Elena Martinez
Head of Project Management Area
Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia
Spain

Abstract
Catalonia: An Example of Coordination of Spatial Information between Different Levels of Public Authorities

As a result of its administrative structure, Catalonia has three different levels of public authority with competences over the same territory: state administration, regional administration and local administration. In consequence, a strong coordination is necessary in order to avoid duplicate spatial information and to guarantee that spatial data collected at one level is shared amongst the other levels of public authority. However, in order to solve the problems related with the availability, quality, accessibility and sharing of spatial information, it is also essential to have official data specifications to cover the needs of different levels of administration and to comply with the INSPIRE Directive. The Cartographic Coordination Commission of Catalonia (CCCC) and the Cartographic Plan of Catalonia (PCC) are the instruments that Catalonia has in order to make this coordination possible. The CCCC is the basic body of meeting, collaboration and coordination between the administration of the Generalitat and Local Authorities in the field of mapping and related geographic information. Its main functions are: 1) Establishing the framework governing the activities and relationships between public authorities in Catalonia that have cartographic services; 2) Establishing official rules and standards to be applied in the elaboration of maps and geographic information; 3) Ensuring the compliance of the objectives and priorities of the PCC; 4) Ensuring the compliance of the objectives of the INSPIRE Directive. The CCCC works under the principles of institutional loyalty, effectiveness, efficiency, non-duplication, cooperation and mutual assistance and information between different levels of Catalonia public authorities. The PCC is the basic tool for planning the cartographic and geographic information of the public authorities in Catalonia. The PCC defines and identifies the 113 data sets that the Regional Administration and the Local Administration produce and use. These 113 CIGs are included in a catalogue, in which they are grouped according to the topics of Annexes I, II and III of INSPIRE Directive. For each data set, the catalogue establishes a unique identifier, the public authority responsible, the level of access authorization, the maximum recommended update frequency and the description.