1

Danube Reference Data and Services Infrastructure

Danube_Net (D1)

State-of-play and organisational context of the data

infrastructure in the Czech Republic

Tomas Mildorf

Revised by Karel Charvát

May 2015

2

Contents List of figures ..................................................................................................................................................... 2

List of tables ....................................................................................................................................................... 2

List of acronyms ................................................................................................................................................. 3

1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 4

1.1 Outline of the task ............................................................................................................................. 4

1.2 Outline of the document ................................................................................................................... 4

1.3 Context of the country and the main players.................................................................................... 4

2 Data providers .......................................................................................................................................... 5

3 Policy-making organisations ................................................................................................................... 10

4 Research organisations ........................................................................................................................... 14

5 Stakeholder engagement organisations and networks .......................................................................... 16

6 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................................. 17

List of figures

Figure 1 Schema of basic registers in the Czech Republic ............................................................................ 5

Figure 2 Centrope region ............................................................................................................................ 19

Figure 3 CentropeMAP thematic map (Population density and migration) ............................................... 19

Figure 4 Location Evaluator application ..................................................................................................... 20

Figure 5 Location Evaluator – regional report ............................................................................................ 21

List of tables

Table 1 List of data providers ....................................................................................................................... 6

Table 2 List of policy-making organisations ................................................................................................ 10

Table 3 Support for the national data infrastructure ................................................................................. 13

Table 4 List of research organisations ........................................................................................................ 14

Table 5 List of stakeholder engagement organisations .............................................................................. 16

3

List of acronyms

API application programming interface

DMVS Digital Map of Public Administration

DRDSI Danube Reference Data and Services Infrastructure

EIA Environmental Impact Assessment

ESA European Space Agency

EU European Union

EUSDR EU Strategy for the Danube Region

HTML Hyper Text Markup Language

INSPIRE Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community

LPIS Land Parcel Information System

NSDI national data infrastructure

OGC Open Geospatial Consortium

ROB Register of Inhabitants

ROS Business Register

RPP Register of Rights and Responsibilities of Public Authorities

RUIAN Register of Territorial Identification, Addresses and Real Estates

SEA Strategic Impact Assessment

SDI spatial data infrastructure

SME small and medium enterprises

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

4

1 Introduction

1.1 Outline of the task

This activity aims to characterise the state-of-play of the Czech national spatial data infrastructures (NSDI)

with respect to the Danube Reference Data and Services Infrastructure (DRDSI) vertical priorities. The

DRDSI is an initiative of the Joint Research Centre to provide scientific support to the EU Strategy for the

Danube Region (Danube Strategy or EUSDR) aiming to provide a reference data and services platform

(DRDSI Platform) to support decision making mechanisms in the countries of the Danube region.

The deliverable sets out comparable content between the countries participating in the EUSDR, covering

details of organisations that could become key stakeholders from the region, including:

potential metadata/data providers to the DRDSI Platform,

key policy-making organisations in the participating countries related to data infrastructures and

lists of relevant projects,

research organisations that could have useful projects with data or data harmonisation activities,

organisations that could support wider stakeholder engagement, including SMEs.

1.2 Outline of the document

The document lists key public and private sector data providers including the types of provided data, policy-

making organisations, research organisations and organisations who can aid stakeholder engagement

working within the Czech Republic, in cross-border contexts or at the regional level. The current legal

context and funding of initiatives aiming at building a national data infrastructure are described. A list of

completed and current projects related to the vertical priorities (either for data production or providing

tools to support data-sharing) is also included.

1.3 Context of the country and the main players

Public Sector Information in the Czech Republic

Public sector information in the Czech Republic is still fragmented. Data are being collected by respective

public administrations. Data sharing is limited due to historical development and data are collected several

times and maintained at different levels of public administration. This can be seen to be against the basic

INSPIRE principles.

However, the situation has improved significantly by introducing the INSPIRE Directive, the reuse of Public

Sector Information (PSI) Directive, other legislation and eGovernment strategies. A major step was the set-

up of four basic registers. In order to prevent duplication in data collection and maintenance of PSI, central-

ised basic registers were designed and implemented. The centralised solution keeps actual and widely used

data and information. Basic registers are a central information source for information systems of public

authorities.

The concept of basic registers is based on the need for secure data interchange between thousands of

information systems of public administration. Basic registers contain reference data about inhabitants,

companies, buildings, parcels, etc.

