From Plan4all

Project summary

The harmonisation of spatial planning data according to the INSPIRE Directive based on existing best practices in EU regions and municipalities and the results of current research projects is the main focus of the eContentplus project Plan4all. The expected results are European forums for SDI in spatial planning, a database of best practices and analysis of best practices in terms of organisation, sharing, harmonisation and SDI recommendations for spatial planning. The whole sector should profit from the availability of understandable and more transparent planning information across Europe. Although there are basically the same ideas and concepts behind urban and spatial planning across Europe, the legal situation is completely fragmented. Current planning laws are disjointed and even experts from one country might have difficulties to understand the planning regulations of a neighbouring country. For investors and decision makers it is almost impossible to compare planning regulations across Europe. Plan4all will significantly contribute to improve this situation.

Objectives

The main project objectives are:

Promote Plan4all and INSPIRE in countries, regions and municipalities;
Design spatial planning metadata profile;
Design data model for selected spatial data themes related to spatial planning;
Design networking architecture for sharing data and services in spatial planning;
Validate metadata profile, data models and networking architecture on local and regional level;
Establish European portal for spatial planning data;
Deploy data and metadata on local and regional level.

Overview of Work Packages

Work package 1 - Project Management and Coordination

The aim of this WP is to ensure the quality levels of the project’s results through the continuous monitoring of the project activities and their proper execution, the coordination of the work-plan, and the optimum coordination of the partners. More specifically, the objectives of this WP are:

To define, describe and implement a project management structure that will be agreed between all partners, facilitating the coordination of work from the various working teams and through various work activities.
To arrange a series of project meetings that will bring together the consortium members, fostering collaboration and cooperation towards reaching the common goals of the project.
To regularly report to the EC the progress of the project’s implementation, as well as details regarding the financial support of the project.

Task 1.1 Project Management & Reporting

This task deals with defining, agreeing and specifying the management structure, processes and planning that will be followed by the consortium in the project. In addition, it aims at regularly reporting the results from the physical and financial administration of the project. It will address issues such as: establishment of the project management structure; project scope definition, planning and update; cost and time management; elaboration and submission of periodic progress reports and cost statements; preparation of annual review reports and review presentations; submission to the EC of deliverables; supervision, in close collaboration with consortium partners, of corresponding subcontracts; overall co-ordination and reporting to the EC representatives, including the submission of all project documentation requested by these representatives; ensure timely and appropriate generation, collection, dissemination, storage, and ultimate disposition of project information; identification of potential project management risks and monitoring of them; definition and application of contingency plans. As part of this task, D1.1 “Project Management Structure, Processes and Quality Assurance” will be delivered on M3. It will include the description of the consortium management structure and responsibilities, reporting types and acceptance procedures, assessment protocol for the project results, milestone quality criteria for each WP, as well as a risk management plan at a WP level.

Task 1.2 WP management and Horizontal management

WPs will be managed by WP leaders with assistance of Task leaders. The WP leader will form WP Steering Committee. For harmonization of efforts among WPs, horizontal management structure coming trough WP will be established. It will be formed by Steering Sub-Committees:

Content SC
Technology SC
Quality Assurance SC
Exploitation SC
Standards SC
Scientific SC
Dissemination SC

Task 1.3 Project Communication and Meetings

This work item defines a number of bi-annual consortium meetings aiming at the setting of interim implementation goals and evaluating interim results. Smaller meetings may also be foreseen among partners working closer on specific aspects of the project, for example the development of educational methods, technical design and deployment, pilot evaluation trials design and development, etc. Also, this task involves the organisation of in-between meeting communication among partners through electronic means (e.g. phone discussions, videoconferences, on-line application sharing), the organization of consortium meetings (e.g. preparation of agendas, chairing and elaboration of meeting minutes), and the elaboration of an internal consortium agreement.

Work package 2 - State of the art analysis

The aim of the WP is to analyse the current state of the art in spatial planning, used technologies, INSPIRE requirements and also identify the requirements that will affect the specialization and implementation of spatial planning SDI. More specifically, the objectives of this WP are:

Identification of local and regional leaders in area of SDI spatial planning
To analyse latest development in arte of SDI for spatial planning in Europe
Analyse requirements coming from INSPIRE directive towards spatial planning
Analyse requirements of different user groups on SDI for Spatial planning

Task 2.1 Identification of leading regional and local administration in building SDI for spatial planning

The task will identify leading public administration dealing with spatial planning SDI to establish Plan4all Forum and analyse existing best practices.

