AGISEE has organized a workshop on Spatial Data Infrastructures, which took place on 16 June 2010 in Nessebar, Bulgaria, as part of the International Conference for Cartography and GIS (ICCG3).

The workshop aimed at informing participants about geographic information systems and spatial data infrastructures, what are their benefits and why we need them, and went further in explaining how to build them in presenting practical examples. The workshop dealt also with the critical issues of SDIs, their costs and benefits, where and how to get training and where to find more information. Thus, the workshop aimed at:

• Exchange of experiences in developing and setting up of shared GIS and SDIs.
• Learning from each other to understand critical issues in South-East Europe.

The workshop targeted SDIs in South-East Europe at sub-national - local or regional - level, in accordance with the project "eSDI-net+".

The workshop is partly funded by the European Commission's e-content+ programme as part of the project "eSDI-Net+" (http://www.esdinetplus.eu). It followed the "eSDI-Net+" workshop in Thessaloniki in February 2009, where SDIs from all countries in South-East Europe were presented. It also followed the International Conference "SDI Best Practice Award 2009" that took place on 26th and 27th November 2009 in Turin, Italy, with its award ceremony of the 12 best European SDIs as best practice cases.

It started with a keynote speech by Joachim Rix, coordinator of the project esdi-net+ and was then organized in two sessions, separated by the lunch break. The first session presented general aspects of spatial data infrastructures and standards, and the successful spatial data infrastructure of Catalonia. GIS and SDI developments in South-East Europe were presented after the lunch break.

The workshop was an excellent summary on GIS and SDI development on local and regional level with an emphasis on South-East Europe. Actors in the region, with the representatives of municipalities in particular, could meet and exchange information; they appreciated very much to obtain information on what is happening in other cities and countries in the region. It is for sure a good start for further exchanges and communication in the region. Further contacts will be necessary, and more countries will have to be involved. The workshop is continued with a mailing list offered by OGC and AGISEE, and future meetings are envisaged.

During the workshop, it was announced that the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) (http://www.opengeospatial.org ) and AGISEE, the Association for Geospatial Information in South-East Europe (http://www.agisee.org) have established a cooperative relationship to promote the importance of open standards in the development of spatial data infrastructures and raise the awareness of interoperability in South-East Europe. A press release is published on the web site of the Open Geospatial Consortium. A mailing list is the first common activity and interested people are invited to register to the mailing list.

More information will be published shortly such as a more detailed overview of the workshop, the presentations and some pictures.