The development of a SDI, in Europe and elsewhere, has many aspects. Some are more technological in nature, and others have to do with organizational, financial and juridical issues. In this paper we will focus on an issue that is identified in the INSPIRE report of September 2003 as having a high priority: harmonization. We will look at two aspects: data (model) integration and data access policy.
As far as data integration is concerned we propose a 'light' approach: for the shared use of geoinformation in a SDI strict harmonization of data models is not always necessary.
In the field of data access policy two EU Directives came into effect, one on the reuse of public sector information, and one on data protection. Both make a first step towards harmonization of data access policy, but further steps will be necessary.