European Union Location Framework (EULF): Towards guidelines for e-Procurement of Location Information and Location Based Services

Location information and location based services support national and European policies more and more. Whether it is to develop a trans-European multi-model transport policy, or to underpin the common agriculture or regional policies, location information is a key asset to find answers to the often complex and challenging questions. To facilitate the sharing and use of spatial information, the European Union initiated the INSPIRE initiative which resulted in the adoption of the INSPIRE Directive in 2007 (European Commission, 2007). Also in e-Government processes, location information becomes more and more integrated, e.g. in the process of the change of the address of citizens, or the delivery of building and environmental permits. The European Union Location Framework is an action under the ISA programme of the EU (Action 2.13) aiming to further enhance the integration of location information in e-Government to support various policy domains. The framework is the response to the sub-optimal use of location information, the lack of semantic and technical interoperability and the lack of alignment between different Directives to this regard. Indeed, different initiatives often ask Member States for similar information in different ways, leading to duplication of efforts and diverging results. This non-alignment is also reflected in procurement at the national and European levels. Procurement documents in which location information and location based services are important often ask for their own contradicting spatial data specifications without referring in a coherent way to the relevant European Directives such as INSPIRE. Concrete references to standards used to define location information and location based services are usually missing or if they are referred to, the reference is usually not precise. This might lead to confusion for private companies preparing an offer. But it also makes the evaluation and management of call for tenders by public authorities difficult. The paper is analyzing the status of procurement related to location Information and location based services based on a series of cases from national and European Call for Tenders. This paper describes the alignment problem in policy making and strategy development, and outlines ideas for guidelines for procurement of location information and location based services.

VANDENBROUCKE Danny;  VANCAUWENBERGHE Glenn;  PIGNATELLI Francesco;  SMITS Paul; 

2015-01-17

OPET –Observatório de Prospectiva da Engenharia e Tecnologia

JRC94230

978-989-8747-04-4,   

http://www.opet.pt/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=60&Itemid=1,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC94230,