High-value datasets : cross-country findability and comparability of metadata.
Date: 2024-10-15
Institutions: Publications Office of the European Union
Subjects: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, data collection, exchange of information, metadata, open data, public sector, report, right to reuse information, standardisation

High-value datasets: 
Cross-country 
findability and 
comparability of 
metadata 

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This study has been prepared as part of data.europa.eu, an initiative of the European Commission. 
The Publications Office of the European Union is responsible for the management of 
data.europa.eu, the official portal for European data. 

For more information about this study, please contact the following. 

European Commission 
Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology 
Unit G.1 Data Policy and Innovation 
Email: CNECT-G1@ec.europa.eu 

data.europa.eu 
Email: info@data.europa.eu 

Authors: 
Leon van Eendenburg 
Jolanta Suárez 

Edited by: 
Beatriz Fernández Nebreda 
Nataliya Rozbroj Jasinskaja 

Last update: 25 September 2024 
https://data.europa.eu/ 

DISCLAIMER 
The information and views set out in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily 
reflect the official opinion of the Commission. The Commission does not guarantee the accuracy of 
the data included in this study. Neither the Commission nor any person acting on the Commission’s 
behalf may be held responsible for the use that may be made of the information contained herein. 

Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2024 
© European Union, 2024 

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12 December  2011  on  the  reuse  of  Commission  documents  (OJ  L 330,  14.12.2011,  p. 39,  ELI: 
http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec/2011/833/oj). Unless otherwise noted, the reuse of this document is 
authorised  under  a  Creative  Commons  Attribution  4.0 
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appropriate credit is given and any changes are indicated. 

International  (CC-BY  4.0) 

ISBN 978-92-78-44317-7 

doi: 10.2830/0033148 

      Catalogue number: OA-01-24-007-EN-N 

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Contents 
Executive summary ............................................................................................................................... 5 

1. 

Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 7 

2.  Methodology................................................................................................................................. 8 

2.1. HVDs in scope ......................................................................................................................... 8 

2.2. Locating HVDs on national portals ......................................................................................... 8 

2.3. Locating HVDs on data.europa.eu .......................................................................................... 9 

2.4. Analysing the metadata against the regulation ..................................................................... 9 

2.5. A user’s perspective on metadata ........................................................................................ 10 

2.6. A user’s perspective on HVD findability on data.europa.eu ................................................ 10 

3.  Results ......................................................................................................................................... 10 

3.1. Locating HVDs on national portals ....................................................................................... 10 

3.1.1. Example: Finding the poverty dataset for Finland .................................................................... 11 

3.1.2. Example: Finding the poverty dataset for Estonia .................................................................... 11 

3.1.3. Example: Finding the poverty dataset for Latvia....................................................................... 12 

3.1.4. Example: Finding the poverty dataset for Denmark ................................................................. 13 

3.1.5. Findings from the example ........................................................................................................ 14 

3.2. Assessment of metadata against the regulation .................................................................. 14 

3.3. Metadata from a user’s perspective .................................................................................... 15 

3.3.1. Metadata from a user’s perspective: Metadata language ........................................................ 15 

3.3.2. Metadata from a user’s perspective: Metadata clarity ............................................................ 16 

3.3.3. Metadata from a user’s perspective: Metadata references the regulation ............................. 16 

3.4. A user’s perspective on HVD findability on data.europa.eu ................................................ 17 

3.4.1. A user’s perspective on HVD findability on data.europa.eu: Findability without knowing the 
exact title ............................................................................................................................................. 17 

3.4.2. A user’s perspective on HVD findability on data.europa.eu: Metadata references to the 
Regulation ........................................................................................................................................... 19 

3.4.3. A user’s perspective on HVD findability on data.europa.eu: data.europa.eu page contains the 
actual dataset ...................................................................................................................................... 19 

4.  Recommendations ...................................................................................................................... 20 

4.1. Recommendations for Member States to improve findability and metadata accessibility . 20 

5.  Conclusions....................................................................................................................... 22 

Annex I. Sample HVDs used for this study ................................................................................. 24 

1.  Geospatial – ‘Administrative units’ .................................................................................... 24 

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2. 

Earth observation and environment – ‘Environmental monitoring facilities’ ....................... 25 

3.  Meteorological – ‘Climate data – validated observations’ .................................................. 26 

4. 

5. 

Statistics – ‘Poverty’ .......................................................................................................... 27 

‘Companies and company ownership’ ............................................................................... 28 

6.  Mobility – ‘Transport networks – Road networks’ .............................................................. 29 

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Executive summary 

The implementation of  high-value  datasets  (HVDs)  across European Union (EU) Member States is 
crucial for advancing open data initiatives and facilitating cross-country data reuse. While progress 
varies among Member States, a standardised approach is essential to ensure the comparability and 
interoperability of HVDs at the EU level. The current study addresses the challenges in harmonising 
metadata  and  improving  the  findability  and  accessibility  of  HVDs,  guided  by  the  FAIR  principles 
(based  on  improved  findability,  accessibility,  interoperability  and  reuse)  and  the  DCAT-AP  HVD 
guidelines. 

This pilot study evaluates the findability and metadata comparability of HVDs in selected Member 
States (Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Finland (1)). It was conducted between April and May 2024, prior 
to the entering into force of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/138 (hereafter referred 
to as ‘the regulation’) in June 2024. 

The study aims to assess the user experience of finding and using HVDs from different Member States 
by evaluating a sample of 24 datasets under the regulation’s six thematic categories: geospatial, earth 
observation and environment, meteorological, statistics, companies and company ownership, and 
mobility.  It  also  provides  recommendations  for  enhancing  metadata  standardisation  and  dataset 
findability. 

The key findings are as follows. 

