ELISE Workshop at DigitALL conference : enabling the interoperability of digital government from a location perspective.
Date: 2021-06-08
Institutions: Joint Research Centre
Subjects: EU Member State, administrative formalities, building, cloud computing, common transport policy, conference proceedings, cultural heritage, data processing, electronic government, energy efficiency, heating, innovation, knowledge transfer, policymaking, report, shipping policy, smart city, sustainable development

ELISE Workshop at DigitALL conference:  

Enabling the interoperability of digital 
government from a location perspective 

Proceedings of the ELISE 
workshop at the DigitALL 
Public Conference  
20-22 April 2021 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This publication is a Conference and Workshop report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission's science and knowledge 
service. It aims to provide evidence-based scientific support to the European policymaking process. The scientific output expressed does 
not  imply  a  policy  position  of  the  European  Commission.  Neither  the  European  Commission  nor  any  person  acting  on  behalf  of  the 
Commission is responsible for the use that might be made of this publication. For information on the methodology and quality underlying 
the data used in this publication for which the source is neither Eurostat nor other Commission services, users should contact the referenced 
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on the part of the European Union concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the 
delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. 

Contact information 
Name: Francesco Pignatelli 
Address: via Enrico Fermi 2749, 21027 Ispra (VA) 
Email: francesco.pignatelli@ec.europa.eu 
Tel.: +39 0332 786319 

EU Science Hub 
https://ec.europa.eu/jrc 

JRC125328 

PDF 

ISBN 978-92-76-38182-2 

doi:10.2760/822162 

Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2021  

© European Union, 2021 

The reuse policy of the European Commission is implemented by the Commission Decision 2011/833/EU of 12 December 2011 on the 
reuse of Commission documents (OJ L 330, 14.12.2011, p. 39). Except otherwise noted, the reuse of this document is authorised under the 
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All content © European Union, 2021  

How to cite this report: Pignatelli, F., Hernandez Quiros, L., Vrecar, S., Boguslawski, R., Pedroli, M. and Marcon, L., Enabling the interoperability 
of digital government from a location perspective, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2021, ISBN 978-92-76-38182-
2, doi:10.2760/822162, JRC125328. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Contents 

Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 

Foreword ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 

1 

Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5 

2  Location Interoperability Framework ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 

2.1  The EULF Blueprint ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 

2.2  The European Interoperability Framework .......................................................................................................................................................... 8 

2.3  Using the EULF Blueprint in Slovenia ....................................................................................................................................................................... 8 

2.4  Smart and Sustainable City Ecosystem ................................................................................................................................................................. 9 

3  Reusable tools for interoperable location data and reporting .................................................................................................................... 10 

3.1  The development of interoperable and reusable tools ........................................................................................................................ 10 

3.2  The Dutch validation approach ................................................................................................................................................................................... 10 

3.3  Good practices and efficiency involving the INSPIRE reference validator ......................................................................... 10 

3.4  The impact on location interoperability without the INSPIRE reference validator ..................................................... 11 

4  Reuse of location data interoperability principles and methodologies in different sectors .......................................... 12 

4.1  ELISE's cross-border pilots and applications to test location data interoperability principles....................... 12 

4.2  A digital platform for public lighting...................................................................................................................................................................... 12 

4.3  Assessing energy heat demand of buildings ................................................................................................................................................. 13 

4.4  ELISE's support in the Recovery and Resilience Facility ...................................................................................................................... 13 

5  Following a user-driven approach.......................................................................................................................................................................................... 14 

5.1  ELISE Knowledge Transfer ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 14 

5.2  Modernising the SDI ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 15 

5.3  The European Union Location Framework ........................................................................................................................................................ 15 

5.4  The relationship between user-driven approaches and knowledge transfer .................................................................. 15 

6  Panel session ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 16 

7  Conclusions .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 18 

List of abbreviations and definitions ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 19 

List of figures ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 20 

 
 
 
 
Acknowledgements 

This report has been prepared by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission in collaboration 
with experts that contributed to facilitating the workshop. However, the main actors in the workshop were the 
participants.  Thus  we  would  like  to  thank  all  the  100+  registered  applicants,  including  Government 
representatives from about 20 Member States, colleagues of various Commission Services and experts from 
academia or research centres who actively engaged in discussions and provided input, enriching the findings 
and giving guidance on the way forward.  

We gratefully thank the representatives from the Member States who provided different perspectives on user-
driven approaches regarding location interoperability in the final round table discussion and presented concrete 
reuse of methodologies and tools applying location data interoperability principles in different sectors as part 
of the workshop. 

A  special  thanks  also  go  to  DGs  Communications  Networks,  Content  and  Technology,  Environment,  and 
Informatics  colleagues.  They  contributed  actively  to  the  various  sessions  and  roundtables,  and  the  various 
speakers invited to ignite the debate with their knowledge. 

Authors 

Francesco Pignatelli – Joint Research Centre, European Commission (JRC-EC)  

Lorena Hernández Quirós – Joint Research Centre, European Commission (JRC-EC)  

Simon Vrečar – External Consultant, Joint Research Centre, European Commission (JRC-EC) 

Ray Boguslawski – External Consultant, Joint Research Centre, European Commission (JRC-EC) 

Massimo Pedroli – Deloitte Consulting S.r.l 

Leonardo Marcon – Deloitte Consulting S.r.l  

1 

 
 
Abstract 

This  document  is  a  report  of  a  workshop  held  by  the  European  Location  Interoperability  Solutions  for  e-
Government (ELISE) action of the Interoperability solutions for public administrations, businesses and citizens 
(ISA²) programme1, at the DigitALL Public conference2, the online closing event of the Connecting Europe 
Facility (CEF) Digital and the ISA² programmes.  

Together with the Member States, these programmes have helped build cross-border public services for citizens, 
provided free interoperable solutions to companies and connected various organisations in different sectors. 
The conference celebrated achievements in the two programmes while looking ahead towards Europe's digital 
future and the beginning of the new Digital Europe Programme (DEP).  

During the workshop, speakers and panellists from the European Commission and public administrations in the 
Member  States,  industry  and  international  organisations  showcased  through  user  stories  examples  of  good 
practices developed through ELISE support.  

After  an  introduction  on  ELISE  by  Francesco  Pignatelli,  ELISE  Action  Leader  at  the  EU  Commission  Joint 
Research Centre (JRC), in the first session of the workshop, Ray  Boguslawski - external consultant for the 
Joint Research Centre and three guest speakers,   Miguel Alvarez Rodriguez - Programme Manager at the 
European Commission DG Informatics (DG DIGIT), Andrea Halmos - Policy Officer at the European Commission 
DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CNECT), and Tomaž Petek - Director General at 
the Surveying and Mapping Authority in Slovenia, provided their perspectives on the value and role of a Location 
Interoperability  Framework  (the  EULF  Blueprint)  and  its  relationship  with  the  European  Interoperability 
Framework (EIF).  

In the second session, Lorena Hernández Quirós from the Joint Research Centre and three guest speakers, 
Joeri Robbrecht - Policy Analyst at the European Commission DG Environment (DG ENV), Ine De Visser - 
Standards Advisor at Geonovum, and Gobe Hobona - Director of Product Management, Standards at the Open 
Geospatial Consortium (OGC), provided their perspectives on the reuse of tools for interoperable location 
data and reporting. They highlighted, in particular, the role of the two ELISE flagship solutions, Re3gistry and 
INSPIRE Reference Validator. 

