The Geoportal of Wallonia is your main gateway to spatial information in Wallonia. Come in and discover what it has to offer. Presentation made at the Open Belgium 2015 Conference, Namur, 23th of February 2015 by Vincent Bombaerts , Public Service of Wallonia (SPW)

1. The Geoportal of Wallonia : come in and
discover geographic data of Wallonia
Vincent Bombaerts – Public Service of Wallonia
Open Belgium 2015 Conference - 23d of February 2015 - Palais des Congrès, Namur

6. Imagine…

7. Imagine… a spatial data infrastructure
SDI
Spatial data
Metadata
Web services
Agreements on
data sharing
Coordination

8. This is reality !
• in Europe : INSPIRE – Directive 2007/2/EC establishing
an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the
European Community - http://inspire.ec.europa.eu/
• in Wallonia - InfraSIG - 2010/12/22 Decree on Walloon
infrastructure for spatial information
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http://geoportail.wallonie.be

9. The geoportal of Wallonia
9
http://geoportail.wallonie.be

10. The Geoportal of Wallonia : come in
and discover geographic data
• Introduction
• Enhance geographic data discoverability
through a standardised metadata catalogue
• Focus on the main options for accessing
geographic data through the Geoportal of
Wallonia
• Conclusion

11. Metadata = data about the data
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12. Geographic metadata standards
• As soon as you want to exchange information, there
is a need to agree
– on a common understanding of the meaning of the
information (the semantics)  ISO 19115-1 (ISO
19115)
– on a common way to encode this information  ISO
19115-3 (ISO 19139)
– on a common communication language to exchange
this information with others via a webservice  OGC
Catalog Service for the Web
• Define a profile for specific purpose
– INSPIRE Profile of ISO 19115
– INSPIRE Profile of CSW
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13. ISO 19115 – Geographic information metadata
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14. Metawal : Catalog for geospatial information in
Wallonia
• The official metadata catalog and one of the basic
component of InfraSIG , the Walloon SDI
– Whoever wants to enter InfraSIG as a producer must
document its data in Metawal
• Based on GeoNetwork Opensource
http://geonetwork-opensource.org/
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http://metawal.wallonie.be

15. Metawal : Catalog for geospatial information in
Wallonia
CSW

16. Metawal : Catalog for geospatial information in
Wallonia
CSW
http://metawal.wallonie.be/geonetwork/srv/fre/csw

17. Create once, reuse many times
CSW
Metawal

18. The Geoportal of Wallonia : come in
and discover geographic data
• Introduction
• Enhance geographic data discoverability
through a standardised metadata catalogue
• Focus on the main options for accessing
geographic data through the Geoportal of
Wallonia
• Conclusion

19. The geoportal of Wallonia : a quick overview
19
http://geoportail.wallonie.be
Find the data
View the data
Static
information
Dynamic
information

20. Find metadata on the Geoportal of Wallonia
1. Open the Geocatalogue

21. Find metadata on the Geoportal of Wallonia
1. Open the Geocatalogue
2. Enter a keyword
Your search
The Results

22. Find metadata on the Geoportal of Wallonia
1. Open the Geocatalogue
2. Enter a keyword
3. Open the description sheet

23. Find access metadata
1. Open the Geocatalogue
2. Enter a keyword
3. Open the description sheet
4. “Access” tab gives information on
– Viewing application that show the data
– Web services serving the data
– How to obtain a copy of the data
– Conditions for accessing and using the data
– How to contact the distributor
What are the main distribution options ?

24. 1. Use the dedicated viewer/application
• Made by people having a deep knowledge of the data
– Presents data that are made to be used together
– Prevents misuse of the data by zoom limitation,
warnings and other mechanisms
– Always up-to-date
• Unless secured freely available for everybody
• Accessible under the terms of a licence -
http://geoportail.wallonie.be/files/LicApplicationsSPW.pdf
– No overuse is permitted
– Screenshot permitted with mention
– Non-liability principle
– No guarantee on the service provided
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25. 2. Use a web service
• Dynamic access to the data
– Always up-to-date
– Zoom limitations may exist to prevent misinterpretation
• Various protocols : REST Geoservices, WM(T)S, KML
• Unless secured freely available for everybody
• Accessible under the terms of a licence -
http://geoportail.wallonie.be/files/LicServicesSPW.pdf
– No overuse is permitted
– Non-liability principle
– No guarantee on the service provided
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26. 3. Ask for a copy of the data
• Asynchronous access to the data
– Use with care, read the metadata, and update your
copy !
• Only available for
– public services and their contractors, education and
research
– a specific purpose (no other use permitted)
– a limited time
• Accessible under the terms of a licence -
http://geoportail.wallonie.be/files/LicData.pdf
– Non-liability principle
– No guarantee on the service provided
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27. 4. Freely download and use the data ?
• Try the keyword “open data” in the catalogue...
• More and more producer are willing to open up their
data, but we lack a clear framework to do it.
• Strategic plan for geomatics in Wallonia (PSGW) -
http://geoportail.wallonie.be/files/docs/PlanStrategiqueGeo
matique/PSGW_approuve.pdf
– Adopted by the government on May 8th 2014
– Towards open data for geographic data in Wallonia
• 2014-2019 Policy Statement (DPR)
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28. The Geoportal of Wallonia : come in
and discover geographic data
• Introduction
• Enhance geographic data discoverability
through a standardised metadata catalogue
• Focus on the main options for accessing
geographic data through the Geoportal of
Wallonia
• Conclusion

29. Conclusion
• Geoportal of Wallonia: a big step forward towards
discoverability and reuse of geospatial data through
the use of standards
– Offer visibility and accurate information about the data
– Offer standardised access to the data
 Reduce duplication of existing or similar data
 Stimulate reuse of data
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30. Conclusion
• Challenges
– Open data
– Cross-domain exchange
– Data and metadata acculturation
• Opportunities
– Strategic plan (PSGW) and 2014-2019 Policy Statement
(DPR)
– INSPIRE
– Open data pioneers
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31. Now... Come in and discover geographic data of Wallonia
... and contribute
Vincent Bombaerts – Public Service of Wallonia
vincent.bombaerts@spw.wallonie.be - @vbombaerts
http://geoportail.wallonie.be