June 09, 2011 -- Muenster, Germany – con terra GmbH, a market leader in GIS providing solutions for Spatial Data Infrastructures and INSPIRE, is pleased to announce that the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH), UK, is fulfilling its requirement to be compliant with both INSPIRE and GEMINI2 by using con terra’s sdi.suite.

After successfully going live with the Information Gateway in September 2010, CEH have now launched phase 2, adding support for GEMINI2. Using sdi.suite as a core, the CEH Information Gateway provides a web portal that enables users to discover and bind to spatial data resources within CEH and throughout the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Metadata records describing these resources conform to both INSPIRE and the UK GEMINI2 profile, ensuring compliance at both the National and International level.

sdi.suite securityManager ensures that the right people get access to the right data, while sdi.suite serviceMonitor will allow both administrators and users to gauge the health of spatial services essential to the usefulness of the Information Gateway. Future plans include the use of sdi.suite licenseManager to allow for broader access to spatial services and data, while protecting the rights of CEH and related organisations.

Gwyn Rees, Director of the Environmental Information Data Centre at CEH, said, “Implementation of con terra’s sdi.suite is helping us to play a leading role with regard to INSPIRE compliance in the UK. sdi.suite underpins the CEH Information Gateway, enabling us to provide easy access to a wide range of terrestrial and freshwater datasets . Datasets and map view services can be harvested into the UK INSPIRE Portal, and potentially onwards to other portals across Europe, providing increased exposure for CEH science, and added value for policymakers and the wider public.”

The CEH Information Gateway helps to deliver national capability in the environmental sciences in order to underpin the NERC research themes and to meet the challenges set out in the current CEH Science Strategy, Integrated Science for our Changing World.

About The Centre for Ecology & Hydrology:
The Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) is the UK's Centre of Excellence for integrated research in the land and freshwater ecosystems and their interaction with the atmosphere. CEH is part of the Natural Environment Research Council, employs more than 450 people at four major sites in England, Scotland and Wales, hosts over 150 PhD students, and has an overall budget of about £35m. CEH tackles complex environmental challenges to deliver practicable solutions so that future generations can benefit from a rich and healthy environment. www.ceh.ac.uk You can follow the latest developments in CEH research via twitter www.twitter.com/CEHScienceNews and a rss news feed http://www.ceh.ac.uk/rss/rss.xml

About con terra:
Founded in 1993, con terra specialises in the creation of products and solutions for building Spatial Data Infrastructures. By participating in R&D projects and standardization procedures and taking an active role in committees and working groups for the GDI-DE, OGC, and INSPIRE, amongst others, con terra is able to detect future trends at an early stage, allowing the company to exercise an impact early on, delivering IT solutions through the ArcGIS, FME and sdi.suite family of products and supporting professional services.
con terra offers consultancy, products, training and Geo-IT solutions to a high standard. Years of experience, industry expertise and innovative power form the basis of the company’s daily activities. con terra attaches great importance to the cost-effectiveness and sustainability of its solutions. For this reason, con terra believes in supporting efficient work processes, maximum interoperability, and international standards. Strong, partner-based relationships with customers have always been an essential factor.
The conceptual design and implementation of spatial data infrastructures and web portals are one of con terra’s main fields of activity. The company has many positive references on both national and international levels. http://www.conterra.de/index_en.asp

About Esri UK
Esri UK is the leading provider of geographic information system (GIS) technology, helping businesses become more profitable and public service more efficient through a better understanding and analysis of location-based information. Esri UK offers an extensive range of GIS technology and professional services and is the only company in the UK providing a complete and entirely integrated GIS solution.
Esri UK has been providing GIS solutions for over 20 years to a wide range of markets including Central & Local Government, Commercial, Defence & National Security, Education, Public Safety, Utilities & Telecommunications, as well as catering for system integrators and application developers through the Esri Developer Network. http://www.esriuk.com/

Esri UK is the UK’s authorised reseller of sdi.suite
For more information on sdi.suite, visit: http://www.conterra.de/en/products/sdi/index.shtm