In the third session, Giacomo Martirano – external consultant for the Joint Research Centre and three guest 
speakers, Gabriele Ciasullo - "Database and Open Data" Service Responsible at the Italian Agency for Digital 
Identity (AgID), Italy, Gema Hernández Moral - Project manager and researcher at CARTIF, Spain, and Volker 
Coors - Scientific Director at Institute of Applied Research, Germany, provided their perspectives on the reuse 
of  location  data  interoperability  principles  and  methodologies  in  different  sectors.  The latter was 
demonstrated through various pilots and applications carried out under the ELISE action. 

In  the  fourth  session,  Simon  Vrečar  –  external  consultant  for  the  Joint  Research  Centre  and  three  guest 
speakers, Morten Borrabaek - Mapping Authority, Norway, Eva Pauknerová – CUZK, Czechia, and Ricardo 
Vitorino  –  Ubiwhere,  Portugal,  provided  different  perspectives  on  user-driven  approaches  regarding 
location interoperability. The highlights were on how knowledge transfer can help achieve interoperability 
benefits. 

Finally,  the  workshop  concluded  with  a  panel  session  where  attendees  gave  their  views  on  the  future 
importance of location interoperability and how initiatives can provide the necessary support. 

1 https://ec.europa.eu/isa2/home_en  
2 https://digitallpublic.eu/  

2 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                           
Foreword 

This report is published in the context of  the European Location Interoperability Solutions for  e-Government 
(ELISE) action of the ISA² programme. ELISE consists of a package of legal/policy,  organisational, semantic 
and technical interoperability solutions to facilitate efficient and effective electronic cross-border and/or cross-
sector  interaction  between  European  public  administrations  and  between  them  and  citizens  and  businesses 
related to location information and services. 

ELISE supports Better Regulation and Digital Single Market Strategy goals, including specific actions of the e-
Government  Action  Plan  and  the  European  Interoperability  Framework,  which  are  reinforced  by  the  Tallinn 
Declaration and by the Communication on "Building the data economy and on Artificial Intelligence for Europe". 

Moreover, its focus is aligned with that of ISA2 and involves European public administrations, businesses 
and citizens and the need to ensure that best-practice interoperable solutions are deployed across the 
European Union (EU). 

Since the adoption of the ISA2 programme in 2016, ELISE has supported a location-enabled digital government. 
Public administrations actively use the value and beneﬁts of the spatial dimension in their processes. 

The 'location-enabled digital government' concept incorporates three essential elements: 

—  Digital transformation: the process of using digital technologies to create new (or modify existing) public 

services processes, new culture and citizen experiences 

—  Location: Public administrations increasingly rely on location data and technologies to design and deliver 
services around crucial events in citizens and businesses' lives. With "Location Intelligence", they can solve 
spatial  questions  and  derive  meaningful  insights  on  significant  socioeconomic  and  environmental 
challenges. 

—  Interoperability: Location interoperability is the ability of organisations, systems and devices to use and 
exchange  location  data  with  a  coherent  and  consistent  approach.  This  aspect  of  ELISE  builds  on  the 
principles, layers and recommendations of the European Interoperability Framework (EIF). 

ELISE’s outputs and good practices are gathered in Joinup, a collaborative platform created by the European 
Commission that contains thousands of news, events, discussions, and interoperability solutions ready to be 
accessed and used. Moreover, the platform offers a meeting place and a collaborative working environment to 
develop interoperability solutions.  

Through its outputs and good practices, ELISE can provide firm inputs to future activities through the proposed 
European Location  Intelligence and Technology Enablers (ELITE) action in the frame of the  Digital  Europe 
Programme. The proposed action will further improve and enhance European Interoperability by using location 
data and intelligence. 

Figure 1 – DigitALL Public Conference 

3 

 
 
 
 
The digitisation of European public administrations and interoperability is one of the policy areas covered by 
the  first  Digital  Europe  Programme  (DIGITAL)  work  programme  (2021-2022),  under  the  "European  Digital 
Government EcoSystem" (EDGES) chapter. 

The  DigitALL  Public  Conference  from  20-22  April  2021  marked  the  closure  of  the  ISA2  and  associated 
Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programmes and paved the way for the Digital Europe Programme. During this 
three-day event, the attendees had the unique opportunity to hear and engage in discussions on Innovation and 
GovTech, Interoperability, Open Source, Smart Cities, Trust and Security, among others. The conference gathered 
more than 30 speakers in over 30 parallel sessions, attended by more than 1,500 participants.  

Within  the  DigitALL  Public  Conference,  ELISE  organised  the  “ELISE  enabling  the  interoperability  of  digital 
government from a location perspective” workshop on 22 April. In the workshop, speakers and panellists from 
the  Commission  and  public  administrations  in  the  Member  States,  industry  and  international  organisations 
showcased  through  user  stories  some  examples  of  good  practices  developed  through  ELISE  support.  The 
recording and slides of the workshop are available at this link. 

This document describes and highlights the key messages shared during the ELISE workshop.  

Figure 2 – “ELISE enabling the interoperability of digital government from a location perspective” Workshop 

4 

 
 
 
 
 
1 

Introduction 

The workshop opened with the ELISE Action Leader, Francesco Pignatelli – Programme Manager at the Digital 
Economy Unit (B6) of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. In his opening remarks, he noted 
the virtual nature of the workshop – just another example of adapting to the new realities of life and work in a 
pandemic  society.  Aptly so,  Unit B6  has the  mandate to  analyse the impact of digital transformation  in the 
European society and economy. In this context, the importance of a robust public sector ready for the digital 
era has become even more crucial.  

As a result, JRC Unit B6 has carried out research and supported the development of tools and solutions to track 
and guide the digital transformation of Europe. Since the adoption of the ISA2 programme in 2016, and in close 
collaboration with DG DIGIT, ELISE has supported the development of a location-enabled digital government in 
which public administrations actively use the value and beneﬁts of the spatial dimension of their processes.  

The ELISE action  builds on the  principles of the  INSPIRE  Directive, which establishes an infrastructure for 
environmental spatial information in Europe while continuing the work from two ISA actions: European Union  
Location  Framework  (EULF), which developed and promoted a best practice policy and guidance framework, 
underpinned  by INSPIRE, with  pilots in different  countries and thematic  domains, and  A  Reusable  INSPIRE 
Reference Platform (ARe3NA), which facilitated INSPIRE implementation in the Member States through the 
development of a structured implementation approach and body of reusable interoperability solutions. 

ELISE continued this work by fostering the adoption of best practice location interoperability solutions across 
the EU, supporting the digital transformation of public services. In particular, ELISE aimed to break down barriers 
and promote a coherent and consistent approach to the sharing and reuse of location data across sectors and 
borders in the context of the digital transformation of public services by: 

—  Supporting different policy initiatives at European and national levels; 

—  Providing  reusable  interoperable  cross-border  and  cross-sector  frameworks  and  solutions  for  public 

administrations, business and citizens; 

—  Discovering how emerging trends and technologies are impacting the location domain and vice versa; 

—  Building a Geo-knowledge base. 

