About the platform

What is IDEAMB?
An SDI platform (spatial data infrastructure, IDE in Catalan) is a computer system integrated by a set of resources (catalogs, servers, software, data, etc.) focused on geographic information management, which are accessible via the Internet and comply with a set of interoperability conditions (standards, specifications, protocols, etc.) and that allow users to use and combine them according to their needs, simply using a web browser.

In this way, an SDI can be described as a set of computer components that interact to facilitate cataloging and subsequent access to the different geographic information resources (data sets and Web services) that an organization generates. This cataloging is materialized by a set of attributes of the resource that describe it and are known as "metadata".

IDEAMB is, consequently, the metropolitan infrastructure that facilitates the management and exploitation of the geographic information resources produced by the AMB.

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What components form an SDI?
The IDEAMB platform integrates the following components:
  • Geographical data: data referring to a location on the land (georeferenced) and that represent objects from the real world (rivers, roads, land uses, contour lines, etc.).
  • Services: functionalities associated to the layers of information offered through the web, based on open and interoperable standards in order to facilitate user access to all published data. Among the most important services offered by an IDE we can find discovery, visualization, download or transformation services, collected by the European INSPIRE directive, based in many cases on standards published by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC).
  • Metadata: they inform users on the descriptive characteristics (content, quality, contact, etc.) of geographic resources, either data sets or geographic services. In the case of data sets, the metadata collected is specified by the ISO 19115 standard and, more specifically, the is stipulated in the AMB profile of the mentioned standard. In the case of web services, the AMB profile is derived from the 19119 standard..
  • Technology: refers to the computer architecture that supports the client-server interaction, through which the server processes requests of several clients and delivers the appropriated responses. In the case of IDEAMB, requests are made through user interfaces such as the catalog, which allows searches of geographic resources, and a set of tools that allow them to be viewed (the IDEAMB viewer, the cartography geoportal and the geoportal of the consolidated urban planning).
  • Rules and standards: they are voluntary application documents that regulate and guarantee the interoperability of the geographic information, so that data and web services can be located, interpreted and transferred through the web. The standards followed in IDEAMB have been previously specified.
  • Political agreements: they allow to establish coordinated actions between institutions, through a legal framework with legal and technical effects that support the implementation of the IDE at all levels of the organization.
  • Actors: users that have a role within the IDE, among which there are data producers, intermediaries and users.

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Why is it necessary?
"It is the infrastructure that facilitates the management and exploitation of the geographic information resources produced by the AMB. The objective is to facilitate the dissemination of the geographic information resources generated by the metropolitan administration, and its creation is linked to the regulatory context defined by the European Parliament Directive INSPIRE 2007/2/CE (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe).

INSPIRE defines a set of general rules for the establishment of a spatial data infrastructure (IDE) within the European Union (EU), based on the infrastructures of the different state members. The implementation of INSPIRE implies the compatibility and homogenization of geographical information that can be used and exchanged within the framework of the European Union. The exchange is based on five fundamental principles among which, for the purposes of this document, we would like to point out that "the information must be easy to locate and must specify the conditions of acquisition and use, as well as to offer detail enough so that the user can determine if it fits to the purposes".

This directive is mandatory by any government or public administration of a local, regional or national level that produces geographic information in electronic format and that is related to some of the 34 issues of the directive and that is within its competence.

The transposition of the INSPIRE directive into the Spanish legal framework (LISIGE), as well as other regulations and initiatives at the regional level, have defined the architectural and content framework of the IDEAMB.

Directive INSPIRE

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Terms of use
Users of the applications and services included on the IDEAMB platform must accept the legally binding terms and conditions of use, and it is well understood that the use of any one of the applications and services implies full agreement of the conditions, without reserve of any nature. These terms and conditions of use shall be in force for an indefinite period, and the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (hereinafter, ‘AMB') reserves the right to modify them.

The following points are especially relevant for users, who
  • shall not access applications in a manner that damages, deteriorates, disables or overloads the offered services and/or information;
  • shall not interfere in the use of these services on behalf of third parties;
  • shall not try to access places, services or computer systems belonging to IDEAMB or networks connected to IDEAMB without authorisation (when it is compulsory), nor through intrusive activities (hacking), nor using any other unauthorised means.
The AMB reserves the right to temporally suspend access to any of IDEAMB's applications or services without prior notice, in a discretional and temporary manner.
  • Use of the content and services of IDEAMB
    To all intents and purposes, the AMB's datasets included on the IDEAMB platform are subject to different restrictions of use, which expressly include the metadata associated to each one of them.

    In cases where the AMB allows the dissemination of datasets via downloading tools or web services, they shall always be published under the terms and conditions of use of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), as defined in the websites below:
    Property shall be attributed as follows:
    1. For datasets used without modifying or altering the original digital information, either one of the following expressions shall be used:
      • "<date > CC-BY 4.0 Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB)"
      • "<date > CC-BY 4.0 amb.cat"
        • The <date > tag shall be replaced by the value corresponding to the publication date included in the metadata associated to the datasets. It is compulsory to give appropriate credit and it must be displayed in a legible manner together with the data underneath the map, image, presentation or display window. In the event of obvious and justifiable impossibility, it may be included in lists of layers or in services, legends, content tables or credits, always ensuring that the origin and ownership of the AMB is clear.
    2. For the use of services that are not altered in any way, it will be necessary to use the method for giving attribution established for the coupled data used in each case; if there are no coupled data, the method included in the description of the original service, in the <AccessConstraints> tag, shall be used.
    3. Whenever a licenced user creates a work derived from one or more of the AMB's datasets or services, the words "Work derived from" shall be added before the aforementioned general expression.
    4. If a user creates a new dataset derived from the AMB's original, in addition to the attribution given by the previously described expressions, the licenced party is obliged to also include these expressions in the metadata, specifically in the following metadata elements or their equivalent: abstract, lineage and AccessConstraints.
    5. If a user creates a new web service as a result of altering coupled datasets or the original service, it is obliged to also include the previously described attribution expressions in the description of the service (GetCapabilities or similar) and the service metadata, specifically the otherConstraints metadata elements, the abstract or equivalent.
    6. Exceptionally, provided there are justified and reasoned grounds and the AMB is previously notified, the parties may agree on different attribution mechanisms. Users may use the IDEAMB's datasets and geographic information services with express authorisation, without visibly mentioning or including the origin and ownership of the AMB.
    If you require clarification in relation to granting this licence, you may request it by sending an email to ide@amb.cat.

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