Haico van der Vegt
Consultant
Kadaster
Netherland

Biography
As a consultant within the Strategy and Policy department of the Dutch Kadaster, the main working areas of Haico van der Vegt are spatial data infrastructures, INSPIRE, and other topics like key registers and European affairs. Haico van der Vegt is graduated as a geographer at the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands. He has worked for 5 years in France for EuroGeographics, the European association of national cadastre, land registry and mapping authorities.

Abstract
The Position of PDOK in the Dutch Environmental Planning Act

In Europe, a number of initiatives like INSPIRE, Copernicus and SEIS have encouraged the further development of NSDIs in the EU member states, making spatial information data available, based on a service oriented architecture. However, initially focussing on the technical implementation, these initiatives are shifting more and more towards the user perspective. In the Netherlands, this growing user perspective is acknowledged by the new Environmental Planning Act (EPA). This Act combines 26 existing environmental laws by renewing and simplifying the rules and regulations for human activities with an effect on the physical environment. It also drives the awareness that easy, on-line access conditions for the citizen at the national level is a key success factor. An important aspect of this Act is the development of a system of location based information, in which spatial information is available through a network of so-called 'information houses', like air, noise, soil, water, etc. Four governmental organisations in the Netherlands joined forces, creating a common geo-information distribution facility, instead of developing their own solution. This facility PDOK (“public services on a map") is an important element in the information infrastructure of the new EPA. It discloses information from our Key Registers, INSPIRE as well as other spatial information, important for the implementation of the new Act. The PDOK facility is at the very heart of this system. In this paper, the position of the PDOK platform in the EPA is further explained, using the metaphor of the 'Avenue of the Environment' with thematic information houses and lanes that facilitates the exchange of this spatial information. It describes the positive effects on the development of spatial use cases on the national level and the strenghtened position of PDOK in the public SDI.