Figure 3 – ELISE objectives in four destinations 

5 

 
 
 
 
 
These objectives are achieved by delivering four types of outputs, as presented in Figure 4: 

—  carrying  out  studies  to  assess  enablers  and  barriers  of  location  interoperability,  examining  the  role  of 
location  information  in  the  digital  transformation  of  government  and  the  data  economy,  assessing  the 
implications  of  relevant  policies  (e.g.  the  EU's  digital  strategy,  PSI,  GDPR),  investigating  disruptive 
technological  developments  for  publishing,  finding  and  using  location  data,  addressing  topics  such  as 
Application  Programming  Interfaces  (APIs),  Blockchain,  and  Artificial  Intelligence  (AI),  and  assessing  the 
future role of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs); 

—  developing pilots and applications to test principles in practice, offer lessons and resources for others to 
build upon, provide the basis for a widespread rollout, and show the benefits of location interoperability. 
These  pilots  support  either  pan-European  reference  data  solutions  (e.g.,  gazetteer  services)  or  sector-
specific applications (e.g., Energy Efficiency of Buildings and Intelligent Transport Systems); 

—  creating a framework of guidelines, recommendations and reusable tools to enable location interoperability, 
building on EULF and ARe3NA, and expanding into new business models and technologies for data exchange, 
transformative solutions with location intelligence capabilities, and ethical handling of data; 

—  providing landscape analysis and assessment of good practices through a Location Information Framework 
Observatory (LIFO), knowledge transfer and capacity building activities, and stakeholder support to help 
improve and implement location interoperability and digital government transformation.  

Figure 4 – ELISE outputs 

By following this approach, ELISE has accomplished numerous achievements during its five years of activity, 
among which are: 

—  Complementing  the  European  Interoperability  Framework  (EIF)  and  National  Interoperability  Framework 

Observatory (NIFO) with an extensive location interoperability framework and state of play assessments; 

—  Helping to put the INSPIRE Directive into practice with tools for data providers and a strong focus on use 

cases; 

—  Building an extensive community of European and international stakeholders; 

—  Raising awareness on new approaches to location-enabled digital transformation; 

—  Helping to assess the role of SDIs in the context of evolving business models, e.g. data ecosystems, digital 

platforms; 

—  Assessing  new  policies (e.g.  GDPR, European  Data  Strategy)  and  technologies (e.g.  Artificial  Intelligence, 

Blockchain, APIs…); 

—  Promoting and facilitating better links on location data between public and private actors; 

—  Providing guidance on improving spatial awareness and analytical skills for the best use of data. 

The workshop offered participants a journey with stops at the different destinations of ELISE and an opportunity 
to rate these destinations to benefit future travellers. 

6 

 
 
 
 
2  Location Interoperability Framework 

In the first session of the workshop, Ray Boguslawski, external consultant at the Joint Research Centre and 
three  guest  speakers,  Miguel  Alvarez  Rodriguez  -  Programme  Manager  at  the  European  Commission  DG 
DIGIT, Andrea Halmos - Policy Officer at the European Commission DG CNECT and Tomaž Petek - Director 
General at the Surveying and Mapping Authority in Slovenia, provided their perspectives on the role and value 
of a Location Interoperability Framework. 

2.1  The EULF Blueprint 

Ray  Boguslawski  introduced  the  EULF  Blueprint3.  The  'location  interoperability  framework'  developed  and 
promoted by ELISE, which has recommendations and guidance for exchanging and using location information 
in government policy and digital public services allied closely to the interoperability principles and scope of the 
EIF. 

The EULF Blueprint is divided into five focus areas. A 'current state' assessment and 'future state' vision are 
outlined, and key points for achieving the vision are described through 19 recommendations.  

Each  recommendation  comprises  a  rationale  for  its  inclusion,  a  series of  action  checklists,  challenges to  be 
overcome,  illustrative  best  practices  and  links  to  related  EIF  recommendations.  ELISE  monitors  the  level  of 
adoption  of  the  EULF  Blueprint  good  practices  through  the  Location  Interoperability  Framework 
Observatory4 , which provides a tool to monitor, assess, and report on through a series of indicators the state 
of play of location data in Member States' digital government programmes.  

Figure 5 – Topics covered in EULF Blueprint guidance and LIFO indicators 

After  describing  the  structure  and  rationale  behind  the  EULF  Blueprint,  Ray  Boguslawski  concluded  by 
highlighting some important aspects related to the use of the framework. In particular, he pointed out that: 

—  As  a  location  data  framework,  the  EULF  Blueprint  combines  several  elements  that  make  it 

unique (e.g., user-driven, based on interoperability principles, used for benchmarking…) 

—  It is a comprehensive framework where all topics are equally relevant in principle, although some of them 

may be more of a priority to deal with for a particular country at a certain maturity level than the others 

—  The guidance can be used to help answer both strategic and tactical questions 

3 https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/collection/elise-european-location-interoperability-solutions-e-government/solution/eulf-blueprint/about  
4 https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/collection/elise-european-location-interoperability-solutions-e-government/solution/eulf-blueprint/about  
-interoperability-framework-observatory-lifo  

7 

 
 
 
                                           
—  It provides a gateway to other information on relevant topics 

—  It  complements  the  European  Interoperability  Framework,  with  which  it  is  fully  cross-referenced5,  as  a 

domain interoperability framework 

—  There is no "one size fits all" in using location data in different situations. The guidance is designed as a 

'toolbox' to be used selectively rather than read throughout. 

2.2  The European Interoperability Framework 

Miguel Alvarez Rodriguez introduced the European Interoperability Framework6, an overarching framework 
created under the ISA² programme in close cooperation between the Member States and the Commission. The 
EIF lays out the basic conditions for achieving interoperability, acting as the common  denominator for relevant 
initiatives  at  all  levels,  including  European,  national,  regional  and  local,  embracing    public  administrations, 
citizens and businesses. 

Miguel  pointed  out  that  the  objective  of  the  EIF  is  to  inspire  European  public  administrations  in  their 
efforts to design and deliver seamless European public services. To the extent possible, they aim to be 
digital-by-default,  cross-border  by-default  and  open-by-default,  fostering  cross-border  and  cross-sectoral 
interoperability.  The  EIF  is  composed  of  12  principles,  4  layers,  a  conceptual  model  and  47 
recommendations. In addition, Miguel stressed that the INSPIRE Directive had been a source of inspiration for 
implementing the new version of the EIF by complementing it from a location data perspective. 

Like  LIFO,  the  National  Interoperability  Framework  Observatory  (NIFO)  is  used  to  monitor  the 
implementation  of  the  revised  version  of  the  EIF  and  help  foster  the  capacity  building  policy  and 
modernisation of public administrations. By doing so, the NIFO aims at becoming an online community of 
practice and the prime source of information regarding digital public administration and interoperability matters 
within Europe. NIFO takes stock of the state of play in broader domains related to digitalisation and general 
interoperability, while LIFO focuses on location interoperability. 

The NIFO EIF monitoring mechanism aims to provide each participating country with a way to identify areas 
of  improvement  in  its  alignment  with  the  EIF,  measuring  the  degree  of  implementation  of  each 
recommendation.  For  that,  the  mechanism  exploits  both  primary  and  secondary  indicators.  The  former  is 
gathered from a survey filled in by national contact points. The latter is compiled from existing data sources, 
such as LIFO, the Open Data Portal, the Digital Economy and Society (DESI) index, the eGovernment Benchmark 
Report, Eurostat data…. LIFO has adopted the same approach. 

