RES
The National Inventory of sport facilities, sport areas
and sites
A Ministry led – initiative for the development of sport
French Ministry for sports, youth, non
formal education and voluntary
organisations
Department of sport facilities
Sabine Quimbert
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Collected data
• The database concerns all public and private
facilities opened to everyone (including school
facilities,
holiday
and
leisure
centers,
neighbourhoods venues)
• More than 263 000 sport facilities and 57 000
areas, where air, water and ground sports can be
practiced, in mainland France and overseas
territories
• More than 30 000 000 data can be used directly by
decision makers in the field of sport
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How dit it start ?
• In 2003, a MP stressed the need for a national inventory. There were
local initiatives but a lack of reliable information on the national level
• On this basis, as sports facilities have a strong impact on sport
practicing, the Ministry in charge of sports launched, in 2004, an
ambitious inventory of all sports facilities (named R.E.S.)
• In 2006-2007, the national inventory was mainly financed by a State
agency in charge of promoting sports. Its funds come from the
National Lottery, online sports betting and receipts from TV sport
shows.
• This inventory has been developed in a participative way. A national
committee has been created to develop inter-sectoral collaboration. It
involves regional and local authorities and the sports movement
(National olympic committee + federations)
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Objectives of the tool
• Provide detailed information on the current situation of
sport facilities in France
• Develop a shared understanding for spatial planning
• Assist in decision making and steering people
• Reinforce the consistency of sports policies
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Data Collection
•
According to the French law, owners of sports facilities have to
declare their infrastructure (a specific form is available on
Internet). But only 30% of new equipments are declared this way
•
The data collection is made by decentralised services of the
Ministry of sports. There are more than 100 local services in the
country. The updating of the database requires 250 part-time
state-employees. State regional services also have part-time work
contracts with people (such as students or senior citizens) who
collect the data for a few months (by phone or on the spot)
•
The data are checked every 4 years, depending on the size of
each town
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The RES database is online and
offline
Open access on :
www.res.sports.gouv.fr
The intranet has more detailed
information
Key figures :
• 86% of sport facilities belong to public owners (75% belong to
municipalities)
• 1987 is the median year for the opening of sport facilities in
France
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Searching for a facility on
www.res.sports.gouv.fr
Facilities per
capita (Bretagne)
Characteristics
To geo-localize on the
map (INSEP)
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Distribution of the 260 000 sport
facilities in France
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Exemple of use : a map showing
access to indoor pools in France
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Maps and key figures to be discussed by
decision makers
• In 2011, the Atlas of French sports
facilities by categories has been
published with :
 Maps with the distribution of swimming
pools, tennis courts, gyms …
 Ownership and management of sports
facilities
 Ratios in 2011 : infrastructures per capita
 Key-figures : ex : 1 pool, in average, per
10.000 inhabitants (0,5 for indoor pools) ;
6,5 tennis courts …
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Knowing the limits of the tool
• It is important to have a common tool but it’s only a part
of the information for decision-makers
• A nation-wide database can’t involve specific data : the
use of each equipment isn’t included (no time-tables,
clubs, prices,…). There is little information on public
transports
• More important, the demand for sport facilities is not
included (only the supply). Local surveys and further
analysis are necessary : What do people want locally ? Are
there specificities in sport practising ? …
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Main uses
• The State agency in charge of promoting sports uses the database to
define which projects need to be granted in priority. Municipalities mainly
finance sports infrastructures (+ 70% of the investment) but the « Trust »
aims at softening disparities
• Some local authorities use the data for their geographic information
system. Ex : http://sigr.iau-idf.fr/webapps/visiau/sport.php
http://www.sjs.gov.pf/res/res.html
• In the Ministry’s annual report to the Parliament, there are indicators such
as the number of French « departments » below 80% of the national
average for a mix of important infrastructures
• Anybody with his/her/its own question. For instance, a municipality « How
many tennis courts has usually a town of 6.000 inhabitants? », a teacher
« Is there a multi-sport field nearby ? »…
• Part of the data is available for everyone on : http://www.data.gouv.fr/
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A basis for analyses
• Regional and national analyses rely on the RES
database. Studies have been made on Swimming
pools in France, Regional schemes for promoting
sports, infrastructures in the country-side…
• In 2009, a study was made on sport facilities in the
« disadvantaged urban zones »
• For 10 000 inhabitants, there are 35 sport facilities
in urban zones and 20 in disadvantaged urban
zones
 As a consequence, the State agency in charge of
promoting sports finances more infrastructures in
disadvantaged urban zones (up to 20 / 30% of the
projects’costs whereas average level is 15%)
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What could be improved ?
• Once the database is defined, it is hard to change the fields. In the
interview form, we have around 60 mandatory items. Our database
might be too sophisticated, threatening the quality of each pieces of
the 30 000 000 data. Moreover, it’s hard to draw an inventory of
sports areas and sites (cycling path, canyon, …).
• Involving more sport governing bodies. We want the federations to
integrate to the database the level of the equipments for their
discipline (international, national, regional, …). It’s necessary if you
want to use the data for the organization of sport events and it’s
important to build prospective schemes for the development of
specific sports.
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You can use the database on :
www.res.sports.gouv.fr
contact : res@jeunesse-sports.gouv.fr
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