Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level

Country fiche: Spain(draft 24 October 2018)

Date of evaluation: June 2018

SummaryOverall information governance

Spain has a main environmental portal (miteco.gob.es) run by the Ministry for Ecological Transition (MITECO) Spain has a interlinked system, there is one main environmental portal, which contains most of the information or is linked to other more specific (sub)portals. There are also many links to separate portals for all of the regions. (Cataluña, País Vasco, etc.) but also on the main portal, most of the information contained by these sites is available. There is a separate portal for spatial data the IDE which has contains metadata catalogue, the INPIRE portal (mapama.gob.es) and viewers to see and download the data. Although directly linked from the main portal on the main environmental topics, there seems not to be a direct connection between the specific information on the environment on the main portal and the data in the INSPIRE geoportal and vice versa.

Overall findings including on content, sharing and usability

On the main portal information on all the national and European legislations to each of the environmental topics can be found, there are publications, including environmental impact studies, State of the Environment reports which is published yearly in Spanish and English and links to the more theme-specific portals, which are run independently. The portal links to a Geoportal with a lot of relevant data, which allows displaying the geographical information in a map, viewing the metadata and – where available – getting redirected to a place where this geographical or related data can be downloaded. From each main domain on the website, there is a link to the corresponding data in the Geoportal. Apart from that, resources for viewing services and download services and a metadata search for different environmental categories are provided as a stand-alone geoportal, the INSPIRE portal (mapama.gob.es), with the metadata catalogue containing the metadata (description of the data) of the resources and services offered by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA) and the Ministry for the Ecological Transition (MITECO). In the catalogue datasets can easily be found with a search functionality and a thematic menu but not specifically related to the thematic information provided on the main portal.

GuidanceOverall the main portal connects to all of the environmental domains represented by the selected directives used in this evaluation. To further improve the usefulness the following measures are considered helpful. Provide a proper connection for the information provided to the specific data in the INSPIRE geoportal in a consistent way. Secondly since no information is provided on the quality of the information this could be addressed better. For communication with the user no other options are offered then a generic email address somewhat hidden in the footer, this can be extended by providing at least a contact form but preferable also other means to communicate with the proper experts but also to interact where relevant with other users.

IntroductionThis country fiche is a product of a project1 financed by the European Commission carried out mainly in 2018 with the objective to assess the maturity of active dissemination of environmental information in EU Member States. The examination and evaluation of active dissemination was by reference to a set of precise EU environmental legislative and policy frameworks. These have high overall importance and are representative, but they are not the totality of what the EU environmental acquis covers. It is not

1 ‘Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level’ under Framework Contract No 07.0203/2017/761039/SER/ENV.E.4 of Directorate General for Environment

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Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level

excluded that, in the Member State, levels of active dissemination will be different outside of the specific areas examined.

Moreover, the project aims to retrieve information on environmental data spread out in different locations and systems and to explore ways to collect this data in the most efficient manner. Targeted collection of environmental data through active dissemination could lower the administrative reporting burden in the Member States. Currently, the legal obligation to report and monitor throughout the full environmental domain shows a scattered landscape of different environment information systems targeted at specific regulatory monitoring and reporting obligations.

As a starting point, the situation for every Member State was analysed and summarised in a country fiche in which the current situation (2018 or earlier) on governance, content, sharing and usability performance of the national environmental systems are described. The country fiches are linked to the preparation of the guidance document for good practices for national environmental information systems. For more information on the project and the methodology, see the final paragraph of the country fiche and the project webpage (www.eis-data.eu ) 2 .

Governance By ‘governance’ we mean the structure that Member States have put in place for active dissemination of information and data on the environment. Good governance means that Member States actively disseminate environmental data and information in an (easy) accessible manner for all and the system is well-maintained and updated as frequently as feasible. In the Governance part we look into the structure and refer to INSPIRE, and the analyses is made based on the findings in the content part of the evaluation.

Spain has an interlinked system, there is one main environmental portal, which contains most of the information or is linked to other more specific portals, mostly sub portals of the main portal or portals run by other ministries. There are also separate portals for the regions (Cataluña, País Vasco, etc) linked to from the main portal. There is a separate INSPIRE portal, it is linked to from the main environmental portal but there is not a clear direct connection between INSPIRE data and the information provided in the main portal.