Miguel finally described the EIF Toolbox, a set of tools designed to guide national public administrations 
and equip them with the tools necessary to implement the EIF. He highlighted that the main purpose of the EIF 
Toolbox is to provide a comprehensive approach to interoperability and allow its users to access information 
and reusable solutions when tackling specific aspects of interoperability or designing a new digital service. The 
EIF Toolbox includes some ELISE solutions, namely the EULF Blueprint, the Re3gistry and the INSPIRE Reference 
Validator (see below). 

2.3  Using the EULF Blueprint in Slovenia 

Tomaž Petek provided a national-level perspective on the value of a Location Interoperability Framework and 
shared  the  experience  of  Slovenia  in  using  the  EULF  Blueprint.  He  showed  how  the  General  Surveying  and 
Mapping Authority leveraged all EULF Blueprint's recommendations and best practices to assess Slovenia's 
current situation regarding location interoperability and compare it with their future goals. For example, the 
2025 Strategy of the Surveying and Mapping authority goes towards implementing the recommendations of 
the "Policy and Strategy Alignment" focus area and, under the "Standardisation and reuse" focus area, 
Slovenia’  national  standardisation  bodies  are  preparing  a  national  standard  for  metadata.  There  are  other 
strategic and operational documents in the pipeline following the principles and implementation guidance of 
the EULF Blueprint. 

5 https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/collection/elise-european-location-interoperability-solutions-e-government/solution/eulf-blueprint/eif-
relationships  
6 https://ec.europa.eu/isa2/eif_en  

8 

 
 
                                           
Regarding the LIFO, Tomaž Petek pointed out that Slovenia has exploited it as a tool to monitor and assess the 
State of Play of location interoperability. It has been possible to highlight some weakness in the "Return on 
investment" focus area, leading to better consideration of the country's open data policy. 

Tomaž also explained how Slovenia sees ELISE activities fitting within the broader national and global context. 
Various initiatives consider geospatial information management a driving force for the digital transformation 
of society. He mentioned initiatives such as the "Future trends in geospatial information management"7 
report prepared on behalf of the United Nations group of expert for global geospatial data management.  The 
report highlights some future trends in geospatial information management in the next 5 to 10 years time 
horizon. It also remarks that the "Integrated Geospatial Information Framework"8 and the "Geospatial 
knowledge infrastructure to enhance the world economy, society and environment"9 display a very 
strong link with the EULF Blueprint and its focus areas.  

2.4  Smart and Sustainable City Ecosystem 

From the perspective of local administrations, Andrea Halmos from DG CNECT shared the experience of the 
European Commission in enabling cities and communities to better benefit from the availability of location data, 
with location intelligence being at the heart of this transformation. DG CNECT's policies and supporting actions 
follow a similar path to the EULF Blueprint's guidance in the "Policy and strategy alignment" focus area, 
facilitating access to and use of common location data. Moreover, commonalities can also be observed in the 
"Digital Government Integration" focus area through the creation of "European data spaces", specifically 
regarding data space for Climate Neutral and Smart Communities. These data spaces may constitute part of a 
Smart and Sustainable City Ecosystem data layer as designed in the "Living-in.eu" initiative, representing the 
European way to the digital transformation in smart cities. 

Furthermore, DG CNECT is also helping cities and communities establish interoperable data platforms, which 
will be enablers to manage cross-sectoral data sets and support developing the right skills that would allow 
them to benefit from solutions as digital twins and interoperability frameworks and standards. 

Significant work has been done by different European projects on smart cities, dealing in particular with the 
so-called minimal interoperability mechanisms. The latter is open and reusable means to define a minimum 
level of interoperability for enabling better data exchange. Such mechanisms will benefit significantly from the 
exploitation of common location data. 

Andrea  also  referred  to  the  EULF  Blueprint's  "Governance,  partnerships  and  capabilities"  focus  area, 
mentioning  the  importance  of  partnerships.  She  highlighted  that  DG  CNECT  is  working  with  cities  and 
communities  that  have  teamed  together  based  on  common  values  and  principles  and  relying  on  open  and 
reusable frameworks. Such frameworks allow for better integration of new applications and services. 

Finally, she mentioned that  DG CNECT is developing a  European  interoperability  framework  for  smart 
cities and communities (EIF4SCC), translating the EIF to the specific needs and context of local communities 
and  showcasing  best  practices  to  illustrate  its  principles  and  guidance.  The  EIF4SCC  addresses  all 
interoperability layers and principles in the EIF and  adds a new dimension of cultural interoperability. In this 
framework and supporting architectures and solutions, location data plays a fundamental enabling role. 

7 https://ggim.un.org/meetings/GGIM-committee/10th-Session/documents/Future_Trends_Report_THIRD_EDITION_digital_accessible.pdf  
8 https://ggim.un.org/IGIF/ 
9 https://geospatialmedia.net/pdf/GKI-White-Paper.pdf  

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3  Reusable tools for interoperable location data and reporting 

In the second session of the workshop, Lorena Hernández from the Joint Research Centre and three guest 
speakers, Joeri Robbrecht - Policy Analyst at the European Commission DG ENV, Ine De Visser - Standards 
Advisor at Geonovum, and Gobe Hobona - Director of Product Management, Standards at the Open Geospatial 
Consortium,  provided  their  perspectives  on  the  reuse  of  tools  for  interoperable  location  data  and 
reporting. 

3.1  The development of interoperable and reusable tools 

ELISE has funded the development of different interoperability tools, including the two flagship solutions, the 
Re3gistry and the INSPIRE Reference validator. 

The Re3gistry is a tool that enables effective management and sharing of reference codes, exploiting the 
value  of  persistent  URIs  to  ensure  that  concepts  are  correctly  referenced  in  every  domain.  The  INSPIRE 
Reference Validator is a tool that enables automatic validation of digital assets based on predefined rules 
that are entirely customisable. ELISE has designed and developed such tools in a context-neutral way to be 
reused in any domain. They are used in practice in public administrations and the private sector. Both tools 
will continue to be developed and maintained under the Digital Europe Programme. 

The Re3gistry and the INSPIRE reference validator share some common features. Both tools are open source, 
have been licensed under the EUPL 1.2 version and have a built-in API compliant with the open API initiative. 
Both tools have been recently moved to GitHub to foster collaboration with developers and rely on a community 
for gathering valuable feedback on the elements that need to be improved. Furthermore, both tools have been 
recognised in the European Interoperability Framework Toolbox. 

3.2  The Dutch validation approach  

Ine De Visser showed how the Netherlands has benefited from the INSPIRE reference validator. First of all, she 
outlined that the Netherlands does not develop standards without validation tools. These are necessary 
to ensure that the interpretation of the standard is carried out coherently. In this regard, the Netherlands has 
been developing its  validators since 2009, moving to ESDIN (European Spatial Data Infrastructure  Network) 
Test Framework (ETF) in 2012 and consequently developing the INSPIRE test rules for metadata, ATOM, 
Web Feature Service (WFS) and Web Map Service (WMS), which are based on the national interpretation 
of the INSPIRE technical guidelines. 

