Towards 3 D Spatial Data Infrastructures ( 3 D-SDI ) based on open standards – experiences , results and future issues

Building up Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI) has been an important and actively followed topic in geo research fo r years. It’s also regarded in politics and by decision makers as leve raging technology for reducing time and cost in building up geo servi ces for internal usage as well as for public information services. O n the European level the new INSPIRE (Acronym for Infrastructure f or Spatial Information in Europe) directive 2007/2/EC intends t o lay down general rules for the implementation of national spati al data infrastructures for the purpose of environmental policies. On the technical side, SDIs must rely on open standards that are spe cified by the Open Geospatial Consortium (CS-W, WMS, WFS, WCS, WP S, OpenLS etc.)