INSPIRE

2 During the duration of the project.

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Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level

The INSPIRE portal contains the means for searching, downloading and viewing the services and metadata available. There is a link between the main portal and the INSPIRE portal but no connection between the information in the main portal and the data in the INSPIRE portal.

Criterion Rating Remarks

1.1 How is the governance of dissemination of environmental data and information arranged? Spain has a has a interlinked system with the

portal of the miteco.gob.es as central access point.

1.2 What is the link with INSPIRE and the INSPIRE portal There is a link with INSPIRE portal although the

INSPIRE portal (SDI) is linked to from the main portal

ContentThe criteria on content indicate the ease of finding environmental data and information within a Member State. We searched in the six main environmental domains, Air, Biodiversity, Water, Chemicals, Industrial Emissions and Waste and restricted the search to one specific Directive as indicated above the tables. If the answer ‘not found’ is given it does not necessarily mean the information is not there, but it means we could not find it using the methodology set out in documents available on www.eis-data.eu.

General overviewMost of the content could be found on the main portal or links from there. There is a geoportal integrated in the main portal on several environmental domains that allows viewing most of the available information on the map. There is reference to the legal background both on national and European level for each of the environmental domains. The Ministry publishes a State of the Environment report every year, which is available in both Spanish and English.

Criterion Rating

Remarks

1.0 Are reports on state of the Environment provided? The Environmental Profile of Spain 2016.

Indicator-based Report [NIPO: 013-17-180-1] is found on miteco.gob.es

2.1 Is information on permits and licenses available? As a type of license Integrated Environmental

Authorization (AAI) is found on miteco.gob.es

Content criteria related to State of the Environmental report and permits/licenses

easily found (within 5 clicks); difficult to find (more than 5 clicks); not found

Content criteria related to legislation

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Search protocol

First search main environmental portal (and if relevant linked portals) via menu and keyword search

If not found, next search other relevant portals in longlist via menu and keyword search If not found, finally perform keyword search in general search engine

Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level

For the domain of Air, the following legislation is selected: Directive 2008/50/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2008 on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe. The criteria below are searched for in relation to this directive. For the search for monitoring data we focussed on data of air quality.

Air Rating Remarks

2.2 Are links to European legal base of this legislation provided? On miteco.gob.es with EU regulations and

amongst them Directive 2008/50 / EC

2.3 Are links to national policies, plans, programs related to environment linked to this legislation provided? A page with the Spanish Regulations on

miteco.gob.es

2.4 Are monitoring data (or summaries thereof) connected to this legislation provided? A search for air quality data (spatial or statistical) is performed.

in the Air Quality Viewer on miteco.gob.es

2.5 Are environmental impact studies connected to the legislation provided? On miteco.gob.es as an example the SABIA

Project: Information System for the telematic processing of environmental assessment procedures, consultation of Environmental Evaluation files.

2.6 Are the monitoring data found and provided according to the INSPIRE directive? No reference is made to an INSPIRE theme

related to the monitoring data found in 2.4.

2.7 Are historical datasets available of the monitoring data found? Data on Air Quality 2001-2016 for Andalucia on

juntadeandalucia.es (also other region are linked to)

2.8 Is metadata of the monitoring data found accessible and harvestable? On miteco.gob.es description of the data format

in pdf document is found

2.9 Is there an indication of quality control (incl. accuracy, consistency, coherence, completeness, schema validation) given for the monitoring data found?

Not found. No indication of quality control related to the monitoring data found in 2.4.

easily found (within 5 clicks); difficult to find (more than 5 clicks); not found

For the domain of Biodiversity, the following legislation is selected: Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora. The criteria below are searched for in relation to this directive. For the search for monitoring data we focussed on data of habitats.

Biodiversity Rating Remarks

2.10 Are links to European legal base of this legislation provided? Links to Community regulations / Directives on

miteco.gob.es

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Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level

2.11 Are links to national policies, plans, programs related to environment linked to this legislation provided? Links to Spanish regulations on miteco.gob.es

2.12 Are monitoring data (or summaries thereof) connected to this legislation provided? A search for habitat data (spatial or statistical) is performed.

