(Darmstadt) Geodata plays an important role in addressing the challenges facing society. Whether it’s solving environmental problems, optimizing traffic flows, or ensuring the sustainable use of resources: High-quality geographic information is essential. “There is a lot of data available to solve these problems, but keeping track of it and accessing it is a challenging task,” says Dr. Eva Klien, Head of Department Spatial Information Management at the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGD. The goal of the InGeoDTM project is to lay the foundation for a neutral platform where providers and potential users can come together. Existing structures and standards of geodata portals and infrastructures will be adopted and extended according to the concepts of the federated and secure data infrastructure for Europe (GAIA-X) currently being developed and the standards of the International Data Spaces Association (IDSA).

The Information and Cooperation Forum for Geodata, InGeoForum e.V., plays a central role in this endeavor. Acting as a neutral data trustee, it will enable data-owning organizations to easily and legally integrate their data into the data space. It will also mediate in legal and organizational matters between the parties involved and monitor quality standards. Data owners such as public administrations and commercial providers, as well as users, benefit equally: “We rely on clear structures that make the availability, license terms and costs of the data transparent,” says Dr. Ralf Borchert, representing InGeoForum.