DS GISCO > Overview - EN

GISCO is the Geographic Information System of the Commission. It provides the European Commission with geographical information, meeting its needs at 3 levels: EU, Member State and regional.

In addition to creating statistical and other thematic maps, GISCO manages a database of geographical information, and provides related services to the Commission. Its database contains core geographical data covering:

  • the whole of Europe, e.g. administrative boundaries
  • thematic geospatial information, e.g. population grid data.

Some data are available for the general public to download, and it may be used for non-commercial purposes. See the geodata section for further details and information about any forthcoming new or updated datasets.

GISCO also coordinates Commission-wide geographical information activities. It seeks to promote the use of geographical information and the geographical information system (GIS) within the European Statistical System (ESS) and the Commission. GISCO chairs the working group on the integration of statistical and geospatial information, which includes representatives of national statistical institutes (NSI) and national mapping and cadastral authorities (NMCA). See the initiatives section for further information.

Geospatial data – a key factor in statistics

Location is a key feature of virtually all official statistics. It provides the structure for collecting, processing, storing, analysing and aggregating data. The specific geographic feature, e.g. location, is often shared by different statistical datasets.

Moreover, location is a concept that most people are comfortable with. Therefore, statistics on a specific area can help them understand the relevance of particular information. The most important location framework at EU level is the NUTS classification. GISCO, in cooperation with the NMCAs and national statistical institutes (NSIs), produces the NUTS boundaries, which can be downloaded free of charge, subject to certain conditions.

Geography can also change for many reasons, making it tricky to compare statistics over time. Examples include:

  • frequent changes in administrative boundaries within EU countries
  • new roads
  • urban sprawl, changing land use and land cover.

GISCO's database provides the up-to-date information needed to process, analyse and report on statistics, and to plot the final information on statistical maps.