Common Implementation Strategy for the Water Framework Directive

WFD CIS Guidance Document No.9
Implementing the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) of the Water Framework Directive
Table
Table
Data
Data
Geographic
Geographic
Dataset
Dataset
Table
Table
Data
Data
Table
Table
Data
Data
Map Map
Geographic
Geographic
Dataset
Dataset
e.g., River Basin Districts (RBDs)
Table
Table
Data
Data
Geographic
Geographic
Dataset
Dataset
Table
Table
Data
Data
e.g., RBD boundaries, main rivers,
national borders, major cities
Table
Table
Data
Data
e.g., structured organisation of data,
such as a table of RBDs
e.g., nodes of polygons, RBD name,
country name, city name
Figure 2.1.1: Relationship between a map, geographic datasets, tables and data.
2.2 GIS Requirements under the WFD and Scope of the Working Group
The WFD requires that Member States report a considerable amount of information in the
form of maps. Even though only annex I and annex II of the Directive explicitly state that the
respective maps should as far as possible be available for introduction into a GIS, it is obvious
that the best way to provide most of the requested information will be in the form of GIS
layers. This is due to the fact that most of the data is to be presented in its spatial context and
that questions like ‘where are the critical areas?’, ‘how much area is involved?’, or ‘which
points are in a designated area?’ can easily be answered when the data are kept in their spatial
context and when the background database has the appropriate design.
The provision of (or access to) the requested GIS layers will not only facilitate the reporting
of the Member States themselves; it will also facilitate the further compilation and analysis of
the information as a basis for the Commission’s own reporting obligations under the WFD.
Such development is also in line with current efforts under the INSPIRE (Infrastructure for
Spatial Information in Europe) initiative of the Commission and the Member States, aiming at
the development of a harmonised European spatial data infrastructure.
Many parties are involved in the implementation of the WFD, ranging from local water
authorities to the European Commission. Regarding this wide range of parties, having
different practices for water management, different reporting obligations and different levels
of technical abilities, this Guidance Document strives to keep specifications as simple as
possible, based upon standards where feasible, and according to best current technical options.
While the Directive clearly specifies which information should be provided in the form of
maps (see appendix I of this Guidance Document), it gives little information on the technical
8