Infrastructure for Spatial Information In Europe (INSPIRE) - From Cartography to Spatial Objects and Network Services

Introduction “Scientia potentia est”. Although the famous aphorism was formulated only in the XVI century, the mankind since the beginning of its socialisation tried to share knowledge to increase its potential for surviving and progress. Sheer facts, however accurate they are stand-alone pieces of information never achieve the same effect that they do when they are put in context. Time and space are one of the most frequently used references. If we know what is existing or what is happening, we are only halfway to the knowledge. The questions who, what, where, when, and perhaps many others have to be answered in order to complete our knowledge and turn it into useful information. The spatial context, following the classification of Bregt (2004), can be described by three distinct frameworks. The first is the geodetic framework, which is the determination of the Earth’s size, shape, and locations. This framework started with works of Eratosthenes and Ptolemy , and although it still continues developing it reached its apex in the sixteenth and seventeenth century. The second framework is the topographic framework. It started in 1669 in France, when Colbert, upon an order of King Louise XIV, asked Cassini to create a topographic map of France. This initiative was followed by the development of the institutional framework by establishing national topographic surveys and mapping agencies. The third is starting nowadays, and can be called the geo-informatics framework. It concerns organising the integration of spatial data and the access to this information creating spatial data infrastructures. Each framework constitutes the foundation for the next one. It is interesting to see that the start of each of them is accompanied by considerable political attention, and that the players change (geodetics, surveyors, geo-informatics) (Bregt, 2004).