South-East European Research Centre (SEERC)

1st Workshop on Contemporary Activity on Spatial Data Infrastructures in South-East Europe (SEESDI'09)

Thessaloniki, Greece 5-6 February 2009

eSDI-Net+ is a European project that started on September 2007, and will last for 3 years. The objective of eSDI-Net+ is to bring together existing SDI key players and target users in a Thematic Network to be established as a platform for communication and exchange between different stakeholders involved in the creation and use of SDIs.

The network will promote high-level decisions, low-level technical discussion and information exchange, in order to increase awareness concerning the importance of GI enrichment and of SDIs for GI reuse, to allow an integrated view of the experts and to permit the creation of integrated guidelines, standards, and implementation of best practices. Within the network, communication mechanisms between the European and local levels will be implemented to maximize the benefits of INSPIRE, GMES and GALILEO, regarding digital GI content.

In the frame of the eSDI-Net+ research project, SEERC and AGISEE are organising the 1st workshop on Contemporary Activity on SDI in the South East European Region. The workshop will take place in Thessaloniki, Greece, on the 5th and 6th of February 2009.

The aim of the workshop is to bring together key players and stakeholders of local, regional and national SDIs from 12 countries in the South-East European region, in order to :

• identify national and sub-national SDIs in the broader region of South East Europe
• bring together stakeholders that have an understanding of contemporary SDI practices in and across the region
• identify those who could further-support the emerging eSDI-Net+ network
• initiate awareness-raising across the region to promote SDI and/or work further on SDI assessment and development projects