•  HVD availability. Out of the sample of 24 assessed datasets, 20 were found, three were gated 

and one was temporarily unavailable. 

•  Metadata  language.  Six  datasets  had  metadata  solely  in  the  national  language,  posing  a 

translation risk for international users. 

•  Metadata clarity. Most datasets provided clear metadata, but some lacked sufficient detail, 

leading to potential user confusion. 

•  Regulatory  references.  Eight  datasets  did  not  reference  the  regulation  or  Directive 
2007/2/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  (also  known  as  the  Inspire 
directive) (2), complicating user efforts to verify compliance. 

•  Findability on data.europa.eu. Fourteen out of 24 datasets were easily findable, while four 
had poor findability. Eighteen datasets were located, but only 15 included a direct download 
link or a link to the data. 

Based on the findings, the following recommendations were made to Member States. 

•  Reference the regulation. Include clear references to the regulation or the Inspire directive 

in the metadata to aid the user with identification and compliance verification. 

(1) 

The  names  of  Member  States  are  listed  in  accordance  with  EU  protocol  order,  which  arranges  country  codes 
alphabetically based on their names in their national languages. 

(2)  Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2007 establishing an Infrastructure 
(OJ  L  108,  25.4.2007,  p.  1–14, 

the  European  Community 

(INSPIRE) 

for  Spatial 
ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2007/2/oj). 

Information 

in 

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•  Standardise  titles.  Use dataset titles that align with those in the  regulation or the  Inspire 

directive to enhance searchability and recognition. 

•  Enrich metadata. Provide detailed descriptions, including scope and parameters, and link to 
additional information to ensure users understand the dataset contents without needing to 
download it. 

•  Follow  DCAT-AP  HVD  guidelines.  Implement  DCAT-AP  guidelines  for  structured  and 

standardised metadata descriptions. 

•  Tag  HVDs  on  the  national  portals.  Ensure  that  HVDs  are correctly  tagged  at  the  national 
level, in order for them to appear in the HVD filter in data.europa.eu and to improve their 
discoverability. 

The study concludes that while HVDs are generally findable on national portals, the Inspire Geoportal 
and  data.europa.eu,  inconsistencies  in  metadata  vocabulary,  structure  and  accessibility  remain, 
particularly in non-Inspire categories. Improvements in metadata referencing, standardisation and 
dataset tagging are necessary to enhance user experience and dataset interoperability across the EU. 
By adopting the recommended practices, Member States can significantly aid users in finding and 
utilising HVDs effectively. 

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1.  Introduction 
The implementation of HVDs across Member States is a critical step towards enhancing open data 
initiatives. While some countries have made significant progress in this area, there is a need for a 
standardised approach and methodology to ensure the comparability and interoperability of HVDs 
at  the  EU  level.  The  main  challenges  lie  in  harmonising  metadata  across  different  governance 
frameworks and legal parameters, and in facilitating the findability of the same HVD for different 
Member  States.  This  is  essential  for the successful  integration of  HVDs  into  the  official  portal  for 
European data, data.europa.eu, and for anyone who wants to reuse and compare cross-country data. 

An existing resource that helps ensure the harmonisation and interoperability of metadata are the 
DCAT-AP  HVD  guidelines,  which  enable  standardised  descriptions  of  public  datasets.  These 
guidelines are at the disposal of Member States to create metadata that meets the specifications of 
data  portals  in  Europe  using  controlled  vocabularies.  While  DCAT-AP  HVD  guidelines  provide  a 
framework for the categorisation and classification of datasets into high-value categories, this study 
covers  how  comparability  can  be  improved  by  standardising  metadata  fields  such  as  titles, 
descriptions and keywords. 

This  research  also  looks  at  the  findability  and  accessibility  of  HVDs,  elemental  parts  of  the  FAIR 
guiding  principles  for  scientific  data  management  and  stewardship  to  which  the  European 
Commission has committed itself. This paper aims to develop a methodology for a pilot findability 
and  accessibility  of  metadata  study.  The  outcome  will  contribute  to  the  optimisation  of  dataset 
interoperability, facilitating data sharing and reuse across the EU. As the topic is strongly related to 
data homogeneity, the approach followed is similar to that of the Report on Data Homogenisation 
for High-value Datasets. However, its main focus is on assessing the user’s experience and interaction 
with HVDs sourced from selected Member States, focusing on usability and accessibility aspects of 
the availability of metadata and the ease with which HVDs can be accessed. The assessment of the 
content or quality of the datasets falls outside the scope of this study. Insights from the Report on 
High-value Datasets Best Practices in Europe also inform this paper. 

This research was conducted between April and the end of May 2024, prior to the enforcement of 
the regulation, which took effect on 9 June 2024. This study by no means focuses on or inspects the 
progress  of  individual Member  States.  Its  primary objectives  are  to  gather  insights  from  Member 
States that have significantly advanced in adopting the regulation, as revealed by the 2023 Open Data 
Maturity Report, and to examine HVDs from these countries from a user’s perspective, identifying 
opportunities for enhancements to maximise the value of HVDs for users. 

This study employs the methodology of the analysis of the findability and metadata comparability of 
available HVD data inventories in EU-27 Member States. It is a pilot study, focusing on 24 selected 
datasets (‘the sample’) for each of the six thematic categories (see section 2.1. HVDs in scope) among 
the most advanced  Member States  in HVD  implementation, as per the  2023 Open Data Maturity 
Report, namely Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Finland. The requirements laid down by the regulation 
will serve as the basis for the metadata study. 

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Additionally, the study includes an analysis of titles and descriptions from the sample for the selected 
Member States, aiming to assess the consistency of the metadata descriptions across Member States 
and enhancing user comprehension. 