There will be eight steps:

Identification of leading regional and local administration in building SDI for spatial planning
Identification of administrations on local, regional and national level, also outside of the consortium (open network) - integration in discussion
Identification of public and private companies, innovation leaders -integration in discussion
Establishment of European Clusters
Vertical and horizontal integration of stakeholders
Construction of regional cooperation between clusters and policymakers
Establishment of cross-regional cooperation
The analysis of existing best practises for SDI for planning, provided through interactive events, including workshops, an annual conference, a web ‘portal’ for the Plan4all.

Task 2.2 Identification of innovation challenges and a framework structure for analysing relevant technology developments and trends

The first step will be to establish a framework for classifying technologies and services with focus on technology convergence and the emergence of applications. The checklist of application areas, services, issues, factors and actions will be drawn up as they relate to existing applications, potential applications, technological potential and telecommunications infrastructure provisions, plans and standards, etc. Detailed examination of existing related EU projects, reports, results and experiences with Spatial planning SDI implementation will be undertaken with the objective of evaluating technology applications and developments. . Work will entail:

Set up evaluation and quality assessment criteria for appraisal of sources
Prepare template for data collection and presentation
Identify and make contact with the other sources, collect relevant documents and case studies. Includes standards, guidelines, research reports, web material
Review and coordinate with all other Spatial planning SDI EU projects that are in progress. With Plan4all focusing specifically on the situation, requirements and realities..
Assessment of National and regional policies
Overview of the main technology development likely to impact in the areas during the time-frame of the study.

Task 2.3 Analysis of INSPIRE requirements

The analysis will start from results of previous projects like HUMBOLDT and Orchestra and their recommendation for harmonisation of a European Spatial Data Infrastructure (ESDI). Next step will be the transition to the common models to use within the ESDI for spatial planning. The focus will be on implementation-neutral description of the modelling concepts for geographic data and metadata, This will be created in close coupling with the INSPIRE Drafting Teams, in this case with the Data Specification Drafting Team and the Metadata Drafting Team. This task is aiming to map the INSPIRE requirements related to spatial planning against the real user needs of the public administrations involved in planning within an EU framework.

Task 2.4 Analysis of user requirements on planning systems

In task 2.4 in partners regions more detailed analysis will be realised through case-studies. Such case study analysis will include data relating to metadata, data models, networking technologies. This additional data can be used for spatial modelling and for design of common models as an intersection of existing solutions. This work will see the preparation of, for identification of gaps and barriers in:

services and applications (by Theme and by type of user community)
standards and regulatory framework
technical possibilities and alternative infrastructures

Relevant models will be evaluated in accordance with a strategy for facilitating more cohesive development. The work in 1.4 will also identify issues and Themes that require more in-depth discussion. For example the non technical issues that will impact on the IPRs and monitoring. Thematic topics could be for example

Used IPRs models
Public Private data sharing
Revenue and Business Models for spatial planning data
Local public sector applications
Involvement of citizens’ in decision process
Demand Aggregation
Identify tools and tool kits suitable for community groups, organisations and companies engaged in the development of Spatial planning SDI.

Work package 3 - Design of Plan4all metadata profile

The aim of the WP is to define European metadata profile, which will cover requirements given by national legislations and INSPIRE directive. The work will include:

To analyse, what are requirements on spatial planning metadata given by national legislations
To define European Metadata profile (platform neutral) for spatial planning

Task 3.1 Analysis of requirements given by national legislation

The first part of the work will be focused on metadata in urban planning according to the legislation of single partner countries. The goal is to compare these national legislations and define common sets of items, which will be used for common metadata sharing. Any country could extend this set of items.

Task 3.2 Plan4all metadata profile

The proposed Urban Planning Metadata Profile must fulfil the requirements of National legislative and INSPIRE directive. With respect to the support of INSPIRE directive the proposed metadata profile will support the international standards ISO 19115 (Core metadata for geographic datasets) and other ISO and OGC standards. So result will be European Spatial Planning Metadata profile, which will be extension of INSPIRE profile. This profile could be eventually extended by single countries; it will be minimal set, which has to be respected.

