In the course of their work, local authorities create lots of mapping data, for example green belt land, tree preservation orders and planning data. If this data is held on an electronic map and falls under an INSPIRE category, then they are required to publish the data.
The Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE) is a directive passed by the European Commission to establish a European-wide spatial (mapping) data infrastructure.
It aims to:
- improve the joining up of and access to existing mapping data across the European Union
- improve how mapping data is shared between public authorities
- improve public access to mapping data
Wirral Council has published mapping data which can be searched using the data.gov.uk discovery service.