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Establishing a water information system for Europe: constraints from spatial data heterogeneity
Author(s) -
Hannerz Fredrik,
Langaas Sindre
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
water and environment journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1747-6593
pISSN - 1747-6585
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-6593.2007.00073.x
Subject(s) - water framework directive , european union , spatial analysis , directive , spatial heterogeneity , european commission , information system , spatial variability , environmental resource management , scale (ratio) , environmental planning , regional science , geography , computer science , environmental science , business , cartography , remote sensing , engineering , statistics , water quality , ecology , mathematics , electrical engineering , biology , programming language , economic policy
Water information systems (WIS) are being developed for countries, international river basins and the European Union (EU), partly as a result of the requirements specified in the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). The issue of whether and how these information systems should be integrated into the European Commission's water information system for Europe (WISE) is currently an open one. We present a discussion with regard to the challenges facing WISE development, with particular focus on the heterogeneity of spatial base data. In addition, an assessment of this heterogeneity is presented based on Swedish and English WFD reporting data, and on WISE‐relevant small‐scale European base datasets. Results show that WFD reporting data are based on incomparable methods and spatial analysis units, and that small‐scale data are transborder heterogeneous. Interpretation and international comparison of WFD results as well as their combination into a common WISE may therefore be largely constrained by spatial data heterogeneity.