An IDE is the set of technologies, policies, standards, human resources and related activities that are necessary for acquiring, processing, distributing, utilising, maintaining and preserving spatial data.
An IDE is therefore an IT system which integrates a set of resources (catalogues, servers, programs, data, applications, web pages) with which geographical information (maps, orthophotos, satellite pictures, toponyms), available on the internet, which satisfy a set of interoperability conditions (standards, specifications, protocols, interfaces) which enable users, through a simple navigator, to use and combine them as needed.