The GeoPortal.Bund ® functions as a broker (intermediary) based on www. technology between users and offerers of geodata, geoinformation and related services (G2G, G2C, G2B). It allows personalized or anonymous online access to distributed data of one or several suppliers. The inquiry is directly transferred online through standard conformal interfaces to the suppliers of expert data, where they are processed and returned to the portal. There, integration of the different data and their visualization is done. On the portal's surface the transmitted data can be combined and integrated into different scenarios via special geoweb services or practical applications (e.g. coordinate transformation, visualization et al.).

Main results, benefits and impacts

Until now, the potential user of geodata had to perform complex and time-consuming researches in order to be able to locate the required geodata. Information, e.g. on quality, scale, topicality, media of delivery, etc had to be found out either by phone, e-mail or many random pages/websites scattered across the internet. These data can now be searched for by means of the GeoPortal.Bund and then be looked at in a mapviewer as a map overlay (Webmapping). With the GeoPortal.Bund interoperable data access to space-referenced factual data of different authorities is facilitated. The Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie (Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy) can by this tool make differences easily visible and standardize, in cooperation with the respective data suppliers, the existing space-referenced data stocks.

Return on investment

Return on investment: Not applicable / Not available

Lessons learnt

With the GeoPortal.Bund Germany is one of the trailblazers in Europe concerning establishing national geodata infrastructures. These infrastructures constitute, among others, the basis for the European Geodata Infrastructure INSPIRE (http://www.ec-gis.org/inspire/). All national and regional administrations of all European countries presently planning the establishment of geodata structures and geoportals may profit from the experiences made by Germany in this field. The GeoPortal.Bund has integrated the Content Management System of the Federal Government (GSB) and observes the guidelines of barrier-freeness. However, the GeoPortal is only as good as its substance (Content). Therefore, it is of vital importance to focus on gaining and ensuring, already at an early stage, cooperation of the technical authorities involved in the process for the provision of the relevant services and data.