Harmonization and Interoperability of EU Environmental Information and Services

The cultural, historic, and natural diversity in the European Union creates a fertile ground for both policies and innovation that aim at removing obstacles to the integration and interoperability of data regarding Europe’s natural environment. In fact, sharing resources across multiple information communities raises the need for new technologies that support resource discovery and (re-)use. This article provides a better understanding of the issues related to semantic interoperability in the context of environmental-data management in the European Union, and of measures and activities that address these problems. The authors provide the policy context and highlight activities and best practices of selected EU-funded research projects and activities, especially in relation to Linked Open Data principles.JRC.H.6-Digital Earth and Reference Dat