One more book I added to blog. This book describe, how Spatial Data Infrastructure can be used for regional development and environment protection. See the book https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266565005_INSPIRE_and_Social_Empowerment_for_Environmental_Sustainability_Results_from_the_HABITATS_project
And here is abstract:
The INSPIRE (INSPIRE, 2007) Directive represents perhaps the most ambitious attempt to date by the European Union to harmonize standards in the area of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT). INSPIRE indeed addresses nearly every aspect of the representation of geographical and spatial information, namely maps and what is shown on them: how information is structured (data formats), how that information is described to facilitate external access (metadata), and finally how computer systems can select, retrieve, and display that information (SDI or Spatial Data Infrastructures). The potential impact of INSPIRE promised to be quite significant when the Directive was first approved in March 2007. So-called Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are in fact a fundamental tool for a range of uses with a strong pan-European dimension, such as environmental monitoring, spatial planning, and other activities with a strong policy and/or legal dimension. The situation leading up to INSPIRE, of severe issues of interoperability not only between EU Member States but also between different levels of administration for the same area, was severely hampering efforts to define coherent strategies in areas such as climate change management, trans-European transportation networks, and protection of endangered species.