There are 4 basic registers:

5

Register of Inhabitants (ROB) – maintained by of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic,

Business Register (ROS) – a register of legal and natural persons that is maintained by the Czech

Statistical Office,

Register of Territorial Identification, Addresses and Real Estates (RUIAN) – maintained by the

Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre,

Register of Rights and Responsibilities of Public Authorities (RPP) - maintained by of the Ministry

of the Interior of the Czech Republic.

These basic registers together with the Information System of Basic Registers (responsibility of the Minis-

try of the Interior of the Czech Republic) form a reference information base for public administration in the

Czech Republic.

Figure 1 Schema of basic registers in the Czech Republic

Next to the above mentioned organisations, there are other key players including the Ministry of Environ-

ment, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Regional Development, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of

Culture, all the Regions, municipalities and professional organisations and associations. The main link be-

tween these registers and the EUSDR is data. Data from these registers are guaranteed by the public admin-

istration and form a common foundation for other thematic data needed for essential tasks and analyses in

EUSDR and DRDSI. Selected data from these registers are publicly available and can be used for the DRDSI

straight away. As an example, the entire cadastre geometry and selected attributes are publicly available

for download.

2 Data providers

The key data providers that should be considered for providing data into the DRDSI platform are listed in

Table 1. The list is not limited only to INSPIRE data providers but also to non-spatial and commercial data

providers. The commercial sector in this report has been limited to several examples, as the number and

the variety of data are both enormous.

The list is also not exhaustive and focuses on the key data providers relevant to the DRDSI, i.e. those rele-

vant to the Danube Region. The list excludes data providers outside the Czech Republic on the EU level such

6

as European Environmental Agency (e.g. Urban Atlas, Corine Land Cover), EUROSTAT or European Space

Agency (ESA).

Table 1 List of data providers

Id. Organisation Organisation Type Data Types

1

Czech Office for Surveying,

Mapping and Cadastre

(http://geoportal.cuzk.cz)

Public

- Cadastral data including buildings (ISKN - Infor-

mation System of the Cadastre of Real Estate)

- Topographic data (Fundamental Base of Geo-

graphic Data)

- Geographical names

- Imageries (orthophotomaps)

- Boundaries (administrative)

- Geodetic control

- Altimetry

- Addresses

2 Czech Statistical Office

(http://www.czso.cz) Public

- Statistical data (foreigners, education, criminali-

ty, migration, demography, employment, health

care, …)

- Macroeconomic data

- Register of business

- External trade data – data on import and export

3

Czech Environmental

Information Agency

(http://www.cenia.cz)

Public, an institu-

tion of the Ministry

of the Environment

- INSPIRE Geoportal – central hub for all INSPIRE

spatial data themes

- Environmental and strategic impact assessment

data (EIA, SEA)

- Environmental pollution (e.g. chemical)

- Waste management data and indicators

- Soil protection data

- Emissions

- Bioenergy

3.1

Czech Hydrometeorologi-

cal Institute

(www.chmi.cz)

Public, an institu-

tion of the Ministry

of the Environment

- Weather data

- Water quality

- Air quality

3.2 Czech Geological Survey

(http://www.geology.cz)

Public, an institu-

tion of the Ministry

of the Environment

- Geology

- Hydrogeology

- Soils

- Natural resources

- Quarries and mines

- Radon

- Geohazards (e.g. landslides)

- Geophysical and geochemical data

- Drills,

7

Id. Organisation Organisation Type Data Types

3.3

Nature Conservation

Agency of the Czech

Republic (www.nature.cz)

Public, an institu-

tion of the Ministry

of the Environment

- national parks

- preserved landscape areas

- (national) wildlife parks and beauty spots

- memorable trees

- UNESCO Biosphere Reserves

- NATURA 2000

- habitats and biotopes

- Rights and responsibilities related with the

above mentioned features

3.4

T. G. Masaryk Water

Research Institute

(http://www.vuv.cz/index.

php/en/)

Public, an institu-

tion of the Ministry

of the Environment

- Water protection data

- Hydrology data (e.g. rivers, ponds, reservoirs,

dams, wetlands)

- Flood zones

- Water power plants and other features (e.g.

weirs, sluices, ship locks, waterfalls, monitoring

stations, water treatment stations)

3.5

Cave Administration of the

Czech Republic

(http://www.jeskynecr.cz/

?lang=en)