The paper also investigates the presence of the selected datasets on data.europa.eu. Ideally all HVDs 
from the sample, along with their complete metadata, should be successfully indexed on national 
portals as the source, and accessible through data.europa.eu. Commonalities and differences among 
the  Member  States  are  considered  together  with  any  missing  elements  required  for  successful 
harvesting into data.europa.eu, including recommendations on how to close this gap. 

Finally,  recommendations  on  how  Member  States  can  advance  the  standardisation  of  the  HVD 
metadata for these datasets to be harvested automatically into data.europa.eu are provided in line 
with the findings. 

2.  Methodology 

2.1. HVDs in scope 
As this is a pilot study, the research focused on a sample of HVDs from the four selected Member 
States,  namely  one  from  each  of  the  six  thematic  categories.  Two  of  the  HVDs  (‘Companies  and 
company ownership’ and ‘Transport networks’) were also part of the Report on Data Homogenisation 
for  High-value  Datasets.  Therefore,  some  of  its  insights  will  be  reused  in  this  report  and 
complemented  with  new  findings  on  findability  and  metadata  comparability.  The  table  below 
contains the list of HVDs that are included in this study. 

Table: Sample set of HVDs included in this report 

Thematic category 

Sample HVD 

Geospatial (Inspire) 

Administrative units 

Earth observation and environment (Inspire) 

Environmental monitoring facilities 

Meteorological (Inspire) 

Climate data – Validated observations 

Statistics 

Poverty 

Companies and company ownership 

Companies and company ownership 

Mobility (Inspire) 

Transport Networks – Road networks 

2.2. Locating HVDs on national portals 
In the process of locating HVDs, the search commenced on Google as this can lead to matches on 
national open data portals, the Inspire geoportal and data.europa.eu. All searches were performed 
in  English,  as  would  likely  be  the  case  for  end  users  who  want  to  combine  HVDs  from  different 
Member States. 

Inspire-related datasets (the first three categories: geospatial, earth observation and environment 
and  meteorological)  are  best  found  directly  on  the  Inspire  geoportal.  For  the  non-Inspire  related 
HVDs, the search process was as follows. 

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1.  A Google search of key term(s) in the HVD, combined with the name of the Member State 
and the term ‘dataset’. Optional: a reiteration of the search with different search terms. 

2.  Following  the  hit  that  leads  to  a  website  that  we  could  verify  as  belonging  to  a  national 
statistical  authority.  Optional:  translating  the  webpage  using  a  browser  extension;  and 
renavigating to the portal where open data can be downloaded (e.g. going from an article to 
an open data portal on the domain of the national institute). 
3.  Reading metadata and assessing whether it is the desired HVD. 
4.  Downloading and opening the dataset that best matches the HVD or downloading multiple 

sets if necessary. 

To verify the legitimacy of the public authorities / national statistical institutes in step 2, these were 
cross-referenced  against  the  list  of  national  statistical  institutes  and  other  national  authorities 
published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU. 

2.3. Locating HVDs on data.europa.eu 
All  HVDs  were  searched  for  on  data.europa.eu  in  a  way  that  it  is  representative  of  the  search 
behaviour of an international user, i.e. only using search terms similar to the title of the HVD in the 
regulation. For example, searching for ‘weather data’, ‘weather observations’ and ‘climate data’ in 
the effort to find the HVD on meteorological data. It was concluded that looking for a dataset  on 
data.europa.eu without prefiltering a national data catalogue gave inadequate results, therefore a 
data catalogue from one of the sample Member States was always selected before making a search. 

2.4. Analysing the metadata against the regulation 
The sample HVDs were analysed against the technical specifications / requirements outlined in the 
regulation. The requirements differ per category and per dataset. Some general requirements  for 
publication applicable to all HVDs (Article 3) include: 

•  available in a machine-readable format; 
•  available free of charge (except for libraries, museums and archives); 
•  available via application programming interfaces (APIs); 
•  available for bulk download (where indicated in the Annex); 
•  updated at a frequency indicated in the Annex. 

As per Article 4 of the regulation, HVDs shall be made available for reuse under the conditions of the 
Creative  Commons  Public  Domain  Dedication  ,  the  Creative  Commons  BY  4.0  licence  or  any 
equivalent or less restrictive open licence, as set out in the Annex, allowing for unrestricted reuse. 
Some requirements specific to the thematic category concern: 

•  metadata requirements; 
•  use of vocabulary and taxonomy. 

For each HVD, these requirements were checked and documented in a structured way. 

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2.5. A user’s perspective on metadata 
In  addition  to  the  aspects  explicitly  mentioned  in  the  regulation,  this  study  also  focused  on 
determining whether the metadata provides enough detail for users to clearly understand the value 
and potential usefulness of the dataset. This included the following: 

•  Checking the metadata language (English or national language). 
•  Checking whether the metadata gives sufficient clarity on the contents (ranked from low to 
high).  For  example,  whether  it  is  clear  what  will  be  in  the  dataset,  what  parameters  are 
included,  how  recent  it  is,  by  whom  it  is  published,  etc.  A  low  score  indicates  that  the 
metadata is insufficient, requiring users to download the dataset to assess its value. A high 
score means that the metadata provides clear information about the dataset, allowing users 
to evaluate its value without needing to download it. 

•  Checking whether the HVD references the regulation or the Inspire directive. This could be 
anything in the metadata from a label or a sentence in the description, to a direct mention 
in the title making it clear to a user that this is an HVD compliant with either or both of the 
legal frameworks. 

•  Other comments were also documented, such as whether a dataset is comprised of one file 
or multiple ones, or whether a user would have to create an account before being able to 
download or connect via an API. 

These aspects are all important  to the user as they impact the accessibility of the HVDs and their 
interoperability in general. 