Work package 4 - Plan4all data model definition

The aim of the WP is to define data models for the following INSPIRE Themes:

Land cover
Land use
Utility and Government services
Production and industrial facilities
Agricultural and aquaculture facilities
Area management/restriction/regulation zones and reporting units
Natural risk zones

On the basis of experiences from single countries. The work will include:

To analyse of data models for these Themes used in single countries
To define conceptual models for selected Themes (platform neutral)

Task 4.1 Models used in single countries for selected Themes

The conceptual models, used in single countries (if they exist) will be analysed and compared. The result of this analyse will be description of conceptual models, which are used in single European countries. The analysis will be important for common agreement across Europe.

Task 4.2 Conceptual data model definition for selected Themes

The focus of work will be an overall data model (at conceptual level, so implementation details left out) that contains all information elements as classes with their attributes and possibly methods, and specify the relationships between classes:

association (Building has an Address)
generalization/specialization (River is a subclass of Water Surface)
aggregation (City consists of Neighbourhoods)

The Land cover will be used as guidelines and examples. UML will be used to specify the data models in diagrams. For the integration of data model with metadata UML model will be transformed into feature catalogue.

Work package 5 - Networking architecture

The aim of the WP is to define networking services for the purpose on European sharing of Spatial Planning data. The objective are:

To analyse the needs for sharing of spatial planning data across Europe
To define architecture (platform neutral) and basic set of networking services in compliance with INSPIRE directive for sharing of spatial planning data

Task 5.1 Analysis of needs of data sharing

The work will be based on results of WP2, where the needs will be analysed. Some partners have already existing SDI infrastructure, implemented in the past and which will partly cover needs of Plan4all. But usually part of this infrastructure is missing. The work of this task will be focused on the definition of missing SDI services for every partner. The analysis will be focused on these questions:

Which data of every partner has to be shared?
How will be managed DRM?
Which rules has to be used for sharing?
Which services has to be used for sharing?

Draft deliverable is available here: http://www.plan4all.eu/wiki/WP5:Data_Sharing_Requirements

Task 5.2 Design of Plan4all networking architecture

Network services will be necessary for sharing spatial planning data between both the public and the private sector, because both sectors play important role in spatial planning tasks. Plan4all will define the interfaces by which the different parties will communicate spatial planning data.

Plan4all will adopt INSPIRE protocols to guarantee:

Discovery
Access to data and visualisation
Machine-to-machine communication
Workflow that follows the “publish – find – bind” design pattern
Processing services
Geo RM services

Work package 6 - Large scale testbed

The aim of this WP is to demonstrate the technological feasibility of designed models from WP3, WP4 and WP5. Based on the analysis and recommendations, large scale testbeds will be realised. The standards and models coming from the previous WPs will be platform neutral, to give content providers a chance to reuse their current technological platform. The large scale testbed will possibly require additional investment into technologies covering functionality, which is necessary for publishing the data and metadata with respect to spatial planning based on INSPIRE implementing rules. The partners, which do not yet have the technology necessary for testing a solution, will be supported by the technological partners. The large scale testbed will be focused on building a platform supporting common sharing of content related to spatial planning, including issues such as Digital Right Management. In establishing such a solution, there are two basic objectives:

To extend or to fully implement platforms on the premises of every single content providers, which will allow them to publish data and metadata according to INSPIRE principles
To implement one central spatial planning portal supporting access to spatial planning data of all partners based on Pan European Plan4all Networking services

Task 6.1 Regional implementations

The regional deployment will be focused mainly on deployment of metadata systems with Plan4all profiles, it these platforms are not used till now and on the deployment of Network services on the premises of content providers, which will be recognised as critical for single regions. Important part of this deployment will be implementation of transformation services, which will support transformation of data in existing models into data following the designed conceptual models.

Task 6.2 Pan European Deployment

Pan European deployment will be focused on deployment of central portal with client applications and using network services like discovery and portrayal services, where important role will play multilingual search for data and common portrayal rules. This will be critical services for sharing and understanding spatial planning data across Europe

Work package 7 - Content deployment

The aim of the WP is to publish:

existing metadata
existing data

related to spatial planning, which are in the ownership of single data providers. Publishing will use the platforms deployed in WP6 based on standards defined in WP3, WP4 and WP5. The publishing of data will respect IPRs, which will be agreed between data holder and project team. Thus, every partner will be able to decide which data will be publicly available. All metadata will be publicly available.