Public, an institu-

tion of the Ministry

of the Environment - Data on karsts and caves

9

Podyjí National Park

(http://www.nppodyji.cz/?

lang=2)

Public, created by

the Ministry of the

Environment - Nature protection and management

10

Morava River Basin Au-

thority

(http://www.pmo.cz/)

Public

- Various hydrology data (surface water)

- Water quality

- Flood zones and models

- Water level monitoring

11

Ministry of the Interior of

the Czech Republic

(http://www.mvcr.cz/mvcr

en/)

Public - Register of Inhabitants – see the previous chap-

ter

12

Ministry of Transport of

the Czech Republic

(http://www.mdcr.cz/en)

Public - Transport related data – road, air, water and

train transport

- Cycling routes

12.1

Road and Motorway

Directorate of the Czech

Republic

(http://www.rsd.cz/en)

Public, an institu-

tion of the Ministry

of Transport

- Roads and motorways and related objects such

as tunnels and bridges

12.2

Railway Infrastructure

Administration

(http://www.szdc.cz/en/in

dex.html)

Public, an institu-

tion of the Ministry

of Transport - Railway network related data

12.3 Directorate of Waterways

(http://www.rvccr.cz/)

Public, an institu-

tion of the Ministry

of Transport - Waterways

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Id. Organisation Organisation Type Data Types

13.

Geographic Service of the

Armed Forces of the Czech

Republic

(www.geoservice.army.cz)

Public - Topographic maps

- Digital model of territory (DMU-25)

14.

Ministry of Regional

Development

(http://www.mmr.cz/en/H

omepage)

Public - Public contracts

(http://www.isvz.cz/ISVZ/Podpora/ISVZ.aspx)

- Spatial planning data

14.1

Institute for Spatial Devel-

opment

(http://www.uur.cz/?id=9

48)

Public, an institu-

tion of the Ministry

of Regional Devel-

opment

- Spatial planning data – links to spatial plans of

municipalities and regions (http://portal.uur.cz/)

15.

Ministry of Agriculture of

the Czech Republic

(http://eagri.cz/public/we

b/en/mze/)

Public - Land Parcel Information System (LPIS)

- Agriculture data (food and livestock production,

vineyards, orchards, etc.)

15.1

Forest Management

Institute

(http://www.uhul.cz/)

Public, an institu-

tion of the Ministry

of Agriculture

- Forest data including boundaries, species, classi-

fications, hunting zones, etc.

- Biomass data

15.2

Forests of the Czech

Republic

(http://www.lesycr.cz)

Public, an institu-

tion created by the

Ministry of Agricul-

ture

- Forest management plans

16

Institute of Health Infor-

mation and Statistics of

the Czech Republic

Public, an institute

created by the

Ministry of Health

of the Czech Re-

public

- Health statistical data

(http://www.uzis.cz/cz/dps/english/index.html)

17

Research Institute for Soil

and Water Conservation

(http://www.vumop.cz)

Public research

institute

- Soil exposure to water and air erosion

- Hydrological characteristics of soil

- Physical and chemical characteristics of soil and

land including exposition, granularity, slope and

type.

- Price of agriculture land

- Land protection

18 Regions of the Czech

Republic Public

- Spatial planning data

- Utilities

- Renewable energies

19 Geodis

(http://www.geodis.cz/en) Private - Imagery (orthophoto maps)

- Digital terrain model

20 TopGis

(http://www.topgis.cz/en) Private - Geospatial data for Mapy.cz (http://mapy.cz/)

21 Hydrosoft

(http://www.hydrosoft.cz) Private - Flood zones – updated yearly for the Ministry of

the Environment

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There are many data providers, some data are collected by several organisations (duplication in data collec-

tion and maintenance), some data are not centralised and are stored locally but the way of data access

differs. This includes some examples of OGC web services as often used by INSPIRE (e.g. cadastral data,

geological data), HTML tables and Excel files, as well as data with no remote access at all. Most data that

should be considered for the DRDSI come from the public sector.

It is rather difficult to estimate what data might be missing for the DRDSI platform. In terms of

reference data, the coverage given in

Table 1 seems to cover the most important datasets. There is probably no need for additional data collec-

tion, but rather for integration of data from various sources. For example, health data are stored by several

health institutes. All of them categorise data slightly differently, they have different coverage and are in

general heterogeneous. The primary focus should be on existing data which are decentralised. DRDSI could

help to address insufficiently documented data, which are difficult to discover and reuse.