However, although the Netherlands has its own INSPIRE test rules for searching metadata, it has promoted and 
supported the development of a European Reference validator, as all European countries share common 
data validation requirements. From a user perspective, the Netherlands has seen the advantage of reaching a 
shared understanding and joint interpretation of the technical specifications to achieve improved location data 
interoperability  at  the  European  level.  From  a  management  perspective,  they  did  so  to  save  time  and 
resources and to have the possibility of sharing knowledge. As Ine pointed out, it could be too expensive for 
a single Member State to develop such tools independently.  

In terms of reusability, Ine confirmed that the Validator could be used not only for the INSPIRE infrastructure 
or INSPIRE data sets but also for other domains and additional tests against national data requirements. She, 
therefore, encouraged Member States to look at common tools such as the INSPIRE reference validator rather 
than building in-house validation tools. 

3.3  Good practices and efficiency involving the INSPIRE reference validator 

Joeri Robbrecht framed the use of the INSPIRE reference validator in the policy context of INSPIRE monitoring. 
When  it  entered  force  in  2007,  the  INSPIRE  Directive  aimed  to  establish  a  pan  European  spatial  data 
infrastructure to support policymaking by facilitating public access to environmental spatial information 
and promoting common data sharing methods among public sector organisations in Europe.  

In May 2015, the Commission launched a package on Better Regulation to review EU legislation and check 
that  it  was  still  fit  for  purpose.  In  this  context,  DG  ENV  launched  a  Fitness  Check  on  the  environmental 
monitoring and reporting systems, including those mandated by the INSPIRE Directive. It was found that INSPIRE 

10 

 
 
was still fit for purpose, even though a key recommendation was to simplify the monitoring and reporting 
process, with the view to minimise the administrative burden on the Member States and the Commission.  

The  INSPIRE  monitoring  and  reporting  system  originally  included  more  than  40  indicators  to  measure  the 
availability and accessibility of environmental spatial data and the compliance of the metadata services and 
data structures within the provisions of the INSPIRE Directive annually. This data was manually or sometimes 
semi-manually recorded and documented in an Excel file. Every three years, Member States provided the 
Commission with a lengthy monitoring report in their national languages. The production of this report and its 
translation and processing by the Commission was very resource-intensive. Its textual nature was not always a 
source of evidence that allowed DG ENV to easily compare Member States' performance.  

Therefore, in 2019, DG ENV and the Member States agreed on a fully automated monitoring procedure. The 
new system was simplified to a significant degree, with 19 instead of over 40 indicators. These indicators are 
automatically calculated based on the metadata description of the data sets and the data services harvested 
from the direct use of the INSPIRE Geoportal and the INSPIRE Reference Validator. The triennial reporting was 
replaced as well by a yearly updated online country fiche. 

In  this  regard,  the  INSPIRE  reference  validator  developed  under  the  ELISE  action  has  become  a  central 
component.  It  is  used  by  data  providers,  solution  providers and  national  procurement  coordinators  to  check 
whether data sets, network services and metadata meet the requirements defined in  the technical guidance 
and legislation. It enables everyone to measure the compliance of more than 250 000 data sets or services 
harvested from 35 data catalogues in 32 countries, including Member States and EEA countries.  

Joeri wrapped up the main benefits of the INSPIRE reference validator, namely: 

—  Ground-truth: Monitoring is now based on harvested real-time data. 

—  Comparability  and  transparency:  Compliance  is automatically  validated  against  common  business rules; 

business rules are based on legal provisions and documented.  

—  Reuse: The reference validator supports standalone deployment, enabling reuse at the national and regional 

levels and other policy domains.  

—  Interoperability: The reference validator supports validation rules through common service interfaces (ETS 

for OGC API – Features under development) and common data models. 

—  Time- and resource-save: the reference validator has rationalised a lengthy and resource-intensive process. 

The  INSPIRE  Reference  Validator  is  open-source  software  available  on  GitHub  (https://github.com/INSPIRE-
MIF/helpdesk-validator) 

It  can  be  reused  as  a  corporate  component  for  streamlining  reporting  and  compliance  assessment,  e.g.  by 
promoting data services and automated validation. 

It is fully reusable for compliance/interoperability testing of future High-Value Datasets and data services under 
the Common European data spaces.  

3.4  The  impact  on  location  interoperability  without  the  INSPIRE  reference 

validator 

The session ended by addressing the following question:  

"If the INSPIRE reference validator was not available, what would have been the impact on interoperability?" 

Gobe Hobona mentioned that, in such a case, the cost and time taken to implement in-house validation tools 
would have been much higher. The unavailability of the Validator would have led to a different interpretation 
of the standards on the developer's side. In contrast, on the consumers' side, differences in implementation 
would have resulted in barriers to their adoption.  

Joeri Robbrecht complemented the intervention stating that without the reference validator that converts 
the legal provisions of the INSPIRE monitoring into tangible testing, it would be challenging for the Member 
States. In particular, in reaching their location interoperability level, the reference validator provides a bridge 
between the policymakers and the technical implementers. 

11 

 
 
 
4  Reuse of location data interoperability principles and methodologies in 

different sectors 

In  the  third  session  of  the  workshop,  Giacomo  Martirano,  an  external  consultant  from the  Joint  Research 
Centre and three guest speakers, Gabriele Ciasullo - "Database and Open Data" Service Responsible at AgID 
- Italy, Gema Hernández Moral  - Project manager and researcher at CARTIF - Spain, and Volker Coors - 
Scientific  Director  at  Institute  of  Applied  Research  –  Germany,  provided  their  perspectives  on  the  reuse  of 
location data interoperability principles and methodologies in different sectors. 

4.1  ELISE's  cross-border  pilots  and  applications  to  test 

location  data 

interoperability principles 

Giacomo  Martirano  pointed  out  how  ELISE  has  developed  cross-border  pilots  and  applications  to  test 
location data interoperability principles in several sectors: 

—  In  the  marine  sector,  supporting  Member  States  in  the  management  of  Marine  Strategy  Framework 

Directive (MSFD) related spatial information; 

—  In  the  transport  sector,  developing  and  sharing  best  practices  for  the  implementation  of  the  Intelligent 

Transport Systems (ITS) Directive; 

—  In  the  energy  efficiency  sector,  supporting  public  administrations,  businesses  and  citizens  engaged  in 

activities related to different energy policies; 

—  In the cultural heritage sector, exploiting a pan-European gazetteer service.  

For the transport sector, he mentioned that location data interoperability principles and methodologies had been 
applied  in  the  exchange  of  road  safety  data  between  national  road  authorities in  Sweden  and  Norway  and 
private sector map providers. In this regard, road authorities upgraded from quarterly to daily updates to 
map providers, with significantly reduced data error rates from 25% to 7%. The transportation pilot has 
been rolled out in 14 countries across Europe under the CEF - Transport instrument, an excellent example of 
integrating this programme and ISA2. 

Regarding the energy efficiency sector, he stated that the core applications developed in the ELISE pilot were 
aimed to leverage location data at the building level as an enabling factor to scale-up methodologies to 
assess  energy  consumption  and  performance  from  local  to  district/city  level  and  beyond.  In  the  pilot's 
applications,  the  directives  on  the  energy  performance  of  buildings  have  been  considered,  and  policy 
instruments such as the Covenant of Mayors, which is a voluntary initiative to support the achievement of 
energy targets in different timeframes. Moreover, Giacomo stressed the importance of focussing on buildings, 
as they are responsible for 40% of final energy consumption, with over 75% of building stock older than 25 
years.  Finally,  he  pointed  out  that  the  energy  efficiency  pilot  has  been  executed  by  co-designing  and  co-
executing several use cases in the frame of non-monetary collaboration agreements with all the partners.  

