GEOSS INSPIRE and GMES an Action in Support

The GEOSS INSPIRE and GMES an Action in Support (GIGAS) promotes the coherent and interoperable development of the GMES, INSPIRE and GEOSS initiatives through their concerted adoption of standards, protocols, and open architectures. Given the complexity and dynamics of each initiative and the large number of stakeholders involved, the key added value of GIGAS is bringing together the leading organisations in Europe who are able to make a difference and achieve a truly synergistic convergence of the initiatives. Among them, the Joint Research Centre is the technical coordinator of INSPIRE, the European Space Agency is responsible for the GMES space component, and both organisations together with a third partner, the Open Geospatial Consortium play a leading role in the development of the GEOSS architecture and components. This core group is supported by key industrial players in the space and geographic information sectors, with the scientific leadership of the Fraunhofer Institute. This consortium will achieve the objectives set through an iterative and consensusbased approach which includes: in-depth analysis of the requirements and barriers to interoperability in each of the three initiatives and strategic FP 6/FP 7 projects; comparative evaluation of this activity as input to a forum of key stakeholders at a European level; consensus building in the forum on how to update and integrate the architectures of GMES, INSPIRE and GEOSS, and influence standards development and adoption. From these recommendations follow actions to shape the direction of the initiatives and to define a roadmap for future development, including the key research topics to be addressed to sustain the convergence of the initiatives. GIGAS thus will contribute to the emergence of a collaborative information space for accessing and sharing distributed environmental resources in Europe. This will represent a milestone towards building a Single Information Space in Europe for the Environment.