The Czech Republic has several open data initiatives. Some of them are driven by groups of individuals and

organisations, such as OpenData.cz1 or Otakar Motejl Fund2 (Open Society Fund Prague3). Others are driven

by public administrations through European and national legislation and other measures. It has received

widespread attention, for example in the ePSI Platform: “In the middle of April, the pilot version of the

Czech National Open Data Catalogue4 was launched. After two years of waiting, Czech state institutions and

local municipalities now have their own space where they can put their own open data.”5

Considering that 90% of data, sometimes claimed to be as much as 99% of data, have a spatial character, it

is notable that there are no links between the open data initiatives and the geospatial community in the

Czech Republic. Spatial data should make a basis for all non-spatial data and be linked to them. It seems

that open data initiatives work independently from INSPIRE and other initiatives. This is also obvious from

the previously quoted article. Making links between the geospatial and open data communities would,

therefore, be beneficial.

Moreover, data published usually do not comply with any standard and therefore it is hard to reuse them.

From the public administration or governmental point of view, there are several documents underlying

access to open data and their reuse, mainly the Free Access to Information Act from 1999. This Act provides

citizens free access to public sector information. However, sharing information with citizens (or others

outside of government) requires certain organisational changes, some investment and extra effort. These

are the main barriers to making information accessible through the Internet.

1 http://opendata.cz/en

2 http://www.motejl.cz

3 http://www.osf.cz/home-eng

4 http://portal.gov.cz/portal/obcan/rejstriky/data/97898/

5 http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/open-data-guidelines-czech-republic

10

The Czech Republic joined the Open Government Partnership6 in 2011. The implementation of the open

data policy is not as fast as foreseen and the Czech Republic is behind the schedule in most of the activities.

3 Policy-making organisations

As stated in the contribution of the Czech Republic to the Danube Strategy7: “the Czech Republic sees the

EUSDR as an overarching framework for efficient and closer cooperation which will help us to tackle com-

mon problems, drawbacks and bottlenecks which hinder the socio-economic advancement.”

The party responsible for the Danube Strategy in the Czech Republic is the Office of the Government of the

Czech Republic. The Office of the Government is the central body of state administration. According to the

Act No. 2/1969 Coll., the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic fulfils tasks connected to the

expert, organisational and technical provision of the activities of the government of the Czech Republic and

its bodies.

The main contact person for the EU Strategy for the Danube Region is:

Eliška Gerthnerová, gerthnerova.eliska@vlada.cz, tel. +420 224 002 166

The Czech Republic is the coordinator of the Priority Area 2: “To encourage more sustainable energy”. The

Czech citizens and organisations are being informed about the Danube Strategy through a website8.

There many policy-making organisations in the Czech Republic. The core organisations include all the minis-

tries which are listed in Table 2. The table include also the Czech national mapping agency as one of the key

players in the area of spatial data related policies.

Table 2 List of policy-making organisations

Id. Organisation Organisation

Type Policy area

Projects

1

Office of the Govern-

ment of the Czech

Republic

(http://www.vlada.cz/en

/urad-vlady/)

Central body

of the

government

- expert, organizational and technical

provision of the activities of the gov-

ernment of the Czech Republic and

its bodies

- EUSDR

2

Ministry of Education,

Youth and Sports of the

Czech Republic

(http://www.msmt.cz/?l

ang=2)

Central

government

- education

- research and development policy

- sport and tourism

- Priority Area 9

Available at

http://www.ms

mt.cz/file/3423

8_1_1/

3

Ministry of Industry and

Trade of the Czech

Republic

(http://www.mpo.cz/def

Central

government

- national industry policy

- trade policy

- foreign economic policy

- integrated raw material policy

-

6 http://www.opengovpartnership.org/country/czech-republic/

7 http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/archive/consultation/danube/doc/countries/cz_contribution.pdf

8 http://podunajskastrategie.webnode.cz/ (only in Czech)

11

Id. Organisation Organisation

Type Policy area

Projects

ault_en.html) - use of mineral resources, energy, gas

and heat production, mining, crude

oil, natural gas, solid fuels, nuclear

materials, and other commodities

- technical standardisation, metrology

and state quality control

- industrial research, engineering and

technology development

- electronic communication and postal

services

4

Ministry of the Environ-

ment of the Czech

Republic

(http://www.mzp.cz/en)

