the page with the edited URL).  Copy the URL of the XML metadata from your browser menu bar. Alternatively, use your browser ‘File > Save As’ menu to save the XML file to use with the INSPIRE Reference Validator. Check your Metadata using the INSPIRE Reference Validator In a web browser, open the official INSPIRE Reference Validator and click ’Test your data, services, or metadata’ to start a test.    The validator is already configured to test your metadata using the Technical Guidelines version 2.0 for data sets and data set series metadata. Verify your answer to the antispam question.   Add your metadata to be tested Follow instructions to provide your metadata to test and click ’Start test’.   Check the Status of your report The validator runs its tests and generates a report. View the results to see your metadata "Passed" inspection. If you left fields blank or incorrectly filled in metadata elements when creating your metadata, it may fail some tests. Click the “See report” link to expand sections and view detailed results. Then, return to the ArcGIS Metadata Editor and update your metadata, as needed.   You're Finished! For your convenience, you can download the example metadata file used in this lesson along with the Validator 'Passed' report (generated 18-May-2021) to assist you in your metadata creation. ... View more

From the European Commission: The Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE), established 14 March 2007, aims to create a European Union spatial data infrastructure for the purposes of EU environmental policies and policies or activities which may have an impact on the environment. This consultation is part of the mandatory evaluation due by 1 January 2022. This public consultation will assess whether the Directive is: effective and efficient in protecting the environment still relevant for its stakeholders in line with other EU legislation, specifically the new Green Deal data space initiative. This consultation is open to any interested public or private organisation or individual. The following stakeholders may be particularly interested: bodies and individuals that are managing geospatial data, implementing the INSPIRE Directive or using geospatial data in their day-to-day operations, such as public authorities and administrations at national, regional and local level, environmental non-governmental organisations, professionals in environment protection or geospatial information systems, businesses, academics, interest organisations and private individuals. The Commission would like to hear your views. Through public consultations you can express your views on aspects of EU laws and policies before the Commission finalises its proposals. You can contribute to this consultation by filling in the online questionnaire. Public consultation Feedback period 19 April 2021 - 12 July 2021  (midnight Brussels time) FEEDBACK: OPEN public consultation roadmap feedback ... View more

The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) has developed a new National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Strategic Plan, 2021-2024. The Plan was approved by the FGDC Steering Committee in November 2020. The NSDI strategic plan was developed with inputs from a variety of sources, including FGDC agencies, the National Geospatial Advisory Committee, and geospatial partner organizations. The plan describes a broad national vision and mission for the NSDI, and includes goals and objectives for the continued sustainable development of the NSDI. Visit the FGDC website for updates regarding the implementation phase. National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Strategic Plan (pdf) ... View more

How can Geospatial Collaboratives maximize the return on investment in your Spatial Data Infrastructure? Consider an ecosystem approach.   https://go.esri.com/sdi-ecosystem ... View more