The GIGAS project - an action in support to GEOSS, INSPIRE, and GMES

The three initiatives GEOSS, INSPIRE and GMES share commonalities, including their focus on environmental policy support, use of geomatic and geographic information, their Europe- or worldwide dimension, their reliance on international standards and the advanced Spatial Data Infrastructures that are needed for their implementation. At the same time however, each initiative follows its own timeline and approach for technical development, thereby risking evolving into separate, incompatible services and not profiting from the benefits of a common approach. The GIGAS project was launched with the specific aim to assess and address interoperability gaps and opportunities for establishing bridges between the initiatives. For this, GIGAS makes use of a formal and structured approach that is driven by consensus. To support the consensus building process effectively, one of the core objectives of GIGAS is the set up of a representative and sustainable stakeholder forum as central communication platform.