Central

government

- water resources management and

protection

- air protection

- nature and landscape protection

- farmland protection

- geological service

- mineral resources, mining and quar-

rying supervision

- waste management

- assessment of activities and their

impact on environment including

cross-border activities

- hunting, fishing and forest manage-

ment in national parks

National IN-

SPIRE Geoportal

(http://geoport

al.gov.cz)

5

Ministry of the Interior

of the Czech Republic

(http://www.mvcr.cz/mv

cren/)

Central

government

- internal security including supervi-

sion of road traffic protection

- register of inhabitants, travel docu-

ments and residency

- registration of organizations with in-

ternational links

- firearms and ammunition

- fire protection

- Digital Map of

Public Admin-

istration

6

Ministry of Transport of

the Czech Republic

(http://www.mdcr.cz/en)

Central

government - Transport policies

Czech Space

Portal

http://www.cze

chspacepor-

tal.cz/en/

7

Ministry of Regional

Development

(http://www.mmr.cz/en/

Homepage)

Central

government

- regional business support

- housing policy

- territorial (spatial) planning

- building rules

- housing-related legislation

- investment policy

- tourism

-

8

Ministry of Agriculture of

the Czech Republic

(http://eagri.cz/public/w

eb/en/mze/)

Central

government

- agriculture

- water management and quality

- food industry

-

12

Id. Organisation Organisation

Type Policy area

Projects

9

Ministry of Labour and

Social Affairs of the

Czech Republic

(http://www.mpsv.cz/en

)

Central

government - social and labour policies

-

10

Ministry of Foreign

Affairs

(http://www.mzv.cz/jnp/

en/index.html)

Central

government

- foreign policy

- relations of the Czech Republic with

other states, international organiza-

tions and integrative blocks

- coordination of activities resulting

from bilateral and multilateral coop-

eration

-

11

Ministry of Defence of

the Czech Republic

(http://www.army.cz/en

)

Central

government

- Armed forces and military training

- military defence policy

-

12

Ministry of Health of the

Czech Republic

(http://www.mzcr.cz/En)

Central

government

- health care, public health protection

- health research activities

- natural spas and mineral water re-

sources

-

13

Ministry of Justice of the

Czech Republic

(http://portal.justice.cz)

Central

government

- courts and public prosecutor's offic-

es

-

14

Ministry of Finance of

the Czech Republic

(www.mfcr.cz/en/)

Central

government

- state budget and taxes

- pension funds

- state property privatization

- insurance companies

-

15

Ministry of Culture of

the Czech Republic

(http://www.mkcr.cz/en)

Central

government

- arts

- cultural and educational activities

- cultural monuments

- press, radio and television broad-

casting

- Copyright Act

- production and trade in the culture

area

-

16

Czech Office for Survey-

ing, Mapping and Cadas-

tre

(http://geoportal.cuzk.cz

)

Central body

of public

administra-

tion

- surveying and cadastre

-

17

Czech Telecommunica-

tion Office

(http://www.ctu.eu/mai

n.php?pageid=178)

Central body

of public

administra-

tion

- Telecommunications

-

18

State Office for Nuclear

Safety

(http://www.sujb.cz/en)

Central body

of public

administra-

tion

- Nuclear safety

- Protection of citizens from radiation

-

13

Id. Organisation Organisation

Type Policy area

Projects

19 State Mining Administra-

tion (http://cbusbs.cz/)

Central body

of public

administra-

tion

- Mining activities and safety

-

20

Czech Office for Stand-

ards, Metrology and

Testing

(http://www.unmz.cz/off

ice/en)

Central body

of public

administra-

tion

- Standardisation

-

Table 3 focuses on data related infrastructures, not only general public administration services but also

their modernisation, including Smart Administration or the general concept of eGovernment.

