Underpinning Europe’s Digital Decade with fundamental rights and common values will fuel demand for trusted public sector information, say National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registration Authorities.

Through their membership association, EuroGeographics, they have welcomed the vision for Europe’s Digital Decade, noting that respect for data privacy, Intellectual Property Rights and the legal protection of databases is essential in providing online services for citizens and supporting public administration.

“Data based on agreed rules of creation and use, legal aspect, accountability, quality management, certification, traceability, and maintenance are needed everywhere by everybody all the time. Knowing that reliable sources of geospatial data exist, and where to obtain them, is essential for making critical decisions that affect all our lives, both from an individual’s perspective, and by policy-makers,” says Léa Bodossian, Secretary General and Executive Director, EuroGeographics.

“Authoritative public sector information is a key building block for a successful digital transformation, which will result in a society empowered by the use of these trusted data and services. Demand for geospatial information from official national sources will continue to grow into the next decade. NMCAs are committed to continue providing quality, value, reliability and ease of re-use data, as these remain key requirements for users.”

“With the constant and dramatic growth of data volumes, information is moving to the clouds and is being shared through data spaces. As such, NMCAs welcome the European Strategy for Data and the transparent governance tools proposed in the Data Governance Act. These initiatives have the potential to be important milestones in reaching the goals of the Digital Decade.”

“EuroGeographics members were early pioneers in data interoperability having solved a wide range of geographical, technical, political, organisational, linguistic and operational challenges to create pan-European datasets. We are eager to share our experience and the lessons learned to help achieve the cohesion needed to realise the digital targets, and we do know that there many more datasets that are to be made open and that will benefit from NMCA’s expertise.”

“We look forward to making a significant contribution to the success of Europe’s Digital Decade and the 2030 digital targets, and welcome being part of this conversation.”

To read EuroGeographics’ feedback on the EU Roadmap for Communication on “Europe’s Digital Decade”: 2030 digital targets, please visit the website.

EuroGeographics is an international not-for-profit organisation (AISBL/ IVZW under Belgian Law. BCE registration: 833 607 112) and the membership association for the European National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registry Authorities. It currently brings together members from 46 countries, covering the whole of geographical Europe.

To find out more about EuroGeographics, please visit www.eurogeographics.org