2.6. A user’s perspective on HVD findability on data.europa.eu 
Finally,  the  findability  of  HVDs on  data.europa.eu was  assessed  taking  into  account  the  following 
aspects: 

•  Whether the HVD is findable on the national portals without knowing its exact title. 
•  Whether the page contains the actual dataset, a link to the dataset or none of those. 

NB: This  research  was  conducted  in  May  2024,  prior  to  the  introduction  of  a  search  feature  on 
data.europa.eu in June 2024, which allows users to specifically filter for HVDs. Naturally, this greatly 
improves the findability of HVD on data.europa.eu, compared to what is published in this report. 
However, some HVDs on the portal may not be marked as such at their source as  Member States 
continue to implement the regulation. Therefore, the findings from this evaluation remain relevant, 
though to a lesser degree. 

3.  Results 

3.1. Locating HVDs on national portals 

As mentioned in the Report on Homogenisation for High-value Datasets, finding HVDs on national 
portals is a challenging and error-prone task. Locating specific HVDs frequently requires the use of 
multiple search terms. Therefore, aggregating these datasets on data.europa.eu and introducing a 
specialised  advanced  search  feature  for  HVDs  are  crucial  measures  that  will significantly  improve 
accessibility and improve the user experience. 

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For this study, we explored a specific use case: locating and integrating poverty data across the four 
selected  Member  States, with  a  particular emphasis  on  how  easily  users can  find  and  access  this 
information. We chose to focus on the at-risk-of-poverty rate as our key metric. This choice was not 
arbitrary; it is a measure explicitly mentioned in the regulation’s Annex 4.1, Table 13, which outlines 
the  ‘Specification  for  the  yearly  poverty  rate  high-value  dataset’ (3).  By  examining  this  particular 
dataset, we aimed to get a realistic picture of how well the system works for users trying to access 
important social indicators. 

3.1.1. Example: Finding the poverty dataset for Denmark 
Applying the search term ‘Denmark at-risk-of-poverty rate dataset’ does not result in relevant hits 
on a national statistics portal. From the Eurostat list of recognised national institutes, it can be seen 
that Danmark Statistik is the Danish portal to investigate. On the site of Danmark Statistik, searching 
for ‘poverty’ does not lead to datasets on poverty. The way to arrive at the dataset is to go to Statistics 
Bank, go to the subject ‘Labour and income’ and select ‘Personal and family income’, as seen in Figure 
1: A screenshot of statbank.dk, the recognised body for statistical data in Denmark. 

Figure 1: A screenshot of statbank.dk, the recognised body for statistical data in Denmark 

There is no direct parameter for ‘at risk of poverty’, but there is data on disposable income, which 
can be used to calculate the rate. 

3.1.2. Example: Finding the poverty dataset for Estonia 
Searching  ‘Estonia  at-risk-of-poverty rate dataset’  on Google  results in a hit  at  stat.ee, which  was 
verified as the official statistical institution of Estonia. The link immediately leads to the database of 
stat.ee in the section ‘Poverty and inequality’. The top table in the dataset ‘Poverty and deprivation 
rate by age group and sex’ contains the parameter ‘at-risk-of-poverty rate %’ and the breakdowns by 
age  and  sex.  Other  tables  contain  breakdowns  by  citizenship,  labour  status,  education,  income 

(3)   Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/138 of 21 December 2022 laying down a list of specific high-value 

datasets and the arrangements for their publication and re-use (OJ L 19, 20.1.2023, p. 43–75, 
ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2023/138/oj).  

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quintile  and  place  of  residence  (see  Figure 2:  Screenshot  from  stat.ee,  Estonia’s  official  statistical 
database. 

Figure 2: Screenshot from stat.ee, Estonia’s official statistical database 

3.1.3. Example: Finding the poverty dataset for Latvia 
The search term ‘Latvia at-risk-of-poverty rate dataset’ has a top hit at stat.gov.lv, the recognised 
national statistical institute of Latvia. The hit directly leads to the Poverty and Inequality database, 
containing  all  relevant  datasets  and  breakdowns  in  an  intuitive  interface.  A  screenshot  of  the 
database is shown in Figure Figure 3: Screenshot from stat.gov.lv, the recognised body for statistical 
data in Latvia 

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Figure 3: Screenshot from stat.gov.lv, the recognised body for statistical data in Latvia 

3.1.4. Example: Finding the poverty dataset for Finland 
Looking for the HVD of Finland by googling ‘Finland at-risk-of-poverty rate dataset’ leads to a hit on 
the site Tilastokeskus with the domain name stat.fi. In Eurostat’s list of national institutes and other 
national authorities, it can be verified that this is the domain of Statistics Finland, a recognised body. 
The link leads to an article on poverty in Finland. On the page of the article there is a link to the actual 
database. Once there, searching for a dataset with ‘poverty risk’ gives the result shown in Figure 4: 
Screenshot from stat.fi, Finland’s official statistical database. 

Figure 4: Screenshot from stat.fi, Finland’s official statistical database 

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3.1.5. Findings from the example 
The  example  above  showcases  the  effort  an  HVD  user  would  need  to  put  into  finding  the  same 
dataset from the four Member States to compare them. It demonstrates that it is possible to find the 
datasets for the Member States, and that each of the Member States has portals with search options 
for users in English and in the national language. Nevertheless, if a user wants to find, collect and 
compare the same data from different Member States, it would be necessary to: 

•  go to portals different from the national statistical institutes; 
•  verify the legitimacy of the portals; 
• 
• 

try various search terms; 
investigate definitions of parameters to verify that the data is valuable for comparison. 

