An IDE's components

Data

There is currently an international consensus on the classification of IDE-processable spatial data according to geographical-based information or telematics.

Databases: These are basic georeferenced data which serve as a basis for constructing or referencing any other basic or telematic data. In serving as a uniting link or nexus, they act as reference geographic information providing a common basis that allows the mixing and integration of any type of application data.
Thematic data: These are the actual data of specific applications which make use of geographical information for a specific purpose. The include qualitative and quantitative values which correspond to attributes associated with the reference data, for example, climate, traffic and pollution.

Metadata

Metadata inform users of the features of existing data in a way that they can understand the origin and the purpose of the data, so that they can find and select which data are of interest to them and can use this data as effectively as possible. That is why the information included in metadata refer to the date of the data as well as their content, scope, spatial reference system, origin, purpose, distribution, legal restrictions, frequency of updating and quality etc.

The structure and content of metadata are based on ISO 19115 standard, which provides the procedures for describing the sets of geographical information that profiles can be developed from. Creating an accepted set of definitions and terminology helps with the data's organisation, maintenance, access and inter-organisational exchange, for the sake of the information's appropriate use.

The INSPIRE Directive makes it compulsory to fill in a minimum number of mandatory fields for sets of geographical information, which define the profile. INSPIRE classifies the various sets of geographical information into themes included in their annexes, and lays down the necessary rules for ensuring interoperability.

Service

Group of functionalities offered to users that are accessible via the internet. The most important standardisation body in this area is the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). The main services are as follows:

Map service: WMS (Web Map Service) and WMTS (Web Map Tile Service): The WMS service defined by the OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) produces dynamically referred spatial data maps based on geographical information. Clients do not actually obtain original data through this service, but rather a digital image which allows representations of these same spatial data on their computer screens.; As with the WMS, the WMTS service provides a digital image based on geographical data, but considerably increases the speed of the response, as it uses tile collections or portions of pre-generated images, at defined scale intervals.
Entity publication service - Web Feature Service (WFS): A WFS allows consultation and recuperation of vectorial data and its related alphanumerical data; it furthermore allows consultations both spatial and alphanumerical consultations to be carried out there, as well as the processing of the geometry itself (WFS-T). In our case, this service is limited to organisations under agreements, with the appropriate contents for the receiver entities' needs.
Geolocalisation Service: By postal address and street junction. Open LS access interface for gaining access to corporate geocodification databases.
Metadata Catalogue Service for the Web (CSW): A metadata catalogue service based on the CSW standard (with INSPIRE profile, in this case). It allows for searches and consultations of data-set metadata registries and web services from the spatial data infrastructure.