Question (NPOC)

What is the position of INSPIRE regarding the status of the view and download services serving the INSPIRE data ‘as is’ at the moment the harmonized data shall to be served? Are the data providers in the member states allowed to ‘pull out the plug’ after the view and download service offers harmonized data. Or are the view and download services serving the INSPIRE data ‘as is’ considered as SDSs? Or both? The data providers can decide themselves how to deal with this? Keep the service up or pull out the plug.

Answer (EC Inspire Team)

There is no specific reference in the INSPIRE Directive mandating one or the other scenarios. 

Even so, the Directive and the NS regulation requires Member States to establish and operate view and download services for the spatial data sets for which metadata have been created in accordance with the INSPIRE Directive, and the Directive and Interoperability regulation requires spatial data sets to be made available in conformity at a specific date.

In the spirit of the legislator, the view and download services specified in article 11 (b) and (c) have to be put in place for data in whatever format -  “as it is”. The transformation Service (article 11 (d)) is then meant to help ‘achieving’ interoperability in the long run. 

Article 11.3 is therefore important, as it makes clear that all Network Services must operate in conformity with the implementing rules provided for in Article 7(1). 

Yet, again, as was pointed out on several occasions, the data “models”, specified in the annexes of the interoperability regulation, cannot be used to redefine the scope of the directive (e.g. narrowing the definition of spatial data) – and as such limiting access only to the data specified by the regulated data “models”.

However, once the spatial data sets have been harmonised and if there are no relevant user requirements (Article 11, last paragraph) anymore for the download services acting on ‘non-interoperable’ data, then there is no reason to keep the “original” spatial data sets on-line.

Also, If all data are harmonised/compliant, then of course, the non-interoperable versions shouldn’t be kept on-line.

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