Objectives

ESA´s GMES Service Element (GSE) "GSE Land Information Services" is aimed to deliver geo-information services over large areas and for a wide spectrum of land applications, focusing on the GMES priorities "Land Cover Change in Europe", and "Environmental Stress in Europe". The GSE Land geo-information services are based on general geo-information on Land Cover and Vegetation (LC&V) created from Earth Observation (EO) data which is harmonised and standardised allowing cross-border applications and comparisons.

By integrating this information into existing user-side infrastructure supporting validated and accepted models and management tools international and national public institutions are supported to fulfil their reporting and management obligations coming from new European Directives and Policies (such as the Water Framework Directive, the Urban Thematic Strategy, the Soil Thematic Strategy, NATURA2000, etc.) in an improved way.