In 2010, EUROGI, the European Umbrella Organisation for Geographic Information, took over the legacy of the eSDI-Netplus project, a thematic Network cofounded by the eContentplus programme. The main public activity of the eSDI-Netplus Project was the international conference “European SDI Best Practice Awards 2009 Learning from Best Practices” in Turin, Italy, November 2009, where twelve outstanding SDIs were awarded.

The Conference was the provisional conclusion of a process that started in 2008 with the identification of promising SDIs in more than 20 European countries and the definition of methodology to analyse SDIs: more than 200 sub-national or thematic SDIs were evaluated.

The main objectives of the project were:

• Bringing together SDI key players and users
• Promotion and information exchange
• Foster creation and implementation of best practices
• Establish communication mechanisms between the European Union and the local level
• Maximize benefits of INSPIRE, GMES, GALILEO and e-government programmes
• Develop solutions for multicultural and multilingual access.

 

eSDI-Netplus project legacy

EUROGI supports sustainability of the eSDI-Netplus network and ensures the continuation of the initiative and efforts of the project:

• The SDI best practices database.  Data are updated to 2010. At the moment (May 2011), the DB includes 124 SDIs from 21 countries (http://www.esdinetplus.eu/best_practice/database.html). 33 indicators are published. The DB is open: it is possible for SDIs not participating in the previous phases to register and publish their information. New SDIs not included in the 2009 DB are now registered. The DB has started to take on a life of its own.
• The SDI self-assessment framework (SDI-SAF). This is the result of the overall assessment process (see http://www.esdinetplus.eu/download/eSDI-Net+_SDI_Self-Assessment_Framework.pdf): the main objective is to help SDIs characterize and describe themselves. A clear understanding of strengths and weaknesses is needed to identify and follow a successful implementation path. A comparison with other SDIs is a useful exercise; SDI-SAF is intended for this purpose. It provides a checklist useful to facilitate focus on key issues in developing an SDI.

The SDI-SAF also serves to facilitate communication from within the SDI community. The standardised descriptions of SDIs can be published easily.

The idea of a framework such as SDI-SAF for describing, comparing and evaluating SDIs has been presented in various international contexts and has been received with interest.

 

Sub-national SDIs Best Practices Awards 2011

Two years after the previous Awards ceremony held in 2009 in Turin, EUROGI is organizing the second sub-national SDIs Best Practices Awards Conference and Ceremony to be held in Brussels on October 12th 2011.

 

Assessment process

The SDI Self-Assessment Framework (SDI-SAF) is a tool for collecting information needed in the assessment process.

In some way, the idea is to retrace the route taken for the 2009 Awards. The evaluation process will be based on SDI-SAF indicators. The Jury was established to produce new evaluation indexes and take account of the evolution of sub-national SDIs in the past two years. The Jury includes 13 members with various SDI experiences and backgrounds; two of the members are from SDIs awarded in 2009. The underlying principle is: the SDI community assesses itself.

 

Assessment criteria

• quality of datasets and services
• datasets and services rising rate
• networking and partnerships
• sustainability
• users
• technology

 

Durable results

All information collected will be published in the SDI best practices data base after October, 2011. This will be an update of the database. The Jury discussions on “what is better” as in 2009 Awards will result in the refinement and update of the SDI-SAF itself.