Quick access to data possible to download a variety of data in different formats on miteco.gob.es

2.13 Are environmental impact studies connected to the legislation provided? As an example is found on miteco.gob.es

"Recommendations on the information necessary for include an adequate assessment of implications of projects on the Natura2000 network in the documents of evaluation of environmental impact of the a.g.e."

2.14 Are the monitoring data found provided according to the INSPIRE directive? On miteco.gob.es the page ‘Directory of services of

the Biodiversity activity area’ a WMS service is referred to compliant to INSPIRE

2.15 Are historical datasets available of the monitoring data found? There is no historical data available of the

monitoring data found in 2.12.

2.16 Is metadata of the monitoring data found accessible and harvestable? Metadata from the metadata catalogue in the

Spanish Geo portal (mapama.gob.es)

2.17 Is there an indication of quality control (incl. accuracy, consistency, coherence, completeness, schema validation) given for the monitoring data found?

Not found. No indication of quality control related to the monitoring data found in 2.12.

For the domain of Water, the following legislation is selected: Water frame directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy. The criteria below are searched for in relation to this directive. For the search for monitoring data we focussed on data of water quality data of WFD water bodies.

Water Rating Remarks

2.18 Are links to European legal base of this legislation provided? A page on miteco.gob.es with links to the WFD

2.19 Are links to national policies, plans, programs related to environment linked to this legislation provided? A page on miteco.gob.es with many links to

Legislation

2.20 Are monitoring data (or summaries thereof) connected to this legislation provided? A search for water quality data of WFD water bodies (spatial or statistical) is performed.

A Page on miteco.gob.es with different data sets: Gauging Yearbook: Official Network of Capacity Stations

2.21 Are environmental impact studies connected to the legislation provided? A page on miteco.gob.es with links to docs to

amongst others 'Water resources assessment'

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Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level

2.22 Are the monitoring data found in provided according to the INSPIRE directive? Reference to INSPIRE is made for the webservices

only on miteco.gob.es

2.23 Are historical datasets available of the monitoring data found? Historic discharges reports found on miteco.gob.es

2.24 Is metadata of the monitoring data found accessible and harvestable? Metadata from the metadatacatalogue in the

Spanish Geo portal (mapama.gob.es)

2.25 Is there an indication of quality control (incl. accuracy, consistency, coherence, completeness, schema validation) given for the monitoring data found?

Not found. No indication of quality control related to the monitoring data found in 2.20.

For the domain of Chemicals, the following legislation is selected: Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 – REACH of 18 December 2006 concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) and establishing a European Chemicals Agency. The criteria below are searched for in relation to this directive. For the search for monitoring data we focussed on data on presence of chemicals in soil or water.

Chemicals Rating Remarks

2.26 Are links to European legal base of this legislation provided? A page on miteco.gob.es with reach regulations

2.27 Are links to national policies, plans, programs related to environment linked to this legislation provided?

A page on miteco.gob.es with reach regulations

2.28 Are monitoring data (or summaries thereof) connected to this legislation provided? A search for presence of chemicals in soil or water (spatial or statistical) is performed.

No information was found on the main portal, nor in the other portals in the longlist or via keyword search in a general search engine

2.29 Are environmental impact studies connected to the legislation provided? No information was found on the main portal, nor in

the other portals in the longlist or via keyword search in a general search engine

2.30 Are the monitoring data found in provided according to the INSPIRE directive? No information on INSPIRE compliancy was found on

the portal since no monitoring data was found

2.31 Are historical datasets available of the monitoring data found? No information on INSPIRE compliancy was found on

the portal since no monitoring data was found

2.32 Is metadata of the monitoring data found accessible and harvestable? No metadata of the monitoring was found on the

portal since no information on monitoring data was found

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Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level

2.33 Is there an indication of quality control (incl. accuracy, consistency, coherence, completeness, schema validation) given for the monitoring data found?

No quality information since no information on monitoring data was found

For the domain of Industrial emissions, the following legislation is selected: Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control and the Regulation (EC) No 166/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 January 2006 concerning the establishment of a European Pollutant Release. The criteria below are searched for in relation to this directive. For the search for monitoring data we focussed on data of industrial emissions in air.

Industrial emissions Rating Remarks

2.34 Are links to European legal base of this legislation provided? A page on miteco.gob.es with European regulations

2.35 Are links to national policies, plans, programs related to environment linked to this legislation provided? A page on miteco.gob.es with national regulations

2.36 Are monitoring data (or summaries thereof) connected to this legislation provided? A search for data on industrial emissions in air (spatial or statistical) is performed.