In  other  cases,  the  user  might  also  have  to  translate  web  pages  with  the  risk  of  mistranslating 
important nuances. Even when searching in English, multiple terms are often used to describe the 
same data: 

•  Denmark:  ‘Disposable income for people (14 years+) by region, unit, sex, age and income 

interval’; 

•  Estonia: ‘Poverty and deprivation rate by age group and sex’; 
• 
•  Finland: ‘Household populations risk of poverty indicators by age and sex’. 

Latvia: ‘At-risk-of-poverty rate by sex and age’; 

3.2. Assessment of metadata against the regulation 

The search procedure as described above was performed for the sample of 24 datasets while 
recording the metadata aspects as described in section 2.4. Analysing the 
metadata  against  the  regulation.  The  detailed  results  can  be  found  in 
Annex I. Sample HVDs used for this study 

The general availability of HVDs is presented in Figure 5Error! Reference source not found.Out of the 
24 HVDs analysed, 20 were found on either national portals, the Inspire geoportal or data.europa.eu. 
Three HVDs were found but required the user to create an account before being able to access the 
actual data. These HVDs were therefore presented in the chart as ‘gated’. An example of this is the 
‘Company and company ownership dataset’ from Denmark, which was locked behind a paywall. In 
one instance, the HVD was not found, but this was due to a portal being temporarily unavailable. 

14 

 
 
 
 
25

20

15

10

5

0

HVD found HVD gated HVD not

found

Figure 5: General HVD availability 

3.3. Metadata from a user’s perspective 
As discussed in section 2.5. A user’s perspective on metadata, the assessment of metadata in this 
study  went  beyond  a  review  against  the  regulation  and  looked  at  the  metadata  from  a  user’s 
perspective. In this regard, three aspects of the metadata were analysed. 

•  Metadata language. English or national language. 
•  Metadata clarity. Is it clear what will be in the dataset, what parameters are included, how 
recent  it  is,  by  whom  it  is  published,  etc.?  A  low  score  indicates  that  the  metadata  is 
insufficient, requiring users to download the dataset to assess its value. A high score means 
that the metadata provides clear information about the dataset, allowing users to evaluate 
its value without needing to download it. 

•  Metadata  references  the  regulation.  Is  there  any  reference  to  the  regulation  in  the 
metadata, making it clear to users that are looking for a specific HVD from a specific Member 
State that they need not look further. 

FiguresFigure  6:  Metadata  languageFigure  7  and  Figure  8  present  an 
overview of the assessment of the metadata from a user’s perspective. A 
more in-depth analysis can be found in Annex I. Sample HVDs used for this 
study 

3.3.1. Metadata from a user’s perspective: Metadata language 
Figure 6 shows that in six out of the 24 assessed datasets, the metadata was written in the national 
language of the Member State. For an international user, this means the metadata will have to be 
translated to be understood. This presents a realistic risk of mistranslation due to a wide range of 
HVD-specific terminology, which can lead to the user misunderstanding the data. 

15 

 
 
 
 
 
18

16

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

English National
language

No HVD
available

Figure 6: Metadata language 

3.3.2. Metadata from a user’s perspective: Metadata clarity 
The analysis focused on determining whether the metadata clearly conveyed to the assessor what 
the dataset contains (see Figure 7). If the metadata was in the national language, it was translated 
first.  For  most  of  the  datasets  identified,  the  metadata  provided  enough  clarity  for  users  to 
understand the contents of the dataset. In the cases where this was not clear, the dataset contained 
only minimal information, leaving the user to question how the data was acquired, whether it was 
quality checked, etc. For a user, this could be a reason to discard the dataset as not useful. 

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16

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

High

Low

No HVD
available

Figure 7: Metadata clarity 

3.3.3. Metadata from a user’s perspective: Metadata references the regulation 
Figure  8  shows  that  eight  out  of  the  24  datasets  do  not  reference  the  regulation  nor  the  Inspire 
directive in any way. For a user who is looking for a specific HVD this means having to closely inspect 
the  metadata  and  compare  it  against  the  requirements  of  the  regulation  to  decide  whether  the 
datasets comply with the regulation. All data found on the Inspire geoportal automatically references 
the Inspire directive. 

16 

 
 
 
 
 
16

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

Yes

No

No HVD
available

Figure 8: Metadata references the regulation 

3.4. A user’s perspective on HVD findability on data.europa.eu 
Regarding  the  findability  of  HVDs  on  data.europa.eu,  the  following  aspects  of  datasets  were 
analysed. 

•  HVD  findable  on  data.europa.eu  without  knowing  its  title.  This  means  various  relevant 

search terms were tried and if the HVD was not found, it was noted as not findable. 

•  Metadata references the regulation. Does the dataset metadata contain any reference to 

the regulation or the Inspire directive? 

•  Data.europa.eu page contains the actual dataset. Does the page contain the actual dataset, 

a link to the dataset or none of those? 

Figures Figure 9, Figure 11 andFigure 12 provide an overview of the results 
of this assessment. More in-depth results can be found in Annex I. Sample 
HVDs used for this study 

NB: As mentioned in  section 2.6.  A user’s perspective  on  HVD  findability on data.europa.euat  the 
time this research was conducted, data.europa.eu did not have the HVD filter feature it has now, at 
the time of writing. The HVD filter feature will significantly improve the findability and comparability 
of HVDs for its users. 

3.4.1. User’s perspective on HVD findability on data.europa.eu: Findability without knowing the exact 
title 
Figure  9  illustrates the varying  degrees  of  findability for  HVDs on  data.europa.eu  when  users  are 
unaware of the specific dataset titles. Out of the 24 HVDs examined, 14 demonstrate good findability, 
indicating that users can locate these datasets relatively easily using intuitive search terms. 

