Links to Public Sector Information (PSI) Re-use Web Resources

The European Commission's Information Society Web Portal on Public Sector Information (Access and Re-use) covering topics such as: PSI Directive, Implementation, PSI Group, Practices in Member States, PSI Projects and more.

PSI online e.V. is a German association dedicated to the economic re-use of public sector information. The association offers assistance to companies wanting to re-use public data. The web portal includes a press release, the articles of Association, membership fees, registration form, and a PSI online brochure for use by German companies wanting to join the association.

This online data portal (information on numerous environmental, geological and related government agencies) is a Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources initiative. It operates as interdepartmental and cross agency online service allowing the public to search multiple databases. Users can quickly search and locate meta-data catalogues operated by each of the partner organisations.

The European Ombudsman,elected by the European Parliament, acts as an intermediary between the citizen and the EU authorities. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about maladministration in the institutions and bodies of the European Union (EU) from EU citizens, businesses and organisations, and from anyone residing or having their registered office in an EU country.

Europeana – the European digital library, museum and archive – is a 2-year project that began in July 2007. It will produce a prototype website giving users direct access to some 2 million digital objects, including film material, photos, paintings, sounds, maps, manuscripts, books, newspapers and archival papers. The prototype will be launched in November 2008.

EuropeanaLocal is a Best Practice Network, funded under the European Commission’s eContentplus programme (starting work on the 1st June 2008 and running for 3 years). It is designed to involve and help local and regional libraries, museums, archives and audio-visual archives make digital content that they hold available through Europeana (the European Digital Library).

The ePractice.eu web portal is a joint initiative by the Directorate General for the Information Society and Media and the Directorate General Informatics (IDABC programme) of the European Commission. It offers a single entry point for eGovernment practitioners with easy user friendly access to the widest range of information on eGovernment strategies, initiatives and projects throughout Europe, together with brand-new areas of interest and activities.

Content on the web portal covers the following topics.

• Traditional eGovernment Observatory free resources: daily news and a weekly newsletter, a calendar of events, the most complete eGovernment library and an outlook of eGovernment in 32 European countries
• New areas of interest: eInclusion and eHealth
• eGovernment real-life cases from across Europe (400 cases are currently available)
• The European eGovernment Awards

The online site of the IJSDIR (International Journal of Spatial Data Infrastructures) focused on scientific endeavor underpinning the development, implementation and use of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs).

The Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) is a collaborative initiative of the European Commission and the European Environment Agency (EEA) to establish together with the Member States an integrated and shared EU-wide environmental information system. The system will be based on technologies such as the internet and satellite systems and aims to make environmental information more readily available and easier to understand to policy makers and the public.

The underlying aim of SEIS is also to move away from paper-based reporting to a system where information is managed as close as possible to its source and made available to users in an open and transparent way.

Bodensee-Geodatenpool is a cross border project carried out by the federal mapping agencies of Switzerland and Austria and the German state mapping agencies of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg which adjoin Lake Constance. The aim of the project is to develop a common geographic data pool of the lake for the benefit of professionals and local citizens. The portal includes a free web based map viewer. Future developments will include the integration of digital orthophotos, digital terrain models and vector data of administrative boundaries.