The Ministry of the Environment and Conservation, Agriculture and Consumer Protection of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia, launched the Geoinformation System for Integrated Rural Development portal (Geoinformationssystem für die integrierte ländliche Entwicklung - GISILE, in German) at the beginning of June 2010.

Commenting on the launch of GISILE, the Minister, Eckhard Uhlenberg said that the portal "...will make an important contribution to eGovernment in the 'Rural Development' and 'Land Use' domains. The new information system facilitates the communication between the authorities on the one hand and citizens and businesses on the other."

GISILE offers at any time, user-friendly and updated spatial data for the main tasks pertaining to the integrated rural development in North Rhine-Westphalia, which include:

• The rural development - with information on the LEADER regions, the integrated rural development and the village development plans; and,  
• The land division - with information on the procedures under the Land Consolidation Act, the Division of Common Land Act and the Community Forest Act.

The GISILE portal provides access to aerial photographs, maps and data and replies to questions related to the following issues: Where has the land order procedure taken place already? What are the objectives to be achieved with the land consolidation? Does a community belong to a LEADER region or to a region with an integrated rural development? Who is the contact person for the development policy? How can users contribute with their own ideas and proposals to the rural development process?

Further information:

• Official Press Release - Ministry of the Environment and Conservation, Agriculture and Consumer Protection of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia (in German)
• Geoinformation System for Integrated Rural Development (in German)