A specific page for access to PRTR on prtr-es.es

2.37 Are environmental impact studies connected to the legislation provided? No information was found on the main portal, nor in

the other portals in the longlist or via keyword search in a general search engine

2.38 Are the monitoring data found in provided according to the INSPIRE directive? No reference is made to an INSPIRE theme related to

the monitoring data found in 2.36.

2.39 Are historical datasets available of the monitoring data found? A specific page for access to PRTR on prtr-es.es

2.40 Is metadata of the monitoring data found accessible and harvestable? No metadata related to the monitoring data found in

2.36 is found.

2.41 Is there an indication of quality control (incl. accuracy, consistency, coherence, completeness, schema validation) given for the monitoring data found?

No indication of quality control related to the monitoring data found in 2.36 is found.

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Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level

For the domain of Waste, the following legislation is selected: Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on waste. The criteria below are searched for in relation to this directive. For the search for monitoring data we focussed on data of amount of waste or landfill sites (spatial/statistical).

Criterion Rating Remarks

2.42 Are links to European legal base of this legislation provided? A page on miteco.gob.es with regulations

2.43 Are links to national policies, plans, programs related to environment linked to this legislation provided?

A page on miteco.gob.es with regulations

2.44 Are monitoring data (or summaries thereof) connected to this legislation provided? A search for data on produced waste or landfills (spatial or statistical) is performed.

In the Annual report on generation and waste management on miteco.gob.es data is provided in the documnet

2.45 Are environmental impact studies connected to the legislation provided? On miteco.gob.es a collection of environmental reports

and reports that integrate analysis and statistics of waste management in Spain

2.46 Are the monitoring data found in provided according to the INSPIRE directive? No reference to INSPIRE themes made for the

monitoring data found in 2.44.

2.47 Are historical datasets available of the monitoring data found? On miteco.gob.es an annual report on generation and

waste management

2.48 Is metadata of the monitoring data found accessible and harvestable? No metadata related to the monitoring data found in

2.44 is found.

2.49 Is there an indication of quality control (incl. accuracy, consistency, coherence, completeness, schema validation) given for the monitoring data found?

No indication of quality control related to the monitoring data found in 2.44 is found.

SharingThe criteria on sharing indicate the ease with which data and information provided by an environmental portal can be shared. Users can be persons to look up information and/or view and download the data on a portal, but it can also mean automatic extraction of data and information by harvesting.

For the main environmental portal miteco.gob.es the following issues regarding sharing are evaluated. On this portal most of the sharing criteria were met. There is a data and mapping component as a direct link to ithe geoporal (SDI/IDE), with means to view and download the data. Information on the license for re-use is not explicitly indicated on the main portal, although more in general is stated that sharing the data from the geoportal is one of the objectives. Only communication via the portal is possible with a general

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Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level

email address of the ministry found a bit hidden on the footer of the site. No communication with other users is possible.

Criterion Rating Remarks

3.1 Is it possible to view the data? On the geoportal of the ministry: sig.mapama.gob.es

3.2 Is it possible to download the data in most commonly used file formats? This is indicated in the metadata in the catalogue

on the geoportal mapama.gob.es

3.3 What communication possibilities are available? The only way offered is an email address hidden

in the contact information in the footer on the portal at miteco.gob.es

3.4 Is the license to re-use data published? No mention is made on the conditions on re-using

the data provided, although in general is stated the sharing the data from the geoportal is one of the objectives

3.5 Is access to registers or lists open? (catalogues, thesaurus, vocabularies) Found is this registry National Registry of

Emissions of Greenhouse Gases (RENADE) - Spanish Area of the Union Registry on renade.es only for registered users

3.6 Is environmental data freely available (free of charge)?  Data in the geoportal if available as download is

freely available mapama.gob.es

UsabilityThe criteria regarding the usability indicate the ease of use by consumers. For the main environmental portal miteco.gob.es the following issues regarding usability are evaluated.