Table 3 Support for the national data infrastructure

Id. Organisation Key legal acts Key initiatives Funding

1

Ministry of the Interior, Czech

Office for Surveying, Mapping

and Cadastre, Ministry of De-

fence, Ministry of the Environ-

ment, Ministry of Transport,

Ministry of Finance, Ministry of

Regional Development

Resolution of the

Government of

the Czech Repub-

lic No. 815 from

8th

October 2014

The Strategy for the Devel-

opment of the Spatial

Information Infrastructure

in the Czech Republic to

2020 (GeoInfoStrategy)

- Not known yet,

state budget and

EU funds

2

Ministry of the Environment,

other organisations involved in

the implementation

Act No. 380/2009

Coll., amending

Act No. 123/1998

Coll., establishing

the right to

information on

the environment

- INSPIRE

- State budget, EU

funds

3 Ministry of the Interior Various acts and

strategies

Digital Map of Public Admin-

istration (DMVS)

European Regional

Development Fund,

Integrated Opera-

tional Programme

other national

sources

4 Ministry of the Interior

Act No. 111/2009

Coll., on basic

registers

- Information System of

Public Administration (basic

registers) – a part of the

eGovernment initiative

- European Regional

Development Fund,

state budget

5 Ministry of the Interior

Government

Resolution No. 39

from 16th

January

2013

Open Government Partner-

ship

(http://www.opengovpartne

rship.org/country/czech-

republic)

-

14

The most important initiative, next to the INSPIRE implementation, is the recent activity coordinated by the

Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic – The Strategy for the Development of the Spatial Information Infra-

structure in the Czech Republic to 2020 (GeoInfoStrategy). The GeoInfoStrategy was approved by Resolution of

the Government of the Czech Republic No. 815 from 8th

October 2014. The network of organisations involved

in the GeoInfoStrategy definition includes the key players needed for the DRDSI. Currently, the Action Plan

for the GeoInfoStrategy is being defined. It is the most active support for the national data infrastructure

which is covering not only INSPIRE data but also other data. Such work takes place alongside developments

in base registers, as highlighted above, and efforts to promote open data, which may have datasets of

relevance to the EUSDR that could be presented via the DRDSI.

4 Research organisations

There are many research institutes in the Czech Republic including public research centres, universities,

private and non-profit organisations. Table 4 is an overview of the key ones which might be relevant to the

Danube Region. However, the research tackles specific aspects ranging from historical development to

social issues associated with ICT. The list of research organisations and projects that are somehow related

to the Danube Region can be very extensive (hundreds of research organisations and thousands of pro-

jects). The table includes only an overview and a selection of projects relevant to the Danube Region - some

of them very specific, whereas others are creating a general framework which can be used anywhere else

outside the Danube Region.

There are also several networks and education centres (non-profit) which are not research organisations.

Some of them are supporting the EUSDR, for example the Bridge to Education organisation involved in the

CE-Ageing Platform project9.

There are also many organisations involved in international projects specialised on biomass, for example

the Czech Biomass Association10.

Table 4 List of research organisations

Id. Organisation Type Projects

1

T. G. Masaryk Water Research

Institute

(http://www.vuv.cz/index.php

/en/)

Public

research

institute

http://www.vuv.cz/files/pdf/projekty/anotace/list_of_proje

cts_2013.pdf

2

Research Institute of Geode-

sy, Topography and Cartog-

raphy (http://www.vugtk.cz/)

Public

research

institute

New Technologies for the Information Society

(http://www.isvav.cz/projectDetail.do?rowId=ED1.1.00%2F

02.0090)

Other specific projects listed at

http://www.vugtk.cz/vyzkum/

3

Research Institute for Soil and

Water Conservation

(http://www.vumop.cz)

Public

research

institute

Specific research in the field of landscape, soil and water

protection and exploitation.

4 The Czech Academy of Sci- Public The Czech Academy of Sciences is set up as a complex of

9 http://www.ce-ageing.eu

10 http://czbiom.cz/en/projects

15

Id. Organisation Type Projects

ences

(http://www.cas.cz/index.htm

l)

research

institute

tens of public research institutions:

http://www.cas.cz/o_avcr/struktura/pracoviste/index.html

For example CzechGlobe and its projects:

http://www.czechglobe.cz/en/projects/.

