Alessandro Annoni
Head of the Spatial Data Infrastructures Unit
Joint Research Centre
Italy

Abstract
Merging government & private sector views

Sound scientific knowledge, and reliable and up-to-date environmental data and information, are necessary to increase our collective understanding of the state of our planet and the interactions between physical and societal environments on it and are instrumental to define policies necessary for the sustainable management of our scarce resources . Significant progress is being made in the availability and quality of environmental and geographic information at our disposal, and in connecting information systems and new sources of data. The diffusion of SDIs, the efforts of GEOSS, and developments in industry and civil society have major contributions to make in answering these critical questions, the emergence of hybrid infrastructures can already be observed combining both voluntary and institutional data (e.g. using the Google platform). Taken individually however, none of these developments can achieve our ambitious objectives. Now is the time to set a new vision building on what is existing, bridging the gaps, and overcoming the limitations identified: not one but multiple connected globes/infrastructures addressing the needs of different audiences: citizens, communities, policymakers, scientists, educationalists,...based on open access, and participation across multiple technological platforms, and media. This call for identification and set-up of new governance models and collaborative frameworks (business, institutional, voluntary, communities of practice).