Maps can be accessed using the links below:

• Belfast office
• Dublin office

Please email your request to info@inispho.org.

If you would like to find out more about any of the information on our website, please email info@inispho.org.

Metadata (“data about data”) is a term describing the set of details used to catalogue a knowledge resource such as a book’s title, its creator or its subject. Metadata standards define what details are to be recorded and how they are to be recorded. They are vital pieces of the infrastructure enabling knowledge resources to be described, managed, accessed, retrieved and shared.

It is the collaborative approach of the Observatory together with its co-ordinating unit that makes it different. The Observatory will make it easier for professionals to access the data they need to inform their work. It will work to promote and/or validate robust methodologies and will work towards common agreed standards in data collection. Partners will work together to actively promote and disseminate the work currently undertaken. The central unit will ensure that all these activities are co-ordinated, in line with the needs of users and easily accessible.

There are many individuals, departments and organisations currently engaged in work that supports the aims of the Observatory. Yet this work is neither consistent nor co-ordinated. It is undertaken in different ways by different organisations. There is duplication of effort, particularly across organisational boundaries. There is a general lack of awareness about the work of others and the range of information that could be shared.

There is a need for enhanced access to accurate, up-to-date information and data regarding the health, economic, social and environmental characteristics of the Island. Complementing the work at local level, the Observatory will provide analysis of information relating to the Island's population.  An Observatory will strengthen the availability and use of information at a local level through the development of networks.

An Observatory is a ‘situation or structure commanding a wide view, with the ability to observe from an elevated position’.  What this means for us is the creation of a function with the capacity to ‘observe’ the health, social and economic information available in the region: who is collecting it and how, who needs to gain access to it, and who has the potential to contribute. But the Observatory will do much more than observe what is going on.