As from today the GeoDCAT Application Profile developed in the context of the Interoperability Solutions for European Public Administrations (ISA) Programme, has entered its public review period. Anyone interested is invited to provide feedback until 31 August 2015.
The European Commission is inviting experts to participate in a public review of the GeoDCAT Application Profile, extension of the DCAT application profile (DCAT-AP) for describing geospatial datasets, dataset series, and services. GeoDCAT-AP provides an RDF syntax binding for the union of metadata elements defined in the core profile of ISO 19115:2003 and those defined in the framework of the INSPIRE Directive. Its basic use case is to make spatial datasets, data series, and services searchable on general data portals, thereby making geospatial information better searchable across borders and sectors. The GeoDCAT-AP specification is accompanied with an XSLT script, which allows the automated conversion of ISO19139 metadata records into GeoDCAT-AP format, following the syntax bindings in the specification.
Who initiated this work?
The GeoDCAT-AP specifications were defined with the participation of a group of experts in a Working Group. The Working Group is a joint initiative of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), Unit H.6 (Digital Earth and Reference Data), the Publications Office of the European Union (PO), the Directorates-General for Informatics (DIGIT) and Communications Networks, Content & Technology (CONNECT) of the European Commission. The GeoDCAT-AP specification is based on a preliminary study conducted by the JRC conducted in 2014 to do an alignment exercise between the INSPIRE metadata elements and DCAT-AP in the framework of ISA Action 1.17 (Re-usable INSPIRE reference platform - ARe3NA). This work is continued in the GeoDCAT-AP Working Group, supported by Action 1.1 (SEMIC) of the ISA Programme.
Where can I find more information?
More details are available online: https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/node/139283/
Why contribute?
GeoDCAT-AP will make it easier to share descriptions of spatial datasets between spatial data portals and general data portals, and thus help increase public and cross-sector access to such high value datasets. The datasets could include:
- Datasets on the INSPIRE Geoportal.
- Datasets on national SDIs.
- General geospatial datasets.
How can you participate in the review?
The public review period is open until 30 August 2015. The general public is invited to:
- Download the Final Draft of GeoDCAT Application Profile from the Joinup platform;
- Submit your comments to the GeoDCAT-AP mailing list.
How can you participate in testing the specification?
Owners of spatial data catalogues are invited to test the XSLT script that was developed in the context of the ISA Action 1.17, to convert metadata records that conform to ISO 19139 XML Schema into GeoDCAT-AP:
https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/CITnet/stash/projects/ODCKAN/repos/iso-19139-to-dcat-ap/
The GeoDCAT-AP XSLT is accompanied by documentation, which includes a summary of the implemented mappings and instructions on how to run the XSLT:
Feedback should be submitted to the GeoDCAT-AP mailing list.
Test and implementations
Existing tests and implementations of GeoDCAT-AP are documented in a separate page: https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/document/geodcat-ap-implementations
| Your are kindly invited to test and implement GeoDCAT Application Profile, and provide your feedback to the Working Group via: dcat_application_profile-geo@joinup.ec.europa.eu |
What happens with your feedback?
- All comments will be registered in an issues list that will be discussed by the Working Group after the public review.
- Resolutions of those issues will be shared on Joinup, and will lead to a final version of the specification that will be submitted to the European Commission for endorsement by the EU Member States.
To know more