This project will develop tools and strategies including online mapping, data storage and data analysis for managing and sharing geodata. The long term aim is for these tools and strategies to contribute to better and more open governance as well as a more balanced application of information and communication technology in the North Sea region.

The use of web based geographic information systems (GIS) enabling data sharing among public services has been demonstrated in individual projects. Through spatial visualisation, it has been possible to break down barriers and encourage collaborative activity across service areas. The aim of GeoShare is to support, promote and enable a balanced improvement in the use of modern information and communication technologies across the North Sea Region. GeoShare aims to build on and include key results from the INTERREG IIC project Datashare and the EU Framework programmes for research and development, carrying out further development of the exchange of methods and techniques for data analyses.

Expected Outcomes

The main outcome of GeoShare will be the establishment of specifications for an IT framework, both hardware and software, and the tool sets for the management of services within the North Sea region. These tools will include on-line mapping, data storage and data analysis techniques for the management and sharing of geographical data. The aim is to mainstream open, standardised and interoperable GIS services into spatial planning and management activity and, through targeting them towards the end user (the general public) make them more transparent. GeoShare will thus help to provide citizens and local communities with better access to eGovernment services and equip public sector information providers with tools and data management resources necessary to carry out these functions. GeoShare will also contribute towards an international standardisation of activities in IT and spatial management, promoting harmonisation and will establish a plan for continuing the services and platforms created by the project and for demonstrating and disseminating the results to other Interreg IIIB North Sea region projects.

Activities

GeoShare is divided up into nine work packages. Work package one is Project Management and Quality Assurance. Work package two, User Requirements and Service Specification, details and refines user requirements regarding collaboration with the user groups central to the implementation and adoption of the GeoShare services. Work package three, Specification and Design of GeoShare Tools, will be based on the results of the user requirements analysis and will enable the partners to identify and specify relevant GeoShare tools. Work package four is the Development of GeoShare Tools and will implement the GeoShare network infrastructure and the individual GeoShare tools according to specifications from work package three. Work package five, Themes and Application Areas, ensures that the themes of the project are kept at the forefront of the GeoShare project with each of the partners "chairing" a theme based on their regional expertise and priorities. Work package six, Full Scale Demonstrations, will demonstrate the full potential of user services implemented through work package five. Work package seven, Dissemination, ensures that GeoShare has a major impact in both the participating regions and beyond. Work package eight, Sustainability Planning, will prepare activities that ensure post-project continuation of GeoShare. The final work package will evaluate and verify the results of the project and check these against the original objectives to ensure that project outcomes meet project aims.

Reported Outcomes

The GeoShare partnership has completed five of its nine workpackages. They have jointly developed scenarios for how their web-based solutions for displaying spatial information can be applied and made use of in the partner regions. The technical development of these services has also been worked upon. On the project website you can find examples of several of the services that the partnership is working on, for example an interactive atlas with information on cultural and natural heritage and a map of Bremen displaying information relevant to the Water Framework Directive, such as bathing water quality and physical objects that interfere with the course of the river. The GeoShare partnership has now produced the final version of the report on Service Specifications, which has been adopted by the City of Edinburgh Council as a standard for everyone in the Council to follow when collecting user requirements. Tools have been further improved and relationships with data providers have been formalised in order to secure quality of published data once a service reaches productions state. A great number of high-profile presentations have taken place, e.g. at the CeBIT 2004 in Hanover and the BT Syntegra?s Centre for Local Goverments, where Geoshare is presented as a best practice. All partner services are now operational and available on the Internet. Work has concentrated on ensuring that GeoShare services are integrated in the partner organisation's Internet and GIS strategies in order to secure the running and maintenance of services beyond the project lifetime. By operation across organisational and technical boundaries, the new services have initiated a stronger co-operation between regional and national administration (vertical coordination) and across different administrations on regional level (cross-sectoral). GeoShare provides state-of-the art examples of public sector modernisation, partnership working and the ability to share information across organisational boundaries. The project cooperates with other Interreg operations and the GeoShare tool is being used in the Nave Nortrail and Canal Links projects. In the Bremen part of Canal Links, the tool was tested for community participation with about 100 participants. Transnational exchange has led to some of the partners now introducing new services based on best practices in other partner regions, such as map based benchmarking services in Groningen and democratic support services in Edinburgh, based on Norwegian experiences.