Task7.1 Metadata deployment

Existing local, regional or national metadata will be transformed into the Plan4all metadata profile and will be published using the platform from WP6. Important part will be the integration of a thesaurus supporting multilingual discovery of data. The metadata will be deployed from the beginning of task in month 16, to give feedback to implemented platform.

Task7.2 Data deployment

Existing local, regional or national data will be transformed into data following new common conceptual models using transformers implemented in WP6. Data will be published using services from WP6. The transforming and publishing of data will start already from Month 16 in parallel with deploying the platforms, to test their functionality .

Work package 8 - Validation

The objective of this WP is to continuously validate the results of Plan4all work. The validation will be done throughout the entire project and will give feedback to all other WPs and to the project management team. The objectives of the WP are:

To setup a validation methodology which will be used for following validation
To validate standards and recommendations coming from Plan4all WPs 3, 4 and 5 and to guarantee their consistency with INSPIRE implementing rules
To validate the deployed platform and transformed content and give recommendations for future exploitation, and also to give feedback to the INSPIRE team

Task 8.1 Validation methodology

WP8 will validate the concept of the methodology and involving the development of sets of models which are arranged by category and enabled by a virtual collaborative strategy and innovation management environment. The assessment and synthesis will provide not only possible answers to the question ‘what are the results’, but also ‘if we reach the objectives of Plan4all project, taking into account both the probable and real risk. It is an iterative process that includes the following steps:

Seeing into the future: What challenges will we face in the future? What is missing at the moment?
Inventing possible solutions: What are the future desired states to get to?
Compare and contrast the alternatives: What are the positive and negative aspects of each possible step?
Select the best way forward.
Design the steps to get there: How can we shape and – possibly – speed the outcome?
Go back to step 1.

The generic methodology uses a range of techniques and analytical models in the following areas:

Knowledge Acquisition: This is the starting point of this approach. Knowledge must be gathered in a structured, formatted and relevant way. The present state and the desired future vision are derived from a close examination and synthesis of this knowledge and from this the positioning) can be established on a continuum.
Models will be structured and stored in a suitable repository that enables multiple layers of analysis allowing for the development of multiple versions of current states and multiple future visions
Model Analysis: The models need to be compared and contrasted against models deemed to lie between an origin (position zero on the continuum) and the currently perceived ultimate destination
Risk Analysis: There can often be numerous solutions that need to be analysed with regard to the potential hazards associated with each solution.
When the optimal solutions are chosen there need to be a structured plan (or even set of plans) which allow the vision to be achieved. This may be broken down, for example, into project planning and portfolio management, analysis, requirements determination and design and development. The environment for synthesis and assessment needs to enable collaborative, team-based innovation and change management.

The final stage involves executing the plans and closing the loop for feedback to previous stages

Task 8.2 Validation of project solutions

The recommendations of Plan4all data model and networking infrastructure will be assessed according to the methodology given by Task8.1. The assessment will be continuous and will give feedback to all WP3, , WP4, WP5 and WP7

Task 8.3 Validation of platform

The platform will be validated with respect to compliance with INSPIRE implementing rules and technical guidelines, but also from the point of view of usability for potential users. The validation results will be the base for broader dissemination of Plan4all results to the rest of European community. For validation of platform it will be important to implement monitoring tools as part of Plan4all architecture on the base of INSPIRE Monitoring implementation rules.

Work package 9 - Dissemination, clustering, consensus building and sustainability planning

The aim of this WP is to disseminate the results of Plan4all to regions, municipalities, technology providers, national government and to the INSPIRE team, which will be the main users of the project results. More specifically, the objectives of this WP are:

The dissemination concept will be the basis of the work and be integrated in the working structure of the project.
Results will be consequently / regularly published and spread out to intensify the dialogue within the partners and the open network.
Discussion Forum will be integrated.
4 Regional Workshops will be prepared with local stakeholders and thematic related ones.
1 Final European conference will take place in the last months of the project (e.g. after 28 months work) in Brussels (Spring 2011) Dissemination materials: also case studies will be uploaded on the web and be accessible to everybody - classified in topics

