The Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat) has awarded the INSPIRE@EC contract to a consortium that based its solution on ESRI technology. This contract covers the development of the technical components of a European Commission spatial data infrastructure (SDI) compliant with the provisions of the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (Inspire).

The scope of the INSPIRE@EC project is to provide a productive Inspire-compliant, Web-based geographic information system (GIS) application that fulfills the European Commission’s user requirements and expectations with a particular focus on fast response times. It includes the design and implementation of the INSPIRE@EC geoportal and its administrative tools as well as the creation of a registry for spatial data and services.

The lead contractor is con terra GmbH, an associate company of ESRI Geoinformatik GmbH, ESRI’s distributor for Germany. Subcontracted partners in the consortium include HNIT-BALTIC, UAB, ESRI’s distributor for Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia; ESRI’s Professional Services Division; and the Spatial Applications Division of the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.

The entire project will span 30 months including 12 months for the development of the system and 18 months of service and maintenance. A key objective is analyzing the implementation process step by step to identify any need for additional requirements or procedures and, if so, integrate them into the process.

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