eENVplus - eEnvironmental services for advanced applications within INSPIRE, aims at integrating a large amount of environmental data provided by the National/Regional Environmental Agencies and other public and private environmental stakeholders involved. This is necessary to answer to the requests for environmental monitoring and reporting requested by the European, national and local policies.

eENVplus provides tools addressing multi-level interoperability stack to Member States and the geogaphic information user communities:

• a comprehensive, open and scalable infrastructure able to integrate existing infrastructures according to the INSPIRE requirements, open standards and interoperable innovative services;
• a common Environment Thesaurus Framework, supporting the integration of existing thesauri relevant for the environmental sector via Linked Data and providing added-value services for its integration and exploitation in pilot applications;
• a comprehensive toolkit with procedures, guidelines and examples for data harmonisation and validation supporting Member States during INSPIRE implementation;
• a set of innovative on-line added-value interoperable services aiming to facilitate the development of innovative environmental applications;
• a Training Framework to support, with eLearning tools, the development of the necessary capacities and knowledge to implement INSPIRE, to develop a SEIS and to keep this new adapted infrastructure operational.

This will be achieved through the harmonisation and integration, within an operational framework, of existing services resulting from previous European initiatives (funded projects, good practices, EU/national/local experiences) and it will allow overcaming of cross-border/languages barriers. eENVplus provides not only the ICT infrastructure but also the documentation and support to ensure delivery of an operational infrastructure and which can become profitable, based on a well-defined organisational model and a tutored training framework.

eENVplus provides tools addressing multi-level interoperability stack:

• through a comprehensive open, scalable infrastructure able to link to existing infrastructures developed through international or national-level initiatives (e.g. the INSPIRE portal)
• through a set of software components that allow communication, through interoperable standards, between existing legacy applications and the eENVplus service ecosystem
• through development of daisy-chained services to allow creation of high-level functionalities from interconnection of interoperable lower-level services
• through a set of innovative on-line pre-built services facilitating the development of innovative applications
• through a Common Environment Thesaurus Framework, supporting via Linked Data the integration of existing Thesauri for environmental application, which facilitates data sharing through a common understanding of the meaning of terms and concepts
• through a comprehensive toolkit with guidelines and examples for data harmonisation and validation to support the Members States in the application of the INSPIRE implementation rules.

Pilot Applications
In order to exploit the implementation of the eENVplus outcomes in a variety of situations with different user needs, it is intended to implement 9 environmental scenarios in 10 pilots. The pilots with their scenarios will allow to better streamline the tools available to the project into the main flow of INSPIRE compliance, with evident implications on interoperability among existing or planned applications..

List of pilot/scenario

The following services are foreseen:

• Implementation of a SEIS for air quality data, pilots in Belgium and Italy
• Providing INSPIRE-compliant access to utility services: the case of sewage networks in Flanders, pilot in Belgium
• CSspire – Everyday life issues connected to Environmental aspects in Czech Republic and Slovakia, cross-border pilot
• Natural Areas INSPIRE Compliance Toolbox, pilot in France
• Forest Fire Management, pilot in Greece
• Window on the Protected Areas – Mobile Conservation Map in Hungary and Slovakia, cross-border pilot
• INSPIRE Geoportal – Nature conservation data in Iceland, pilot in Iceland
• Geological Map Harmonization in Italy and Slovenia, cross-border pilot
• Urban Landuse Planning: INSPIRE’d land use planning Indicators to monitor good urban planning practices
   

Pilot users

eENVplus is addressed to a community of technical and non-technical stakeholders:

• administrations and public bodies/agencies at different levels
• providers of environmental services
• providers of IT services
• research groups needing access to environmental information
• Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs)
• Citizens

The exploitation of the project outcomes is addressed to:

• National Environmental Authorities (National Environmental Agencies, EIONET, Environment authorities at EU level)
• Local and Regional Environmental Authorities (starting from partners'networks)
• Thematic Communities (European Topic Centers, INSPIRE National Contact Point)
• Private Sector and SMEs

The project is funded by the European Commission in the framework of the prigram CIP-ICT-PSP Pilot A contract No. 325232

The project is realized by a consortium of 19 European partners, which includes Planetek Hellas, and aims at the harmonisation and integration, within an operational framework, of existing services resulting from previous European initiatives (funded projects, good practices, EU/national/local experiences) and it will allow overcaming of cross-border/languages barriers.

Link

• The project website is www.eenvplus.eu