Task 9.1 Dissemination strategy

Dissemination is core to the impact of Plan4all as a Network of Best practices action, and on-going publishing of results is a key to creating a space for discussion of spatial planning SDI development issues. The key dissemination will be about and to the rural areas of Europe, to the regions, municipalities, ICT vendors, planners, and to the various public and private sector actors involved in policy. As SDI is such a fast-changing dynamic area, and there are already so many initiatives in the area, the Plan4all dissemination will be mainly on-going dissemination of the trends and developments that are relevant to SDI in spatial planning. To succeed Plan4all will need open feedback from regional interests, high visibility and useful content for participants – the work of this WP. All these aspects will be defined in the dissemination strategy, which will be introduced in Month 6 of the project. This will include the initial Plan4all communication/dissemination plan, which will clearly define who the intended audience is, what sort of information will be published, how the Plan4all website will be updated, who will be responsible to provide it with fresh content, maintain the website and post updates, and how the EU funding will be acknowledged. This will enable the website to be completed and go online. Within the defined Plan4all Dissemination Strategy, it is envisaged that the Plan4all communication/dissemination plan will evolve as the project progresses based on experience, user feedback, clustering and consensus building in task T9.2.

Task 9.2 Clustering and consensus building

At this stage the target is establishing European cluster with representative areas in the different regions. The representative regions will be subjected to a more detailed examination of regional and local applications and a systematic compilation of models, applications ideas and infrastructure data.

Each of these representative regions will also be selected as venues for local workshops convened to discuss the initial findings from case studies, to explore the issues that arise, as well as possible solutions and their acceptability. This dialogue will in particular focus on the role and impact of standards and data models as a potential agent for change in spatial planning. Identifying whether and how policy interventions might speed up the rate of adoption of relevant applications in the future will be central to the topics discussed.

This work will begin by developing an agreed complete Dissemination Plan very early in the project. As broadband is such a fast-changing dynamic area, and given the many initiatives in the area, the Plan4all dissemination will be mainly on-going dissemination of the trends and developments that are relevant to spatial planning.

It is envisaged that the Dissemination Plan will involve:

Products – Plan4all logo, Website, Leaflet, Banner, eNewsletter, eReleases.
Events, Papers & Articles – as part of its trends and developments monitoring, Plan4all will identify and participate in all conferences and workshops that are relevant to SDI.
Networking – Plan4all will identify and work with the EU SDI projects. In addition, mainly through the regions SDI’ mappings (in WP2) and the cases studies and workshops Plan4all will identify and work with relevant users in the regions both for dissemination to them and to gather their feedback.

Task 9.3 Plan4all workshops

The planned workshops will be driven by the need to discuss case study findings and the issues and themes. The themes will not be known until the results of earlier WPs are available. However it is expected that many of the workshops could be dovetailed with local administrations and stakeholders. These will require significant on-the-ground organisation in each of the chosen regions, to ensure very real interaction, dissemination and (most importantly) feedback to enable the final Plan4all recommendations to be based on actual real experience. These will be the key “reality check” of the project.

It is planned that the final workshop will be broader in its reach and dissemination, being a highly visible showcase conference/forum (probably in Brussels) to generate widespread publicity and "tee-up" follow on activity after the current project ends.

Task 9.4 Dissemination materials

The Plan4all Web-site and interactive publishing facility will be setup by month 3, and operated continuously to the end of the project and beyond, so that the site becomes a clearing house and acts as an electronic forum for developments in this area. However the website will not be officially launched until month 1 when the Plan4all dissemination strategy and initial communication/dissemination plan is defined and adopted, to enable the website design, content and targeting to be completed and made live.

To provide a focus to the Plan4all web service, and ensure ongoing interest, dissemination and feedback, regular electronic Newsletters will be produced. To ensure on-going dissemination of trends and developments, in this very dynamic area, the newsletters will be produced every 3 months to distribute this intelligence. These will also be produced as more traditional print products, and will be available for distribution to and at relevant rural local events/workshops. Results and case studies will be periodically fed through the newsletter and help generate a permanent “buzz” about the project.

The standard dissemination materials will be produced like leaflets, brochures and white papers.

Task 9.5 External publishing

This sub-task concerns the participation and presentation of the project’s results in conferences/journals of spatial planning and SDI field (such as EC GIS, ISOCARP conferences, national conferences.

Task 9.6 Exploitation strategy

Exploitation strategy will be based on common consensus from clustering activities and will define strategy for future exploitation after end of the project.

About the project