5

Public institutions of higher

education

(http://www.msmt.cz/eu-and-

international-affairs/public-

institutions-of-higher-

education-

1?highlightWords=universities

)

Universities

- Danube Future (http://www.danubefuture.eu) -

Palacký University, Charles University Prague,

Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague

- Regional Sustainable Energy Policy

(http://www.restep.cz/en/project-information) –

coordinated by the Czech University of Life Scienc-

es Prague

- Flora and vegetation of harbours on the rivers Elbe

and Danube in Central Europe: their composition

,formation, dynamics and share on plant invasions

and migration

- Estimation of the building of water channel Dan-

ube - Oder - Elbe from the view of landscape ecolo-

gy, water management, economy and law

- Fish biodiversity in the Morava and Dyje confluence

area – supporting and stabilization of rare and en-

dangered species populations

6 Czech Hydrometeorological

Institute (www.chmi.cz)

Public

research

institute

- Implementation of new streamflow forecasting

tools in the frame of flood forecasting service in the

Czech Republic

- The "water/rock/landscape" system interaction

principles and its application in groundwater pro-

tection in the Czech Republic

- Hydroecological Information System

- Research and Implementation of New Instruments

for Forecasts of Floods and Run-off within Security

of Warning and Forecast Flood Service in the CR

- Many other projects can be found here.

7 Morava River Basin Authority

(http://www.pmo.cz/) Public - http://www.pmo.cz/cz/projekty/ (only in Czech)

8 Czech Geological Survey

(http://www.geology.cz) Public - http://www.geology.cz/extranet-

eng/science/projects

9

Czech Environmental Infor-

mation Agency

(http://www.cenia.cz)

Public - http://www1.cenia.cz/www/projekty-

cenia/aktualni-projekty

10 Czech Centre for Science and

Society

Non-profit

association - EnviroGRIDS http://www.envirogrids.net

11

The Silva Tarouca Research

Institute for Landscape and

Ornamental Gardening

(http://www.vukoz.cz/)

Public

- Transnational Ecological Networks (TRANSECONET)

+ University of Jan Evangelista Purkyne in Usti and

Labem, Public Benefit Corporation Bohemian Swit-

zerland

16

Id. Organisation Type Projects

12

Research Institute of Agricul-

tural Engineering

(http://www.vuzt.cz/?L=EN)

Public - http://www.vuzt.cz/index.php?I=A21&L=EN

13

Institute of Agricultural,

Economics and Information

(http://www.iaei.cz/)

Public - http://www.iaei.cz/research-and-projects/

14

Crop Research institute

(http://www.vurv.cz/?p=index

&site=default_en)

Public - http://www.vurv.cz/?p=index&site=vyzkum_en

15

Czech Academy of Agricultural

Sciences

(http://www.cazv.cz/default.a

sp?lang=en)

Public

16 Institute of Forest Ecosystem

Research (http://www.ifer.cz) Private - http://www.ifer.cz/page/?page=projects_running

In general, there are many projects related somehow to the Danube Region. However, the number of

projects which are directly connected to the EUSDR in a cross-border context is limited.

Data sources used by individual research organisations are usually provided through respective data pro-

viders. The conditions for using data for research purposes differ. In general, however, data providers are

willing to provide data for no cost. However, the use of data is limited purely for the research or project

purposes. Many research organisations are also collecting their own data and creating an organisational

database. The willingness to share such collected data is limited.

5 Stakeholder engagement organisations and networks

The key organisations and networks are listed in Table 5. There is major overlap of the INSPIRE stakeholder

group and the DRDSI stakeholders including data providers and users.

Table 5 List of stakeholder engagement organisations

Id. Organisation Coverage Areas of interest Other details

1 Nemoforum national

A network of public, professional (pri-

vate) and academic institutions. The aim

is to support communication in the field

of land- and real estate information

between public administration and

citizens.

http://www.cuzk.cz/Englis

h/About-

us/Nemoforum/Nemoforu

m-uvod.aspx

2 Czech Association

for Geoinformation National

- An association of legal entities and

individuals acting in the field of geoin-

formation technologies.

Members:

http://www.cagi.cz/clenov

e-cagi

3 OpenData.cz National - An initiative for transparent data

infrastructure in the Czech Republic.

Members are individuals:

http://opendata.cz/en/con

tacts

4 Czech INSPIRE

community National - INSPIRE

Managed by CENIA

(http://cenia.cz/)

5 Open Geoinfra- National - An organisation supporting free and Members are individuals:

17

Id. Organisation Coverage Areas of interest Other details

structure

(http://osgeo.cz/)

open source software and open data in

the field of geomatics.

http://osgeo.cz/clenove/

6

Association of

Regions of the

Czech Republic

(http://www.asocia

cekraju.cz/associati

on-of-regions-of-

the-czech-republic/)

National

The main aim is to promote the regions'

joint interests, especially overseeing the

overall development of the territory and

tending to the needs of its citizens

Members are all Czech

regions and the City of

Prague.

