Strasbourg Shares Richest Geographical Database in France

For many years 1Spatial, a global spatial software firm which manages some of the world’s biggest spatial data, has been working in close collaboration with Eurométropole de Strasbourg to create and maintain a single source of authoritative geospatial data.

Strasbourg has been at the forefront of urban mapping and geographical information systems (GIS) for many years. Strasbourg had been an early adopter of GIS systems and, over time, it had developed a number of internal systems. In 2005, experiencing a number of interoperability challenges between these systems, Strasbourg developed requirements for a new system and invited interested companies to tender for the project. Strasbourg selected 1Spatial as best meeting their requirements and the two organisations worked closely to develop a solution built on 1Spatial’s Elyx Suite.

The resulting database contains 10 million features including 200,000 parcels of land, 150,000 buildings and 1,500km of road. It has over 1,000 separate classes of feature. As Michel Rosio – head of the Geographic Information and Development Department within the Information Systems, Telecommunications and Networks Service – explained, users have access, through Elyx Web, to over 50 different default themes for networks and feature sets such as the water and sanitation system or lighting. It is one of the largest and richest databases in France and there are few equivalents in Germany or Switzerland.

Interoperability

Michel Rosio said Elyx is now their repository for geospatial data. It is the heart of geospatial system and disseminates information to all other tools which use geospatial information. The source of data is always managed within Elyx. With a single, common data set, one set of geospatial symbology and one management and admin process, Strasbourg ensures quality and saves time and money, Rosio added.

Strasbourg also shares geospatial data with many partners. Special partnerships have been contracted with network and public operators. The Elyx solution has enabled Strasbourg to improve its data-sharing services, improving interoperability and automating some data exchanges processes.

For the full case study go here.