Current State
Good practices in strategic ‘location’ governance exist in some Member States, linked with wider governance of digital service delivery, open government and digital government transformation. However, there are still many cases where different interests are not resolved coherently, key stakeholders are left outside the decision process (including citizens and the private sector), and network vs central approaches are not well balanced (e.g. in collecting and combining data in a particular domain). Often the partnering model for the exchange of location information is not well defined or understood, and the benefits to stakeholders are not well articulated. Collaboration may exist for specific purposes but wider considerations are not always addressed. It is difficult to develop services that cross organisational boundaries, particularly where costs incurred by one organisation have a downstream benefit to others. Geospatial experts have knowledge and skills related to standard approaches within their domain. They need to broaden and adapt these skills for more mainstream deployments. There is increasing awareness of the opportunities and approaches to using location information outside the geospatial community but skills need to be enhanced to deliver increasingly innovative solutions, e.g. digital twins, location intelligence, and in integrating data from multiple sources (e.g. geospatially-enabled IoT, integrating static and dynamic data) and for different purposes (e.g. geospatial / BIM integration).
Vision
There is high level support for a strategic approach to the funding and availability of location information at Member State and EU level, based on recognised data sharing frameworks (e.g. INSPIRE) and other tools to achieve interoperability. Effective governance, partnerships, work programmes, responsibilities and capabilities are in place, taking into account the needs and expectations of stakeholders (e.g. citizens, businesses, and partners) and involving them in governance and decision making. The data-driven nature of digital government and the role of location information are recognised in the governance framework. Digital government and location information governance operates with a high degree of transparency. Ecosystems are growing and becoming a new way of collaborating, funding and harvesting benefits. Effective partnership models exist for collaborations in data ecosystems and digital platforms including, where appropriate, partnerships from emerging technical domains. Governments recognise the importance of ‘location’ understanding and skills, and invest in awareness raising, training and resourcing. Service design takes account of user capabilities. Specialists form communities to share knowledge and develop new ideas related to location information. As a result, there is a sufficient level of understanding and skills to develop, deploy and use location information effectively for improving and transforming decision-making and digital public services and extending the scale and boundaries of data-driven innovation in society.
LIFO Monitoring
The Location Information Framework Observatory (LIFO) monitors the implementation of EULF Blueprint recommendations in European countries. Read about the implementation of recommendations in the Governance, Partnerships and Capabilities focus area in the LIFO Country Factsheets or the LIFO European State of Play Report. Explore the results for selected countries at LIFO Interactive Dashboards - Focus Areas.
Recommendations
| Recommendation 17 | Introduce integrated governance of location information processes at all levels of government, bringing together different governmental and non-governmental actors around a common goal |
| Recommendation 18 | Partner effectively to ensure the successful development and exploitation of spatial data infrastructures |
| Recommendation 19 | Invest in communications and skills to ensure sufficient awareness and capabilities to drive through improvements in the use of location information in digital public services and support growth opportunities |