However, four HVDs exhibit poor findability, presenting significant challenges for users attempting 
to discover them without prior knowledge of their titles. This difficulty may be attributed to two main 

17 

 
 
 
 
 
factors.  Firstly,  some  HVD  titles  are  in  national  languages,  and  while  data.europa.eu  employs 
automatic  machine  translation  for  titles  and  descriptions,  these  translations  are  not  always  fully 
accurate or effective. Findability is further compromised when HVDs are given titles at the source 
which users might not intuitively associate with the content. It is worth noting that six out of the 24 
HVDs were not found on data.europa.eu at all (represented as ‘HVD not found’ values in Figure 9), 
which is likely due to the dataset not having been marked as an HVD at the source. This should be 
resolved in due course as Member States continue to work hard at implementing the regulation. 

16

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

Good

Poor

HVD not
found

Figure 9: Findability on data.europa.eu without knowing the title 

A  final  note  regarding  the  findability  of  HVDs:  data.europa.eu  is  organised  in  catalogues.  Each 
Member  State  has  one  or  more  data  catalogues  to  which  all  their  datasets  are  linked.  For  the 
findability  of  datasets  on  data.europa.eu,  it  is  important  to  search  within  the  catalogue  of  the 
Member  State  that  you  are  collecting  data  from.  Without  preselecting  a  data  catalogue,  the 
findability  of  datasets  is  very  low.  Figure  10  contains  an  example  of  preselecting  the  Latvian 
Geospatial Metadata Catalogue to increase the findability of datasets. 

18 

 
 
 
 
Figure 10: Visual demonstration of preselecting the Latvian Geospatial Metadata Catalogue 

3.4.2.  A  user’s  perspective  on  HVD  findability  on  data.europa.eu:  Metadata  references  to  the 
regulation 
As seen in Figure 11, of the 18 HVDs that were found on data.europa.eu, nine contained a reference 
to the Inspire directive as being geospatial HVDs. At the time of the research, HVDs that did not fall 
under  the  Inspire  categories  did  not  yet  have  a  reference to  the  regulation.  As  mentioned  in the 
section above, this results in additional effort for the user, such as having to open the dataset and 
check its compliance with the regulation. 

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

Yes

No

HVD not
found

Figure 11: Metadata references the regulation on data.europa.eu 

19 

 
 
 
 
 
3.4.3. A user’s perspective on HVD findability on data.europa.eu: data.europa.eu page contains the 
actual dataset 
Out of the 18 HVDs that were found on data.europa.eu, 15 contained either the actual dataset as a 
downloadable file or a link to the data (see Figure 12). In three of the 18 HVDs, there was neither a 
file nor a link, making the page serve little purpose. The absence of the datasets or links to them can 
be explained by the datasets not being available on the national portals and hence not being able to 
be harvested onto data.europa.eu, an issue that should be solved as Member States move forward 
with the adoption of the regulation. 

10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

Figure 12: Page contains the actual dataset 

4.  Recommendations 

4.1.  Recommendations  for  Member  States  to  improve  findability  and  metadata 
accessibility 
Following the research and the results presented, several recommendations were made for Member 
States to improve the findability and metadata accessibility of their HVDs. These recommendations 
are  additional  to  what  the  regulation  and  the  Inspire  directive  already  imply  in  terms  of  dataset 
contents, licences, formats, scopes, etc., and are meant to help users collect and compare data from 
different Member States. 

1. 

In the metadata of a dataset, reference the regulation, together with the title of the HVD 
that the dataset corresponds to. 
This  would  help  users  clearly  identify  and  categorise  the  dataset,  making  it  easier  to 
understand its relevance and regulatory context. 

For example, Figure 13 shows part of the metadata that directly links a Latvian geospatial 
dataset to the matching Inspire directive. The new HVD regulation should be referenced in a 
similar way. 

20 

 
 
 
 
Figure 13: Screenshot of geometadati.viss.gov.lv, showing the metadata of the HVD on environmental monitoring 
facilities 

2.  Use a dataset title that corresponds to the title mentioned in the regulation or the Inspire 

directive. 
For example, a dataset with a title in a national language would be difficult to find for an 
international user. Having an English version of the HVD in addition to the national language 
in the national portals would help verify that the dataset titles are the same or at least similar 
to those in the regulation. The metadata in Figure 14 is an example of when this is not the 
case. The title in the national language makes it difficult for users to compare it with other 
similar HVDs across Member States. 

Figure 14: Screenshot from data.europa.eu, showing the metadata of Estonia’s ‘Environmental monitoring facilities’ HVD 

3.  Enrich metadata by providing a description of the data such as its scope, parameters and 

where users can find additional information if necessary. 
For example, for a meteorological dataset, the metadata could mention a list of all variables 
that are included in the dataset, together with a link to definitions and a link to a page that 
explains how the data was acquired. Figure 15 Error! Reference source not found.shows a 
best practice example, in which the metadata from the meteorological HVD links to a page 
with descriptions of all parameters included in the dataset. 

21 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 15: Screenshot from ilmatieteenlaitos.fi, showing interpretation guidance to the parameters of the meteorological 
datasets 

4.  Apply DCAT-AP guidelines for metadata structuring. 

Make use of the DCAT-AP guidelines for HVDs. DCAT-AP enables the standardised description 
of public  sector datasets in Europe for data catalogues,  facilitates  content aggregation by 
platforms  like  the  European  Data  Portal  and  simplifies  dataset  discovery  for  consumers 
through a single access point. 

5.  Tag HVD datasets on data.europa.eu. 

On data.europa.eu, the findability and comparability of HVDs is supported by the recently 
added HVD filter. However, when HVDs are not tagged as such on national portals, they do 
not appear in the search results. By checking and tagging HVDs on national portals, Member 
States can make sure their HVDs appear in the filter and support end users in working with 
the data. 

