Partners

EuroGeoNames Coordination

The EuroGeoNames (EGN) project funded by the eContentplus programme of the European Commission (EC) started on 1st September 2006 and the funded period lasted until 28th February 2009 with a project budget of 1,8 M €. During the funded period a European geographical names infrastructure has been established by a Consortium connecting existing national official data sources of the participating National Mapping and Cadastral Agencies (NMCAs).

The Consortium represented a wide range of organizations combining the benefits of regional distribution with the benefits of public/private partnership. Three NMCAs of Germany (BKG), Slovenia (SMA) and Austria (BEV) and the Netherlands (Utrecht University) were members of the consortium providing long-term experience with regard to the standardisation of geographical names. They are intensively collaborating within the Dutch- and German-speaking Division (DGSD) of the United Nations Group of Experts on the Standardization of Geographical Names (UNGEGN). EuroGeographics is actively engaged in defining the structure(s) of the reference data for a European Spatial Data Infrastructure (ESDI) and the provision of reference data specifications and guidelines for the ESDI set-up. The companies Geodan Holding (The Netherlands), GeoTask AG (Germany) and ESRI Geoinformatik (Germany) as well as the EDINA, National Data centre based in the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) were involved in building national and European geo- and metadata portals, GI software and system technology for both, the private and public sectors. Drawing upon experiences elsewhere, these organisations were able to expand the market potential for the (multilingual) EGN infrastructure and assisted in the evolution and expansion of a core SDI component for Europe.

The Consortium partners terminated their work in May 2009 after the end-review meeting with the European Commission. The agreed understanding for the EuroGeoNames project has been to be supported and extended by EuroGeographics together with the German Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (BKG) beyond the end of the project. In summer 2009 the EGN project coordination was transferred to EuroGeographics. BKG continues to function as the “Service Center” for hosting the EGN Central Service, the Reference Application and the Exonyms and other variant names database as well as for providing technical support to NMCAs and pilot customers.

The Reference Group (NMCAs)

The main task of the EGN consortium until February 2009 was to connect as many countries (NMCAs) as possible to the EGN infrastructure. The “critical mass of content aggregated”, as requested by the eContentplus programme, was fulfilled by aggregating data for eight countries: Slovenia, Latvia, The Netherlands, Austria, Norway, Hungary, Cyprus, and Germany.

Additional countries like Belgium, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland and Spain were connected until October 2009.

Czech Republic, Greece and France announced to finish their implementation before the end of 2009.

The implementation plan recommends that in the period 2009 – 2012 the first priority will be achieving at least EU27 coverage. Additionally a business plan for sustainability from commercial income will be prepared, bridge-funding opportunities sought and a test service with pilot customers developed. After 2012 the ambition is for EGN to become a component in EuroGeographics services infrastructure.

The EGN Group of Interest

The establishment of the EGN infrastructure and attendant services will have a direct influence upon the establishment of an European Spatial Data Infrastructure (ESDI). Consequently, the relevant stakeholders from the (geographic) information (GI) and the wider communication technology sector have played a role in the process of shaping the EGN infrastructure. Examples of such GI stakeholders are: product providers who offer software and related systems; service providers who offer system development for geoportals and GIS; database development operations support, and consulting services or organisations.

Therefore, the EuroGeoNames project established an 'EGN Group of Interest'. This group has  provided their views which have been incorporated in the evolution of the EGN infrastructure. The following GI stakeholders have been registered as a member in the EGN Group of Interest:

OGC Europe (Open Geospatial Consortium - Europe),

UNGEGN (United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names) and several divisions,

ICA (International Cartographic Association),

Eurogi (European umbrella organisation for geographic information),

DDGI (German umbrella organization for GI),

GDI-DE (Secretariat of the German spatial data infrastructure),

Imagi (Interministerial Committee for GI of the German Federation),

AGISEE (Association for GI in South-East-Europe),

National Geographic Germany,

ICOS (International Commission of Onomastics Sciences),

Westermann (German publishing house for school atlases),

Ed. Hölzel (Austrian publishing house for school atlases),

CartoTravel (German publishing house of GI products),

EEA (European Environment Agency),

PCGN (United Kingdom Permanent Committee on Geographical Names),

Greenland Language Secretariat (Oqaasileriffik),

AdV (Working Commitee of the Surveying Authorities of the States of the Federal Republic of Germany),

Bookings (Online hotel reservations),

Deutsche Nationalbibliothek (German National Library),

Intergraph (Intergraph Germany GmbH),

StAGN (Permanent Committee on Geographical Names),

Freytag & Berndt (Austrian publishing house for school atlases),

Joint Research Center (JRC) - language group,

Technische Universität Dresden (Institute for Cartography,

BDVI (Association of Publicly Appointed Surveyors).

EuroStat (European Commission)

Lat/Lon (German software developer)