Compass will attend and present at the GeoDATA series of events across Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales through 2010. Our presentations will focus on INSPIRE Clear Steps to Compliance, but we will also demonstrate some of our other solutions including our new spatial video systems for tagging video with location; our bioenergy and land management systems; and our wide range of geomatics services. See our events page for the GeoData dates and read more for the presentation abstract...

At Compass Informatics we have published our INSPIRE/Spatial Data Infrastructures solutions whitepaper to coincide with the opening of our dedicated inspire.compass.ie website. This paper describes how the Compass suite of services and technologies can provide a full compliance solution to meet the requirements of the European Union INSPIRE Directive and assist participation of your organisation in your National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) strategy that must support INSPIRE. The services are also applicable for organisations wishing to create individual SDI components for their own use, based on acknowledged ‘best practice’ in creating SDIs, e.g. conducting information audits, creating and published metadata, mounting effective Geoportals.

Based on feedback from those facing INSPIRE-related tasks in 2010 and beyond, we have designed a seminar that will set out in a straightforward manner the steps required to achieve compliance for the 2010 and 2011 deadlines. We will present a series of open source based technology solutions also.

Compass Informatics will co-sponsor the CEN/TC 287 interoperability workshop to be held on March 1st in Paris. This will be a particularly important meeting as it will bring the key organisations of CEN, ISO, Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), and JRC/INSPIRE together with a view towards agreement. Gearóid Ó Riain, managing director of Compass Informatics, will present at the workshop which will also be attended by other policy and technical Compass staff.

For those who have followed the 'free or for a fee' debate on access to, and exploitation of, public sector geospatial data as collected by national mapping agencies - the report and consultation from the UK Communities & Local Government (CLG) may be of interest.

Under a services framework agreement, the Compass team have delivered a range of systems to the Irish Environmental Protection Agency and will continue to do so we hope in the coming year.

2010 is International Year of Biodiversity, as declared by the United Nations. Our contribution is via the many projects we undertake that relate to proper planning, land and environmental management. It is also via our operation of the National Biodiversity Data Centre for Ireland.

The Compass INSPIRE ISO Toolkit is a suite of technology solutions supported by advisory, support and training services to allow organisations readily meet their requirements under the Directive.

Comhar Sustainable Development Council have appointed Compass to undertake a baseline study of Green Infrastructure for Ireland. The study involves a review of current policies and legislation and the preparation of framework national GI maps and illustrative case studies in urban, rural and peri-urban areas.