5. Conclusions 
The goal of this pilot study was to do a methodological assessment of the findability and metadata 
comparability of HVDs among Member States, to spot opportunities for improvement early in the 
HVD implementation process and to provide recommendations to Member States and HVD users. 

Based on the  research,  it can be  concluded that nearly all HVDs were  findable on either national 
portals, the Inspire geoportal or data.europa.eu. In many cases there are differences in vocabulary, 
metadata structure and accessibility, especially in non-Inspire HVD categories, like the Statistics and 
Meteorological categories. For the Inspire-related HVDs, the metadata virtually always adhered to 
the format specified in the directive, making it straightforward for a user to identify the dataset and 
gather information on its contents. 

Fifteen out of the 24 HVDs in the sample set were found on data.europa.eu, containing either a link 
to  the  source  data  or  a  direct  download  option.  In  four  cases,  the  findability  of  the  HVD  on 
data.europa.eu was poor, meaning the dataset would likely be missed by a user specifically looking 
for it. There are improvements to be made in this regard, for instance through labelling HVDs at the 
national level and offering a click-through HVD hierarchy on data.europa.eu, where one can select 

22 

 
 
 
 
 
an HVD category, then a country, then a specific HVD and even sort it by legislation, like on the Inspire 
geoportal (see Figure 16). 

Figure  16:  A  visual  demonstration  of  the  search  functionality  of  the  Inspire  geoportal  for  Finland’s  HVD  under  the 
geospatial category (administrative units) 

For  a  user  accessing  HVDs  from  various  Member  States  (particularly  those  outside  the  Inspire 
categories),  considerable  effort  is  required  to  search  for  and  verify  through  the  metadata  that  a 
dataset is indeed the designated HVD. Member States can help users by referencing the regulation 

23 

 
 
 
 
or the Inspire directive in the metadata of the HVD and using a dataset title that corresponds to the 
HVD title in the regulation.

24 

 
 
 
Annex I. Sample HVDs used for this study 

Below are the findings of the analysis of the 24 HVDs from the sample set, one from each of the six categories for the four selected Member States. 

1.  Geospatial – ‘Administrative units’ 

Member 
State 

HVD title 

Available locations 

Licence / 
Copyright 

Latest 
update 
(approxi
mately) 

Format 

Metadata 
according 
to 
regulation 
(EC) 
No 1205/ 
2088 

Bulk 
downloa
d 

Metadat
a 
language 

Clarity 
on 
content 

API 

Metadata 
references 
the 
regulation 

Reference to 
IR in 
data.europa.e
u metadata 

data.europa.eu 
page containing 
actual dataset 

DK Inspire 
Administrati
ve units 

Denmark 

Administrati
ve and 
settlement 
division 

Administratī
vo teritoriju 
un 
teritoriālā 
dalījuma 
vienību 
robežas 
(Inspire 
dati) 

NLS-FI 
Inspire 
Administrati
ve Units 
Theme 
Dataset 

Estonia 

Latvia 

Finland 

geodata.info.dk 

Inspire 

data.europa.eu 

geoportaal.maaamet.e
e 

Inspire 

Danish 
Law 

1 year 
ago 

GML 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

English 

High 

Yes 

Yes 

Link 

data.europa.eu 

CC-BY 4.0 

1 month 
ago 

geometadati.viss.lv 

Inspire 

data.europa.eu 

No 
limitation
s 

6 
months 
ago 

Esri SHP, 
MapInfo 
(TAB), 
AutoCAD 
(DXF), 
MicroStatio
n (DGN) 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

English 

High 

No 

No 

Link 

N/A 

Yes 

No 

No 

National 
language 

Low 

Yes 

Yes 

No 

maanmittauslaitos.fi 

Inspire 

data.europa.eu 

CC-BY 4.0 

1 week 
ago 

Geopackage
, GML, ESRI 
shapefile 

Accoun
t 
needed 

Account 
needed 

Yes 

English 

High 

No 

Yes 

No 

25 

 
 
 
2.  Earth observation and environment – ‘Environmental monitoring facilities’ 

Member 
State 

HVD title 

Available locations 

Licence / 
Copyright 

Latest update 
(approximately) 

Format 

Metadata 
according 
to 
regulation 
(EC) 
No 1205/ 
2088 

Bulk 
download 

Metadata 
language 

API 

Clarity 
on 
contents 

Metadata 
references 
the 
regulation 

Reference to IR 
in 
data.europa.eu 
metadata 

data.europa.eu 
page 
containing 
actual dataset 

DK Inspire EF 
Monitoring 
Stations (MSFD) 

Eesti 
keskkonnaseire 
jaamade, alade 
ja kohtade 
nimistu (EELIS) 

Annex III. Inspire 
Dataset for 
Environmental 
monitoring 
Facilities Theme 

Hydrologiset 
havaintopaikat 
(multiple 
datasets on 
Inspire) 

Denmark 

Estonia 

Latvia 

Finland 

geodata.info.dk 

Inspire 

data.europa.eu 

geoportal.ee 

Inspire 

No 
limitations 

2 years ago 

GML 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

English 

Low 

Yes 

Yes 

Link 

data.europa.eu 

CC-BY 4.0 

2 months ago 

GML, 
CSV 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

National 
language 

High 

Yes 

No 

Link 

geometadati.viss.lv 

Inspire 

data.europa.eu 

No 
limitations 

opendata.fi 

2 years ago 

unknown 

Yes 

No 

No 

Inspire 

CC-BY 4.0 

1 month ago 

unknown 

Yes 

No 

No 

National 
language 

National 
language 

Low 

Yes 

Yes 

No 

Low 

No 

N/A 

N/A 

26 

 
 
