Frequently Asked Questions

Are the GSE Land services operationally available today and how can I purchase a dataset for my area of interest?

All services offered by GSE Land are in an operational status and can be delivered in all European member states. Examples of all validated services are accessible via the GSE Land data server free of charge.

If a specific GSE Land services is needed in additional areas, interested customers are asked to contact the GSE Land consortium , and an individual solution will be designed.

Does the service development in GSE Land threaten any jobs, as the new services may replace existing methods of acquiring information?

The European environmental directives are require a new, additional type of information and services which are a challenge to all member states and public institutions in charge. Existing services are not replaced. Instead, GSE Land services are trying to support public institutions by offering efficient means to report and manage all obligations arising from the new European demands.

Hence, rather than threatening jobs, sustainable GMES services will strengthen the service industry and, thus, will assure existing jobs and will create new ones when the services are installed on a sustainable basis.

When will the GSE Land services be available for all of Europe , and is it planned to generate them for regions outside of Europe as well?

All GSE Land services can be offered for the entire area of Europe today. Currently it is being discussed which part of the services will be in the responsibility of the European Commission, i.e. become a “European GMES Core Service” funded by the Commission and which will be put in the responsibility of member states and/or regions based on the subsidiary principle.

For regions outside of Europe all GSE Land services can be offered. The only limitations are related to available funds and – for the downstream services – to the availability of ancillary data which are driving the environmental models used.

Will public authorities be able to access the services developed in GSE Land free of charge? If not, what will the typical price for such a service be?

GMES services do comprise two levels: a European level which will offer a certain amount of services (e.g. the mapping products) free of charge for all member states and a national / regional level. For the latter, access to data will be restricted according to national / regional decisions.

The price for national to local adaptations is dependent of many issues like level of detail and ancillary data available. Hence, a standard product on that level does not exist. However, all GSE Land service providers are ready to respond to any customer request on short notice to discuss prices and conditions once the technical details are known.

Is the access to GSE Land services limited to public authorities or can private companies obtain them as well?

The accessibility depends on the service in question. For example, private industries certainly can access the mapping products under regular commercial conditions. However, downstream products usually rely on additional data owned by public authorities – in such cases, individual solutions could be arranged, but there is no general accessibility of such data for private industries.

One of the services described on this website is of interest to me – it might be able to help me in my working environment, too. How can I obtain this service in order to test and validate it?

Free access to the service results is granted via the GSE Land geo-data server for non-commercial applications.

If a specific GSE Land services is needed in additional areas, interested customers are asked to contact the GSE Land consortium , and an individual solution will be designed.

I think that I have some capability that might help the GSE Land consortium in its work, thus I would like to join the consortium in order to contribute to the project. Is this possible, and what do I need to do?

The GSE Land consortium is certainly open to new partners in the framework of the open Service Partnership Network currently under establishment. We suggest that you send us an eMail describing how exactly you feel you could contribute to this project and / or your detailed reasons to want to join the GMES Service Partnership Network. Your eMail will be directed to the right contact point, and your suggestions will be evaluated.

I am interested in more detailed information on a specific service, and have not been able to extract it from either this website or the GSE Land geodata server . Whom should I contact with my questions?

Please send us an eMail detailing your specific point of interest. This eMail will be directed to the appropriate point of contact, and they will get in touch with you as soon as possible.

I have noticed that many of the partners involved in GSE Land are also involved in the EC FP-6 IP geoland. Don't these two projects have redundancies, and don't the partners benefit from doing the same work only once, but getting paid for it from two different funding sources?

While geoland focuses on the consolidation of GMES services with a strong research and development component, GSE Land demonstrates capabilities for serving large areas with consolidated and validated services. Thus, there is no overlap but a close cooperation between both projects, exploiting synergies e.g. through common user and service provider platforms.

The “G” in GMES stands for Global. Yet, the GSE Land service development seems to be limited to European requirements as well as test areas. Are there plans to expand these services beyond Europe ?

GSE Land focuses on serving European public users. Only a few cities outside Europe will be mapped. However, all services can be offered at any place of Earth if input data (EO data for mapping and ancillary data for downstream modeling and indicator work) is available.