INSPIRE and grass roots change. Might have to dwell on that a little bit. In my book INSPIRE is holding back “grass roots change” with their “committee think”.

INSPIRE is financially backed through supporting agencies that are aiming at the Directive and therefore enabling the implementor’s that you refer to – many of them at the grassroots level.
(http://inspire.jrc.ec.europa.eu/index.cfm/newsid/2980)

The European Soil Portal is one of the best examples. (http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/) Trying to get 27 countries on the same wave length is no small challenge.

Admittedly, it is interesting to see (and hear) how different people and cultures approach the same problem from opposite sides of a river or mountain sometimes.

I see INSPIRE as driving grass roots change through broad based funding, not to mention, also supporting SME across Europe.

Interesting to see the ‘standards’ vs ‘just use it’ debate is still going along. I recall similar thoughts back in SVG history. Why use GML with no style attribution when we have this xml standard that already does all that? But standards are a way out of the tight proprietary grip on spatial data so I’m glad they keep on evolving.

I just wish government entities (should I mention Census) actually used them. Instead of worrying about publishing dead data downloads it would be nice to see more live web service streams opened into the data. The merging and chaining of diverse data streams is the still unrealized promise of all those OGC standards.

Hey Eric >>how the non-cartographic elements drive basemap adoption (eg, standards, licenses, apis..

….. “Liberté, égalité, fraternité!”

I’ve followed this up with a post that emphasises open publication of government data. Geospatial is truly one of the more isolated and inaccessible government data sources and we need to pay attention to this even more than in other areas within government.

Prevented from attending this year by this nagging little irritation called the economy, for me the big revelation was the utility of Twitter and Dave Bouwman’s video streams were an effective way to follow from afar. Ron should be applauded for putting together a conference that, in 3 years, is where a lot of the most interesting geospatial conversation is happening. I understand that conferences have bills to pay, and sponsorships mean someone needs to push product, but the signal-to-noise ratio and the variety of voices is impressive.

Unfortunately, that Canadian heat wave seems to have headed towards Colorado…

Brian

Remind me to buy you a beer next week @ WhereCamp5280 so I can hear more about your theory on standards. I’m working on a research theme concerning how the non-cartographic elements drive basemap adoption (eg, standards, licenses, apis…)