SPIDER: open SPatial data Infrastructure eDucation nEtwoRk

In the past 20 years, European public authorities have invested considerable resources in the development of spatial data infrastructures (SDIs). With the European INSPIRE Directive as an important driver, national SDIs were developed throughout Europe to facilitate and coordinate the exchange and sharing of geographic data. These SDIs initially focused on data sharing among public authorities. In the next stage, a more user-oriented approach evolved, including users outside the public sector. In recent years, several countries and public administrations in Europe started with the implementation of open data policy, with the aim of making their government data ‘open’. In addition, some started to make a shift towards the establishment of an ‘open’ SDI, in which also non-government data and actors are considered key to the performance of the infrastructure.

Currently, SDI education around the globe is characterized by single disciplinary or siloed views missing out on opportunities of a holistic, multidisciplinary view on SDI. In addition, the recent Open SDI trend has not been implemented in any SDI curriculum yet. Moreover, teaching methods are still limited to traditional teaching in the classroom. Consequently, there is barely an international exchange of educational material and approaches on open SDI among universities. An overview and detailed analysis of existing SDI education are unavailable and an international platform facilitating the SDI education is lacking.