Study visits to Croatia an Poland for the experts of the Agency for Land Relations and Cadastre, facilitated by the EU-funded Twinning project
The summer 2022 brought about a new dynamic to the Twinning EU-funded project “Improving spatial data services in the Republic of Moldova following EU standards”. Once the COVID-19 travel restrictions were lifted, a series of new activities were possible to be carried out throughout June to August 2022. The novelty of this period were the two long awaited study visits, which took place in Croatia and Poland. By sharing their experiences and good practices, the experts from both EU Member States provided new ideas and insights to the beneficiaries on how to develop the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) in their own institutions in the Republic of Moldova.
During 6-10 June 2022, a team of nine experts from Agency for Land Relations and Cadastre (ALRC) and S.E. INGEOCAD participated in the first study visit to Zagreb, Croatia. The experts of the Croatian State Geodetic Administration (SGA) shared their own experience related to the implementation status of the EU INSPIRE Directive, geoportals, LIDAR technology, EU funded projects, and other NSDI related activities of the institution. Furthermore, the Moldovan delegation had the opportunity to meet with other experts who deal with spatial data infrastructure in the City of Zagreb, Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, Paying Agency for Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development, Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service, Croatian Mountain Rescue Service as well as Faculty of Geodesy, University of Zagreb.
Furthermore, between 27 June and 1 July 2022, nine participants who represented ALRC, S.E. INGEOCAD, Agency for Public Services (Cadastre Department), S.E. Planning Institute for Land Management (IPOT), S.E. State Roads Administration, Ungheni City Hall and S.E. Institute of Forestry Research and Planning joined the study visit to Warsaw, Poland. The beneficiaries were acquainted with the way of using the spatial data infrastructure of the Polish Head Office for Geodesy and Cartography and other administrative entities in Poland, such as the Central Bureau of Statistics and the Municipal Center of Geodetic and Cartographic Documentation from Krakow. They provided insightful information on how to keep documents, record land and buildings, as well as talked about the municipal spatial information system.
Besides the study visits, within the 1st Component, Sustainable National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Governance established, progress was made with the Licencing Report which contains all type of licenses (specific and open, commercial and non-commercial) developed for certain scenarios relevant to the current situation in the Republic of Moldova.
In the scope of the 3rd Component, Use of the existing data within the NSDI enabled, the mission was carried mid July 2022 with the on-site participation of the SGA experts. As a result of the working sessions, the Report on the Information Flows and Data Processing was drawn up. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of workflow for datasets acquisition, dissemination and maintenance methodology for data transfer, to provide basic information about the Big Geospatial Data management as well as to give recommendations for the information flows and data processing of the datasets for which the ALRC is responsible.
Related to the horizontal project activities, following the agreement of all the project parties in June 2022, the Twinning project implementation was officially extended by 6 months. Another key event for the project in this period was the 8th Steering Committee Meeting organised for the first time on-site, on 14 July 2022. The participants unanimously approved the Interim Quarterly Report no. 7 and the Rolling Work Plan no. 8 for the upcoming period.