European geographic information (GI) RTD meetings
The European Commission, DG XIII, has published reports of two meetings, with users and experts, held to discuss RTD in geographic information in Europe. The two meetings were held in Luxembourg in May and June 1996. The meetings were held as part of the wider consultation process in the development of the Commission's communication entitled "GI2000: Towards a European policy framework for geographic information", which aims to advance European Community policy on GI, and also to gain opinions from the experts on GI content in the Community's forthcoming Fifth RTD Framework Programme. The meetings identified concerns relating to GI in Europe, including linking RTD to the market, increasing the interchange of data and the interoperability of systems and data. Awareness and training for GI is required, in order that wider public knowledge can lead to greater political support. New technologies for GI need to be developed in Europe in the short term, otherwise US software and hardware companies will dominate the market. Legal issues, such as copyright and privacy, require concrete solutions before much GI data can be offered to the public. Communications between industry and researchers need to be developed, as do those between public sector data holders and private data users. Research areas in GI identified as potential areas for priority in the Fifth Framework Programme include: - GI data generalization; - GI data visualization; - Geospatial image and text integration; - GI in model building.