4.2  A digital platform for public lighting 

Gabriele Ciasullo showcased the digital platform for the public lighting (PELL-IP) project carried out in Italy. 
PELL-IP is a national project launched by ENEA (the Italian National Agency for New Technology, Energy and 
Sustainable Economy Development) for the energy efficiency of the public sector. In particular, the project 
aims  at  energy  efficiency  and  a  new  operational  management  method  consistent  with  the  principle  of 
interoperability of geospatial information, with the strategic objective of encouraging urban and territorial 
innovation. 

In this context, AgID supported ENEA to define a data model in line with the INSPIRE implementation rules and 
the  national  rules  relating  to  geo-topographic  databases,  resulting  in  a  concrete  interoperable  solution. 
Currently, together with ENEA, AgID is working to apply the same methodology and principles to define a 
data  model  on  school  buildings  and  hospitals,  with  particular  attention  to  information  on  the  seismic 
vulnerability.  

The PELL-IP project has been included as a use case in the energy pilot of the ELISE action. AgiD has carried 
out  a  small  survey  in  other  countries  regarding  similar  actions  and  potential  reuse  of  this  solution  at  the 
European  level  from  this  association.  Gabriele  concluded  by  stating  that  a  more  extensive  survey  and  the 

12 

 
 
consequent analysis could effectively consider the Italian experience as a good practice for adoption in other 
countries. 

4.3  Assessing energy heat demand of buildings 

Gema Hernández Moral presented the work developed by CARTIF to assess the energy heat demand of buildings. 
For this purpose, the SimStadt tool has been used, performing simulations in four test areas at the district/city 
level in three Member States. A comparison of the accuracy of the results with the accuracy of the input data 
used was carried out to foster the reusability of the methodology in other cities/regions. 

Furthermore,  there  has  been  a  focus  at  the  regional  level.  For  this  purpose,  an  overview  of  specific 
competencies  of  actors  at  the  regional  and national  level  has  been  provided  to  understand  the  typology  of 
needs concerning location data. An analysis of relevant available public data at European and national 
levels has  also  been  conducted  to  create  a  regional  energy  strategy.  The  case  represented  by  the  Regional 
Energy Efficiency Strategy of Castilla y León in Spain has been analysed to delve deeper into this analysis. The 
case has shown the complexity of elaborating a regional strategy when energy can derive from sources often 
located outside of the region itself. 

Finally, the work carried out by CARTIF analysed the harmonisation of Energy Performance Certificates 
(EPC) of Buildings. In this regard, a data model has been developed to overcome the lack of comparability of 
EPCs across regions/countries. This data  model  has been applied in two specific local areas of two  Member 
States  (Italy  and  Spain).  A  web  application  has  also  been  prototyped  to  make  EPC  harmonised  data 
accessible  to  non-GIS  experts.  Finally,  Gema  highlighted  how  the  entire  methodology  developed  is  easily 
reusable in other regions/countries. 

4.4  ELISE's support in the Recovery and Resilience Facility 

The final part of the session addressed the following question:  

"RENOVATE Energy efficiency of buildings" is a flagship area for the Recovery and Resilience Facility investments 
and reforms. To what extent can the applications developed by ELISE in the energy efficiency sector support 
the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience National Plans? 

From  Volker  Coors'  perspective,  geospatial  data  can  provide  precious  information  to  address  problems  in 
various fields, such as the renovation of buildings. In this regard, a potent tool is represented by 3D-city 
models available all over Europe. It can provide, for instance, the volume of the buildings (precious information 
for the heating of buildings). These tools also help enable a new way to communicate with citizens, as they 
mainly  renovate  the  buildings.  Further  to  this,  the  3D-city  models  allow  an  evaluation  of  the  impact  of 
refurbishment  and  calculation  of  the  impact  of  different  refurbishment  strategies,  also  helping  to  make 
information on buildings more available and transparent. 

13 

 
 
5  Following a user-driven approach 

In the fourth session of the workshop, Simon Vrečar from the Joint Research Centre and three guest speakers, 
Morten Borrabaek - Mapping Authority, Norway, Eva Pauknerova – CUZK, Czechia, and Ricardo Vitorino – 
Ubiwhere,  Portugal,  provided  different  perspectives  on  user-driven  approaches  regarding 
location 
interoperability. 

5.1  ELISE Knowledge Transfer 

Simon Vrečar pointed out that the Knowledge Transfer activity has a central role in achieving the overall aims 
of  ELISE  by  reaching  the  highest  possible  number  of  users.  Knowledge  transfer  is  a  complex  process  of 
disseminating knowledge from one individual, team or organisation to another. Simon stressed that it is pivotal 
to  establish  mutually  beneficial  collaborative  communities  and  stakeholders  to  create  an  interactive 
environment, enabling co-creation and open innovation while turning ELISE outputs into actionable knowledge 
for the community. 

Moreover, Simon highlighted the following guiding principles of Knowledge Transfer: 

—  Interoperability 

—  Usability 

—  Openness 

—  Guidance and advice 

—  Capacity building and skill 

—  Networking and participation  

—  Collaboration and partnerships 

—  Innovation and experimentation 

—  Accessibility 

—  Transparency 

During these past five years, he also pointed out, ELISE had organised more than 50 public events with over 
3000  participants.  During  these  events,  different  pools  of  experts  and  stakeholders  from  government, 
business and civil society sectors have shared knowledge and experience. 

Figure 6 – ELISE knowledge transfer supporting the stakeholder community 

14 

 
 
 
5.2  Modernising the SDI 

Morten Borrabaek stated that, in the digital transformation process, Member States are experiencing a shift 
from  the  traditional  SDI  towards  location  enablement  and  location  intelligence  to  feed  the  digital 
economy. Moreover, he added that if this transformation is exploited correctly and efficiently, it can transform 
decision-making processes, the way governments operate, and their services to citizens. 

He believes that  geospatial  literacy  is  the  key  enabler  for  this  shift  to  occur.  In this regard, the SDI 
community  must  understand the needs of public administrations  while public administrations need to  know 
how to exploit the value of geospatial data in their applications. All the three components of a geospatial body 
of knowledge are essential to understand the  needs, challenges and technologies related to geospatial 
information and services in the context of the digital transformation process: 

—  Knowledge: the understanding or information about  a subject, which is gained through experience or by 

study; 

—  Skills: the ability to use methods, tools, etc.; 

—  Competency: the ability to apply the knowledge. 

In this context, ELISE has delivered different studies, webinars, and articles, highlighting the role of geospatial 
information  and  solutions  in  the  digital  transformation  of  government,  which  form  a  relevant  part  of  the 
'geospatial body of knowledge. 

5.3  The European Union Location Framework 

Eva Pauknerová carried out a deeper analysis on the European Union Location Framework (represented in 
the EULF Blueprint), analysing its evolution from the perspective of knowledge exchange. She remarked that 
the INSPIRE Directive is an example of interoperability implementation in Europe, but this could create another 
silo as it primarily targets environmental policies. At the same time, location information is relevant to many 
other domains. 

