Policy uptake explanation

The INSPIRE (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community) Directive (2007/2/EC), and associated UK Regulations, place legal obligations on public authorities which hold geographical data about the environment and things that affect the environment. The Directive has been put in place to ensure spatial data infrastructure across the EU is compatible to create interoperability and maximise the ability to share environmental data. The UKEOF community provided significant input into the development of the original UKEOF catalogue specification, making sure that it would meet the needs of the environmental monitoring community. When the INSPIRE EF specification was being developed the UKEOF community, through the Data Advisory Group, were heavily involved in the consultation. As a result the INSPIRE specification was highly influenced by the knowledge and experience gained through the Data Advisory Group and the previously developed UKEOF catalogue and there is therefore considerable commonality between the two specifications.