Survey of key GI players within Europe - EC GI & GIS Portal

allocated over 21 Million to connect the entire Belgian school system to an RNIS network (Reseau
Numerique a Integration de Services or Integrated Services Digital Network - ISDN). Today, 150
computer scientists and programmers work at the CIRB and provide services and ready-to-use
applications for the various regional departments, in particular relating to EU and Federal Departments
of Scientific, Technical and Cultural Affairs projects. The web site is http://www.cirb.irisnet.be and the
geomatics department, which manages the development of the Brussels UrbIS, is described in detail
in its website at www.cirb.irisnet.be/ci/FR/Departements/Geomat.
As Belgium builds its regional SDIs two organisations in particular are leading examples of key GI
players. In the Walloon region of Belgium the Ministere Wallon De L’Equipement et Des Transports
(known as MET) comprises four departments (DGs) responsible for civil engineering, environment,
traffic, and IT. The MET is far sighted in its approach to GI and is an influential player in the supply of
GI products and services as it establishes the building blocks of a regional SDI. The Walloon
Government decided on May 23, 1991, to create the "Computer Project for Continuous Cartography"
(PICC) within the Topography and Cartography Department of the MET. From this cartographic base
the department has produced a database called BRIGIT. The MET realise the importance of not
duplicating data collection and it is discussing with the cadastral administration and the IGN over how
the organisations can cooperate and work in partnership. The cartographic data and associated
information available in BRIGIT are available free of charge to public entities and administrations.
One other development that should be mentioned is the WALCORS (WALlonia Continuous Operating
System) network. This is still being developed at the time of writing but will comprise 23 permanent
reference GPS stations. With the help of this network, it will be possible for topographers to know the
position of points in real time, while possessing only a single mobile GPS receiver.
In the federal state of Belgium, responsibility for the living environment lies with the federal regions.
The policy in the case of Flanders is determined by the Flemish government and implemented by the
departments of the Ministry of the Flemish Community and by a number of Flemish public companies,
including the Flemish Land Agency. The Vlaamse Landmaatschappij (VLM) (www.vlm.be) or
Flemish Land Agency employs some 650 staff and is a decentralised organisation with a central
directorate in Brussels and four provincial divisions. Within the VLM is the second example of regional
SDI development. In order to make the GI held by the various Flemish authorities more accessible and
easier to exchange the GIS-Vlaanderen (www.gisvlaanderen.be) (GIS-Flanders) was established in
1995 and is managed by the GIS-Vlaanderen Support Centre within the VLM. The Centre plays an
organisational and coordinating role, preparing policy and providing a service and acting as a leader
and catalyst within GIS-Flanders. One of the latest projects to be instigated by GIS-Vlaanderen is a
web based “demonstration project for innovative electronic information services based on a high
resolution raster images, and on the technology for GIS and internet, in support of the local policy
concerning spatial (town and country) planning" 4 .
Another GI initiative in Belgium is a grouping of the most important utility companies to provide their
own basic digital mapping 5 .
EUROSENSE (www.eurosense.com) established in 1964, is probably one of the most prominent
European commercial remote sensing organisations. With a total staff of 230, it has branches in
Belgium (Wemmel, near Brussels), The Netherlands (Breda), Germany (Cologne and Berlin), France
(Lille), Hungary (Budapest), The Czech Republic (Prague), Slovakia (Bratislava) and Poland
(Nadarzyn, near Warsaw). Services offered include: aerial photography, photo interpretation,
processing and interpretation of digital satellite images, production of photogrammetric and
topographic maps, airborne laser scanning (LIDAR) for height measurements, GIS/LIS and AM/FM
database development and consultancy, city and landscape planning, inventory of forests and natural
resources, digital orthophotography, cartography, hydrography, environmental studies, and other
remote sensing based activities.
Other particularly active organisations in the supply of GI products and services in Belgium are
Bentley (www.bentley.be), ESRI (www.esribelux.com), STAR (www.star.be), and Oracle
(www.oracle.com/global/be) as software suppliers, and CGEY (www.cgey.be) as service provider.
4
Intergraph Press Release, http://www.intergraph.be/press.htm
5
GIS Diffusion in Local Governement, England, Oct 93, Abstracts:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/academic/D-H/gis/absdiff.html
Survey of key GI players within Europe Page 12