Mapping the micro state : connecting LIDAR, SEIS, AARHUS and INSPIRE

Abstract

The state of affairs in Malta’s information management and dissemination is peppered with both success stories and uphill struggles. Users plodding through the data-information-knowledgeaction process experience various barriers to access to data, high costs, archaic mapping, bureaucratic procedures and aged data the currency of which is unusable in a rapidly changing world. Various initiatives taken up by the Maltese Islands include the review of potential for the integration of the requirements pertaining to the Aarhus Convention, the INSPIRE Directive and the Shared Environmental Information System initiative. Though the legislative aspects have been instrumental in enabling the academic and scientific field to be aware of the availability of data for further analysis, the general public lagged in the understanding of the use to which such data could be employed at governance and locality levels.