# Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2007 establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE), Article 3

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

For the purposes of this Directive, the following definitions shall apply:
1.. ‘infrastructure for spatial information’ means metadata, spatial data sets and spatial data services; network services and technologies; agreements on sharing, access and use; and coordination and monitoring mechanisms, processes and procedures, established, operated or made available in accordance with this Directive;
2.. ‘spatial data’ means any data with a direct or indirect reference to a specific location or geographical area;
3.. ‘spatial data set’ means an identifiable collection of spatial data;
4.. ‘spatial data services’ means the operations which may be performed, by invoking a computer application, on the spatial data contained in spatial data sets or on the related metadata;
5.. ‘spatial object’ means an abstract representation of a real-world phenomenon related to a specific location or geographical area;
6.. ‘metadata’ means information describing spatial data sets and spatial data services and making it possible to discover, inventory and use them;
7.. ‘interoperability’ means the possibility for spatial data sets to be combined, and for services to interact, without repetitive manual intervention, in such a way that the result is coherent and the added value of the data sets and services is enhanced;
8.. ‘Inspire geo-portal’ means an Internet site, or equivalent, providing access to the services referred to in Article 11(1);
9.. ‘public authority’ means:
(a) any government or other public administration, including public advisory bodies, at national, regional or local level;
(b) any natural or legal person performing public administrative functions under national law, including specific duties, activities or services in relation to the environment; and
(c) any natural or legal person having public responsibilities or functions, or providing public services relating to the environment under the control of a body or person falling within (a) or (b).
Member States may provide that when bodies or institutions are acting in a judicial or legislative capacity, they are not to be regarded as a public authority for the purposes of this Directive;
10.. ‘third party’ means any natural or legal person other than a public authority.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudr/2007/2/article/3 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-directive-2007-2/article-3
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.