Eva  recalled  that  relatively  early  in  implementing  the  INSPIRE  Directive,  the  Working  Group  on  Geospatial 
Solutions,  built  under  the  ISA-ISA2  programme,  was  turning  attention  to  the  fact  that  location  data  and 
geospatial information were significant in all parts of governmental services and agendas. Therefore, it is 
needed  to  create  a  bridge  between  SDIs  and  INSPIRE  and  the  digital  transformation  process  of 
governments. In this context, the European Union Location Framework was created by incorporating the main 
principles to monitor and evaluate location interoperability in various domains. 

She also mentioned that stakeholders had debated a lot on interpreting and using such a framework. In this 
regard,  the  Location  Interoperability  Framework  Observatory  (LIFO)  was  developed  and  launched 
through a collaborative process as a pilot in 2017. LIFO was then deployed in 2019 and 2020 to monitor the 
adoption of good practices in the framework and understand the latest play in Europe while collecting concrete 
examples to illustrate these good practices. 

5.4  The relationship between user-driven approaches and knowledge transfer 

Ricardo Vitorino, whose expertise focuses on software development for telecom and smart cities,  mentioned 
that while working on developing solutions related to those domains, he always gives prime consideration to 
the needs and views of end-users. The latter involves understanding their current challenges or pain points 
and assessing what approach and standards work best for their context, thus basically doing matchmaking 
between their requirements and needs with the market offers. 

He believes that opening up the discussion between the end-users and those doing research and development 
is the best way to achieve the benefits of  interoperability and overcome the political barriers present in the 
process. 

15 

 
 
6  Panel session 

In the final section of the workshop organised as a panel session, all speakers shared their thoughts on 

What they see as important in the future in terms of location interoperability and how future initiatives can 
support their activities? 

Miguel  Alvarez  Rodriguez  believes  that  ELISE  is  going  in  the  right  direction:  Interoperability  needs 
frameworks  and  tools  and  specific  guidelines.  He  also  encouraged  the  ELISE  community  to  continue 
building on the experience gained so far, added that it is essential to raise awareness on this topic. DG DIGIT 
can help on this as it is dealing with the same challenges in the broader interoperability domain. 

Andrea Halmos focused on the importance of the use cases to assess the concrete implementation and the 
demand  for  location  information.  She  highlighted  the  importance  of  the  examples  showcased  during  the 
workshop  for  smart  cities  and  communities  to  gather  common  conclusions  and  interoperability 
solutions.  Moreover,  Andrea  pointed  out  the  importance  of  using  location  data  with  different  local 
ecosystem actors (such as the private sector or the citizens), bringing together different stakeholders such as 
in  the  INSPIRE  community.  She  also  affirmed  that  the  upcoming  Digital  Europe  Programme  would  place 
funding opportunities to procure interoperable platforms for cities, creating a data space for smart communities 
using location intelligence. An EU toolbox for local digital twins will also be created, comprising reusable 
tools and interoperable reference architectures and mechanisms. 

Gabriele  Ciasullo  highlighted  the  need  to  effectively  disseminate  the  recommendations  defined  in  the  EULF 
these 
Blueprint,  especially 
recommendations represent the tip of the iceberg to support location interoperability, and therefore the starting 
point for future initiatives in the Member States. He also underlined that LIFO should continue following this 
same path. 

regarding  digital  government 

integration.  Gabriele  affirmed 

that 

Morten  Borrabaek  pointed  out  that,  in  the  process  of  shaping  Europe's  digital  future,  digital  transformation 
should  put  "people  first"  by  continuing  to  build  a  professional  GIS  community  and  open  new 
opportunities  for  businesses. He added that the  combination of  spatial  data and other data from public 
administration and business and their exchange with technical tools and infrastructures is a priority task. These 
facts will impact technologies and the underlying standards, as the spatial components will probably be more 
integrated with mainstream ICT. It is expected similar actions will be continued in the Digital Europe Programme. 

Joeri  Robbrecht  pointed  out  that  many  initiatives  are  ongoing  regarding  interoperability,  from  the  Data 
Governance Act through reviewing the European Interoperability Framework and INSPIRE as an interoperability 
framework for spatial data. He believes it is crucial to ensure there are synergies among all these initiatives, 
both in terms of legislative initiatives and funding opportunities, especially given the upcoming Digital 
Europe Programme. Moreover, he added that it is essential to develop a common understanding of what is 
feasible for the Commission, the Member States and all actors in producing and sharing data. To achieve these 
goals, it is important to have a minimum legal framework that identifies the usable building blocks and 
minimum interoperability mechanisms on the technical, semantic and legal levels in a common framework 
supported by private and public sectors. 

Eva Pauknerová welcomed the incorporation and support of the INSPIRE reference validator together with 
other supporting tools in the Digital Europe Programme. She also understood from the pilot projects promoted 
by ELISE that more efforts should be made in the future for the sustainable financing of pan-European services 
by reformulating funding concepts. The pilot projects also indicated ways to go beyond single national cases. 

Ricardo Vitorino pointed out that, while there is still a focus on digitising solutions and public governments 
through the cloud, it would also be beneficial to consider the distribution of computing units, sensors and 
the mobile network throughout the urban environments. These technologies will analyse the data in a specific 
urban setting, leveraging the efficiency of novel networks and equipment. So, while working on interoperability 
and allowing for this distributed equipment to run, Ricardo stressed the importance of using this infrastructure 
for data exchange and more efficient use of interoperable solutions. 

Volker Coors highlighted the importance of the availability of data, which does not necessarily mean sharing 
the  data.  In  this  regard,  he  believes  that  APIs'  development  has  a  considerable  impact  on  integrating 
interoperability processes into tools and software available for businesses and citizens, therefore boosting the 
co-creation process. 

16 

 
 
Tomaž Petek noted that we are still far away from operational interoperability.  We have ensured the legal and 
technical  conditions. Still, future  challenges will  be oriented towards  continuous  knowledge and capacity 
building,  developed  within  local  and  national  geospatial  and  non-geospatial  domains  alike.  Skills  and 
partnerships are necessary to implement what is potentially possible. There are still some semantic issues to 
address, but he is confident that they will be addressed soon. 

Gema Hernández Moral stressed the importance of interoperability and the use of standards to reuse and 
share data. She believes that users should not be frightened by the complexity of this topic. Tools such as the 
Validator and tutorials explaining the benefits of using common procedures and standards can be very helpful 
in this sense. 

Gobe  Hobona  from  the  Open  Geospatial  Consortium  pointed  out  that  in  the  future,  it  will  be  important  to 
improve interoperability as a community, specifically for location-enabled systems and reaching users 
and developers beyond the strict professional geospatial domain. One way to achieve this goal is to adopt web 
APIs and the development, for instance, OGC API standards. Gobe also stressed that it would be important 
to undertake, for example, hackathons and action programmes like ELISE. These activities could help to raise 
awareness on location interoperability and standards among organisations and developers. 

Finally, Francesco Pignatelli concluded by reaffirming the importance of data interoperability. He stressed 
that the ELISE Action has enabled close contact with stakeholders across the Member States and has helped 
enlarge and integrate the geospatial community with wider digital government stakeholders. ELISE will continue 
for about one year more, but ELITE (European Location Intelligence and Technology Enablers) is about to 'take 
the baton' under the Digital Europe Programme. In the meantime, JRC is working with DIGIT on interoperability 
policies to overcome gaps related to location information. 