Overall the main portal is easy to use, the information is well structured and can be in general easily found by navigating through the menu and the search is effective. The many different topics are presented in a clear fashion. The downside is that because of the many options the menu is very exhaustive and therefore it can be difficult sometimes to find the information looking for. Some of the choices in the main menu might have overlap or at least confuse the user where to look for specific information. Although effort is taken to present also in other languages, besides in local languages, also English and French the main part of the portal, the content, is mostly only presented in the Spanish language.

When searching for the content almost all found content was found by using the menu options of the portal, 27 out of 32 (84%). Only occasionally the search function was used. Furthermore 32 of the 50 searches were found (64%). Of the items that were found 17 out of 32 (53%) were found easily (within 5 clicks).

Criterion Rating Remarks

4.1 Are environmental indicators used? A web page on miteco.gob.es with Environmental Information - Environmental Indicators and Environmental profile of Spain. Report based on

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Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level

indicators

4.2 Are facilities to support the user provided? On the main page of miteco.gob.es most is

available

4.3 Are alternatives for visually and hearing-impaired users available? No aides were found.

4.4 Is the portal multi-lingual? On the main page hidden in the welcome bar 6 languages are presented, only limited content is available (only the front page) and mainly only menus are translated

4.5 How was your overall experience? The information is well structured and can be in general easily found by navigating through the menu and the search is effective. The many choices in the main menu might have overlap or at least confuse the user where to look for specific information

4.6 How do you judge the appearance of the site The menu is very exhaustive and therefore it can

get difficult sometimes to find the wanted information.

4.7 What is your impression of the complexity of the site The many different topics are presented in a clear

fashion

4.8 Percentage of criteria of content found by using the menu >66% (27 out of 32)

4.9 Percentage of criteria of content found 33-66% (32 out of 50)

4.10 Percentage Criteria of content found easily if found 33-66% (17 out of 32)

GuidanceOverall the main portal connects to all of the domains used in this evaluation. The following measures are considered helpful to improve the usefulness. Provide a proper connection for the information directly to the data in the (INSPIRE) geoportal in a consistent way. Secondly since no information is provided on the quality of the information and data this could be addressed better. For communication with the user no other options are offered then a generic email address, this can be extended by providing at least a contact form but preferable also other means to communicate with the proper experts and also to interact with other users.

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Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level

Longlist These are the EIS’s that were found for Spain during the first inventory. In the first column is indicated which column we encountered during the evaluation.

√ Portal Portal type URL Owner Administrator√ Ministry for Ecological

Transition website of the Ministry for Ecological Transition https://www.miteco.gob.es/es/

Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica Ministry for Ecological Transition

√ Environmental Information Network of Andalusia (REDIAM)

Environmental Information Network of Andalusia http://www.juntadeandalucia.es Government of Andalusia Government of Andalusia

√PRTR Spain

PRTR-Spain is the State Register of Emissions and Pollutant Sources http://www.prtr-es.es/

Ministry for Ecological Transition Ministry for Ecological Transition

√

RENADE

National Registry of Emissions of Greenhouse Gases (RENADE) - Spanish Area of the Union Registry http://www.renade.es

Ministry for Ecological Transition Ministry for Ecological Transition

√ Ministra de Agricultura y Pesca, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente

Environmental Quality and Assessment http://www.mapama.gob.es/en/ gob.es Ministerio de Agricultura y Pesca, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente

√ Infraestructura de DAtos Espaciales de Espana

Spanish Geodata Infrastructure including the national INSPIRE Portal

http://www.idee.es El Centro Nacional de Información Geográfica

El Centro Nacional de Información Geográfica

GeoEuskadi Spatial Data Infrastructure of Euskadi http://www.geo.euskadi.eus/s69-temas/es Euskadi.eus

SIA (Sistema Integrado de Información del Agua)

Water Information System for Spain http://hispagua.cedex.es/datos

Datos medio ambiente Environmental data for Catalunya https://web.gencat.cat/es/temes/mediambient/ Generalitat de Catalunya Generalitat de Catalunya

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Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level

Reference to project and methodologyThe evaluation was carried out by at least two members of the project team for ‘Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level’. Differences between the results of both evaluations are discussed and checked and this country fiche visualises the results. For background information and references regarding the method we refer to the guidance document available at www.eis-data.eu.

DisclaimerThis draft country fiche is part of an ongoing project and is work in progress. This document has been prepared for the European Commission however it reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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