Most of the above mentioned organisations provide an umbrella body for various kinds of actors. These

bodies usually provide coordination in different topics related to data, software or services. Members of

these bodies can better coordinate activities towards public authorities and create a space for discussion.

Apart from the Czech INSPIRE community, there is no intention of the organisations to collect data. The

INSPIRE community is built based on the INSPIRE legislation, which is also the main driver. OpenData.cz

aims mainly at educating university students, as well as providing training and media coverage on open

data, helping to encourage its use in practice.

Data are in the possession of public administration. There is a push from many organisations to make it

available. However, due to historical developments, public administrations in the Czech Republic are not as

flexible when compared to countries such as Norway, Finland, Denmark, Netherlands or the UK.

6 Conclusions

The analysis of the current situation has been performed based on the author’s knowledge of the situation

in the Czech Republic in the field of data infrastructures and data sharing. Several persons were consulted

in order to clarify some issues, for example the party responsible for the EUSDR implementation in the

Czech Republic.

The information on the progress in the EUSDR implementation in the Czech Republic is not easily accessible

through the internet and exists mainly as internal documents which cannot be shared. Based on the con-

versation with Mrs Gerthenrová, the Office of the Government is preparing a new website that should have

this kind of information. The website should be set up during 2015.

For the purposes of dissemination and awareness-raising of the DRDSI in the Czech Republic, the following

website was set-up11.

The DRDSI aims and ideas were presented at the Czech and Slovak INSPIRE conference held in Prague in

November 2014. Several questions were raised. The main issue was that data providers are not willing to

publish their data for other parties without being involved in projects that use their data. In other words,

some data providers are willing to share data only when they receive some financial contribution.

There is a big potential for the DRDSI exploitation in the Czech Republic. The problem to engage data pro-

viders seems to be mainly financial support for the implementation of necessary services and also lack of

11 http://drdsi.webnode.cz (only in Czech)

18

any legislative support. This is true especially for public data providers whose mission and work is steered

by existing legislation. They usually only do the things they are obliged to do by law, due to the limited

budget they receive.

Most data providers are implementing INSPIRE. It is a long term process and takes a lot of resources. Intro-

ducing another initiative that they should support is difficult. The DRDSI should be seen as a support to

INSPIRE implementation as INSPIRE metadata are reused in the DRDSI platform’s catalogue. This could

encourage other organisations to submit metadata/data into INSPIRE, provide endpoints to other existing

metadata catalogues and, where/if relevant, endpoints for open data portals.

How to proceed further? The recommendation is to start from small and achieve a quick win. It would be

good to base the platform on existing projects such as the CentropeMAP12 whose objectives were similar to

the DRDSI and there are data, methodologies and tools to build on:

- Development and further extension of spatial and attribute data for the entire Centrope region

(Figure 2)

- Harmonisation of data formats and procedures for common data use

- Implementation of a basic online data catalogue

- Visualisation of regional spatial data

- Consulting on the potential for integrating spatial monitoring data for planning purposes

- Networking and international communication with stakeholders from all parts of the Centrope re-

gion

The availability of statistical data and spatial reference data such as statistical units is good in most coun-

tries and can serve as a good starting point for data harmonisation, visualisation and publication in differ-

ent formats and through different APIs. Also, these datasets are crucial reference data for many applica-

tions such as logistics, traffic volumes, renewable energy production and energy consumption. Figure 3

shows an example of a map from the Centrope region covering a cross-border area of the Czech Republic,

Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. There are follow up initiatives based in the Cetrope region, e.g. cen-

trope_tt13.

12 http://centropemap.org

13 http://www.centrope-tt.info

19

Figure 2 Centrope region

Figure 3 CentropeMAP thematic map (Population density and migration)

20

The cooperation in this CentropeMAP region is supported by other projects, for example EXPAK14.

Another example of simple use of statistical data and statistical units is the Location Evaluation app15 de-

veloped with the Plan4business project16 which provides a mapping interface (Figure 4) to provide regional

reports (Figure 5).

Figure 4 Location Evaluator application

14 http://www.expak.at/expak/display/index

15 http://www.whatstheplan.eu/evaluator

16 http://www.plan4business.eu

21

Figure 5 Location Evaluator – regional report