17 

 
 
 
 
7  Conclusions 

The DigitALL Public conference represented the culmination of the CEF and ISA2 programmes and an opportunity 
to demonstrate and celebrate the achievements in these flagship programmes, progressing European digital 
policies  and  helping  the  Member  States  transform  their  digital  public  services  and  connect  with  other 
stakeholders across Europe. Within the event, ELISE, the ISA2's geospatial action, took its opportunity to show 
what it had achieved, with the help of stakeholders in Member States public administrations and representatives 
from European Commission DGs, business, the private sector and academia. 

The challenge was to demonstrate the extent of ELISE and the scale of achievements in the 90 minutes of the 
workshop. Unlike many ISA2 actions, which focus on  a single major topic, ELISE  has addressed an extensive 
range of objectives and topics in the geospatial domain, from strategy to implementation, from policy to people, 
from sharing of basic reference data to the collection and reuse of new streams of data from sensors and other 
devices. Moreover, ELISE contributed to balancing trust and technological innovation and provided a forum for 
stakeholders  across Europe  to  exchange  ideas, collaborate  in  innovative  ways,  and develop  skills needed  to 
exploit location data for decision making in this new digital age. 

The event took the form of a 'quick fire' demonstration of the different strands of ELISE, organised by facilitators 
from the ELISE team and gave an external perspective on the importance of the topics tackled by ELISE, the 
value created by activities undertaken by ELISE, and the opportunities offered for collaboration and learning 
within the scope of ELISE. 

ELISE covered studies, frameworks, tools, applications and knowledge sharing describes the areas that ELISE 
operated but didn't convey the depth of analysis and the extent of outreach undertaken by the action. The time 
available meant that far more was left out than was included in the event. The focus was, by design, on those 
activities  that  have  impacted  the  broadest  range  of  stakeholders.  Consequently,  many  of  the  studies  on 
technology applied to the future digital transformation of government were not included and will demonstrate 
their value in the future Digital Decade. 

On  the  'here  and  now',  ELISE  has  achieved  a  successful  outcome,  based  on  the  feedback  from  public 
administrations  in  Europe,  business  collaborators  and  partners  in  other  European  Commission  DGs.  ELISE 
currently has the only 'domain interoperability framework', complementing the EIF. INSPIRE is seen in ISA2 as a 
beacon in the field of large-scale interoperability policy. There is a relevant role of location data in policy and 
digital public services and a positive contribution from INSPIRE and the geospatial actions in ISA and ISA 2 in 
progressing this important agenda.  

It was interesting to see the perspectives both in national and local public administrations, with an important 
role  for  location  data  in  the  development  of  smart  cities  and  communities  and  introducing  a  domain 
interoperability framework, EIF4SCC, in the local context.  Local administrations are  fundamental 'pockets of 
innovation' in location-enabled digital public services, supported by digital twins and urban digital platforms. 
The  workshop  remarked  on  the  importance  of  public-private  sector  collaboration  in  these  contexts  and  an 
important future through the Digital Europe Programme. 

Location data plays a crucial role in the various sector data spaces envisaged in the European data strategy 
and supported through the Digital Europe Programme. But location data will need to be integrated successfully 
with thematic data in many different sectors. ELISE has proven that it can help environment policy evolution 
with INSPIRE validation tools. It can also help other sectors such as energy efficiency of buildings and intelligent 
transport systems, applying best practice principles and solutions in different contexts. 

However, there are still challenges to overcome. The LIFO monitoring has identified successful interoperability 
measures in different Member States and helped share best practices. However, progress is not homogeneous. 
There are still 'interoperability gaps' of many types that need to be addressed to foster the digital government 
agenda. ELISE has demonstrated it can help fill these gaps, not just with frameworks, technical solutions and 
tools  but,  importantly,  with  actions  to  share  knowledge  and  develop  skills  associated  with  location-enabled 
digital  transformation.  Future  action  through  ELITE  can  support  the  Interoperability  Academy  and  Digital 
Innovation Hubs. However, the success of Europe's digital future can only be made by the people involved in 
the journey, both providers and users of digital public services. They should be the focus of future activities, 
evolving from ELISE. 

18 

 
 
 
List of abbreviations and definitions 

AgID 

AI 

API 

Italian Agency for Digital Identity 

Artificial Intelligence 

Application Programming Interface 

ARe3NA   

A Reusable INSPIRE Reference Platform  

CEF 

DESI 

DEP 

Connecting Europe Facility  

Digital Economy and Society Index 

Digital Europe Programme                  

DG CNECT 

Directorate-General Communications Networks, Content and Technology 

DG DIGIT 

DG ENV   

EDGES 

EEA 

EIF 

Directorate-General Informatics 

Directorate-General Environment 

European Digital Government EcoSystem 

European Economic Area 

European Interoperability Framework 

EIF4SCC  

European interoperability framework for smart cities and communities 

ELISE 

ELITE 

ENEA 

EPC 

European Location Interoperability Solutions for E-government 

European Location Intelligence and Technology Enablers 

Italian National Agency for New Technology, Energy and Sustainable Economy Development 

Energy Performance Certificate 

ETF                     ESDIN Test Framework 

EULF 

GDPR 

GIS 

ISA 

JRC 

LIFO 

NIFO 

OGC 

European Location Framework 

General Data Protection Regulation 

Geographic Information System 

Interoperability Solutions for Public Administrations, Businesses, and Citizens 

Joint Research Centre 

Location Interoperability Framework Observatory 

National Interoperability Framework Observatory 

Open Geospatial Consortium 

PELL-IP   

Digital Platform for the Public Lighting  

SDI 

WFS 

WMS 

Spatial Data Infrastructure 

Web Feature Service 

Web Map Service 

19 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
List of figures 

Figure 1 – DigitALL Public Conference ............................................................................... 3 

Figure 2 – “ELISE enabling the interoperability of digital government from a location perspective” Workshop 4 

Figure 3 – ELISE objectives in four destinations .................................................................... 5 

Figure 4 – ELISE outputs .............................................................................................. 6 

Figure 5 – Topics covered in EULF Blueprint guidance and LIFO indicators ....................................... 7 

Figure 6 – ELISE knowledge transfer supporting the stakeholder community ...................................14 

20 

 
 
GETTING IN TOUCH WITH THE EU 

In person 

All over the European Union there are hundreds of Europe Direct information centres. You can find the address of the centre 
nearest you at: https://europa.eu/european-union/contact_en 

On the phone or by email 

Europe Direct is a service that answers your questions about the European Union. You can contact this service: 

- by freephone: 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (certain operators may charge for these calls), 

- at the following standard number: +32 22999696, or 

- by electronic mail via: https://europa.eu/european-union/contact_en 

FINDING INFORMATION ABOUT THE EU 

Online 

Information about the European Union in all the official languages of the EU is available on the Europa website at: 
https://europa.eu/european-union/index_en 

EU publications 
You can download or order free and priced EU publications from EU Bookshop at: https://publications.europa.eu/en/publications. 
Multiple copies of free publications may be obtained by contacting Europe Direct or your local information centre (see 
https://europa.eu/european-union/contact_en). 

 
 
 
 
 
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doi:10.2760/822162 

ISBN 978-92-76-38182-2