 
 
 
 
3.  Meteorological – ‘Climate data – Validated observations’ 

Member 
State 

Denmark 

Estonia 

Latvia 

Finland 

HVD title 

Available locations 

Licence / 
Copyright 

Update 
frequency 

Format 

API 

Bulk 
download 

Metadata 
language 

Clarity 
on 
contents 

Metadata 
references 
the 
regulation 

Reference to IR 
in 
data.europa.eu 
metadata 

data.europa.eu 
page 
containing 
actual dataset 

Inspire – 
Climate data 
from DMI 

Historical 
Weather Data 

Environmental 
Data Archive – 
Meteorology 

Weather and 
Sea – Download 
Observations 

opendatadocs.dmi.govcloud.dk 

data.europa.eu 

CC-BY 4.0 

10 
minutes 

GeoJSON 

Account 
needed 

Account 
needed 

English 

High 

No 

No 

Link 

ilmateenistus.ee 

videscentrs.lvgmc.lv 

ilmatieteenlaitos.fi 

data.europa.eu 

No 
license 
provided 

No 
license 
provided 

No 
license 
provided 

Yearly 

XLSX 

No 

Yes 

English 

High 

No 

N/A 

N/A 

Hourly 

XLSX 

No 

Yes 

National 
language 

Low 

No 

N/A 

N/A 

10 
minutes 

XLSX, 
CSV 

Yes 

Yes 

English 

High 

No 

No 

Link 

27 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4.  Statistics – ‘Poverty’ 

Member 
State 

Denmark 

Estonia 

Latvia 

Finland 

HVD title 

Available locations 

Licence / 
Copyright 

Update 
frequency 

Format 

API 

Bulk 
download 

Metadata 
language 

Clarity 
on 
contents 

Metadata 
references 
the 
regulation 

Reference to IR 
in 
data.europa.eu 
metadata 

data.europa.eu 
page 
containing 
actual dataset 

Income 
inequality 

Poverty and 
inequality 

Poverty and 
inequality 

Statistics on 
living 
conditions 

statbank.dk 

data.europa.eu 

andmed.stat.ee 

data.stat.gov.lv 

data.europa.eu 

pxdata.stat.fi 

No license 
provided 

No license 
provided 

No license 
provided 

No license 
provided 

Yearly 

CSV, XLS, XLSX, PX 

No 

Yes 

English 

Low 

No 

No 

Yes 

Yearly 

PX, XML, CSV, XLSX, 
JSON 

Yes 

Yes 

English 

High 

Yes 

N/A 

N/A 

Yearly 

CSV, XLS 

Yes 

Yes 

English 

High 

Yes 

No 

Yes 

Daily 

XML, CSV, PX, JSON 

Yes 

Yes 

English 

High 

Yes 

N/A 

N/A 

28 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
5.  ‘Companies and company ownership’ 

HVD title 

Available locations 

Licence / 
Copyright 

Update 
frequency 

Format 

API 

Bulk 
download 

Metadata 
language 

Clarity 
on 
contents 

Metadata 
references 
the 
regulation 

Reference to IR 
in 
data.europa.eu 
metadata 

data.europa.eu 
page 
containing 
actual dataset 

Member 
State 

Denmark 

Estonia 

Latvia 

(no free 
open dataset 
available) 

Register of 
companies 

Public free 
data of the 
commercial 
register 

Finland 

Company 
register 

datacvr.virk.dk 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

avaandmed.ariregister.rik.ee 

data.europa.eu 

data.gov.lv 

data.europa.eu 

avoindata.fi 

data.europa.eu 

CC 
Attribution 
4.0 

CC0 1.0 
Universal 

CC 
Attribution 
4.0 

Daily 

XML, CSV, JSON 

Yes 

Yes 

English 

High 

No 

No 

Yes 

Daily 

CSV 

Yes 

Yes 

English 

High 

No 

No 

Yes 

Monthly 

CSV 

No 

Yes 

National 
language 

High 

Yes 

No 

Yes 

29 

 
 
 
 
 
 
6.  Mobility – ‘Transport networks – Road networks’ 

Member 
State 

HVD title 

Available locations 

Licence / 
Copyright 

Latest update 
(approximately) 

Format 

Metadata 
according 
to 
regulation 
(EC) 
No 1205/ 
2088 

Bulk 
download 

Metadata 
language 

API 

Clarity 
on 
contents 

Metadata 
references 
the 
regulation 

Reference to IR 
in 
data.europa.eu 
metadata 

data.europa.eu 
page 
containing 
actual dataset 

Not found 

GML 

Yes 

Not 
found 

Yes 

English 

High 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

Not found 

Unknown 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

National 
language 

Low 

Yes 

Yes 

Link 

DK Inspire 
Road 
transport 
network 

Denmark 

du-portal-
ui.dataudveksler.app.vd.dk 

Inspire 

data.europa.eu 

transpordiamet.ee 

Inspire 

Estonia 

Eesti 
teeregister 

data.europa.eu 

geometadati.viss.gov.lv 

Inspire 

data.europa.eu 

suomenvaylat.vayla.fi 

Valsts ceļu 
tīkls 
(INPIRE 
dati) 

FTIA 
Inspire 
Transport 
Networks 
Theme 
Dataset 

Latvia 

Finland 

National 
language 

No 
limitations 
to public 
access 

No 
limitations 
to public 
access 

Not found 

GML 

Yes 

Inspire 

data.europa.eu 

CC 
Attribution 
4.0 

Not found 

N/A 

Yes 

Not 
found 

Not 
found 

Yes 

English 

Low 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

English 

High 

Yes 

Yes 

Link 

30 

 
 
 
31 
ISBN XXX