Introduction to Spatial Data

Infrastructures

Joep Crompvoets

7 November 2011

Objectives

• Concepts/components of SDI

• Examples of SDIs

• History

• Developments

• Conclusions

What is SDI?

■ SDI = Spatial Data Infrastructure

■ What is Spatial Data?

■ What is an Infrastructure?

Definition Infrastructure

■ “The basic systems and services that are necessary for a country or organization” (Oxford dictionary)

■ Infrastructure facilitates the production of goods and services

Characteristics of an Infrastructure

Time Span Long-term activity (10-100 yrs)

Users Large users groups

Funding Tax money or obligatory amount

per user

Management/

Control

Government, monopolist, political

debate

Types of Infrastructure

■ Physical Infrastructures

■ Organizational Infrastructures

■ Information Infrastructures

Infrastructures (Physical)

Infrastructures (organizational)

Infrastructures (Information)

To View

To Analyse

To process

To print

Infrastructures

Information OrganizationPhysical

Spatial Data

Infrastructures

Spatial Data I

Examples

Digital Elevation Model

Topography

Cadastral

Administrative boundaries

Land use

Soils

Climate

Demography

Spatial Data II

± 90% of all information used by government

has spatial characteristics

Very high costs for spatial data collection,

maintenance,... (70-80% cost of many GIS projects)

Same data sets collected by different agencies

again and again.

Application domains

Users

One of the most critical elements

underpinning decision making for

many domains/disciplines,and

purposes

Agriculture, Urban/Rural Planning,

Military, Security Service, Health

Care, Development Aid,

Emergency Service, Retail,

Transport, etc.

Definitions of SDI

■ Executive Order of US (1994) National

Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) means

the technology, policies, standards and

human resources necessary to acquire,

process, store, distribute, and improve

utilization of geospatial data.

Definitions of SDI

■ Utility view: SDI is a network facility for accessing and sharing spatial data.

■ Component view: spatial data, standards, policies, technology and people

Characteristics SDI

■ Holistic concept

■ Complex system

■ Serving the organization/society not only a

particular application

■ 5 components and interaction between

components

Objectives of the SDI initiatives are:

• to promote economic development,

• to stimulate better government, and

• to foster environmental sustainability.

General SDI-objectives

Significance of SDIs

• support integrated decision making for substantial and

sustainable development in both the developed and

developing countries of the world,

• reduce duplication-cost and efforts,

• provide better data for decision making,

• support new business processes/create new business

opportunities in spatial information industry.

?

Information

Management

Spatial Information

Management

1970 1980 1990 2000

Internet

Information &

Communication Age

Digital Mapping

Seamless / Scalable /

Multi-dimensional

Computer

Age / GIS

An Evolution of SDI

SDI 2

1970 1980

Topographic

Mapping

1:25K

1:100K 1:250K

Paper

Based

Systems

GIS SDI 1

SDI-Components

People

Technology

Policies

Standards

Spatial

Data

Nature of SDI

People

Technology

Policies

Standards

Spatial

Data

Spatial Data: Fundamental Datasets

People: Communication, Partnerships

Policies: Policy, Legislation

Technology: Access, Distribution, Storage

Standards: Data Models, Metadata, Transfer

Spatial Data

Spatial Data sets (Geodetic reference, Cadastre, Topography)

Administration

Land Use

Hydrology

Environment

Other ...

People Policies Spatial Data

Standards

Technology

Technology

Networks

Service Oriented Architecture

Web Map server (WMS),

Web Feature Service (WFS)

Clearinghouses

........

People Policies Spatial Data

Standards

Technology

Standards

Standardization organizations (ISO, CEN, OGC)

INSPIRE Implementing rules

GML, XML,

Meta-data standards

People Policies Spatial Data

Standards

Technology

Policies

SDI policy

Technology policy

Data access policies

Data pricing policy reference

.....

People Policies Spatial Data

Standards

Technology

People

Data providers

Policy makers

SDI users

Coordinating bodies

........

People Policies Spatial Data

Standards

Technology

SDI-approaches

■ Few define SDI as a (dynamic) network Tulloch & Harvey (2007) / Vandenbroucke et al (2009)

User

User

Producer

User

User

User/producer

Producer

Coordinator3 levels

Organisation (Node)

Data flow (Link)

Network (SDI)

Definition based on approach

An SDI is an

■ network of organizations/information

systems

■ to facilitate and coordinate

■ the access, exchange and use of

spatial data

SDI-approach

Regional SDIs

National SDIs

Global SDI

State SDIs

Local SDIs

Vertical Relationships

Global Spatial Data

Infrastructure Association

Example Global

Example European

Example Regional

Global and Rgional SDI Initiatives

Global Level:

Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI), 1996

Regional Level:

• Asia-Pacific Spatial Data Infrastructure (APSDI),

1995

• European Geospatial Information Infrastructure

(EGII), 1995, INSPIRE, 2007

• Spatial Data Infrastructure for Americas, 1999

• African SDI, 2000

Example National

Example National

GIDEON

SDI Initiatives

National Level:

■ Australia ASDI 1986

■ USA FGDC/NSDI 1990

■ Qatar NCGIS/NGIS 1990

■ Portugal CNIG/SNIG 1990

■ Netherlands Ravi/NGII 1992

■ Indonesia

Bakosurtanal/NGIS 1993

■ Iran NSDI/NGIS 1995

■ Malaysia NaLIS

feasibility study 1994

■ South-Korea NGIS 1995

■ Japan NSDI 1995

■ Canada CGDI 1996

■ Britain NGDF 1996

SDI Initiatives 2011 140 Countries!!

Common Features of NSDIs

■Explicitly national

■Refer to geographic information,

geospatial data or land information

■Use terms such infrastructure,

systems or framework

• Maximising the economic, social and environmental benefits from investment already being made in spatially referenced information

• Facilitating industry development

• Rising community expectations for online services

• Globalisation

• Technology

• Changing societal priorities

• Environmental degradation and natural resource depletion

Factors Driving National SDI

• Environmental Assessment & Management

• Land & Property Administration - including Native Title

• Navigation - road, marine & air

• Resource Management - agriculture, mining, energy, forestry & marine

• Emergency Services - Fire,

Ambulance & Police

• Business Planning

• Census

• Disaster Management

• Defence, National Security

Need for National SDI

• Immature institutional arrangements and user/

provider relationships

• Inconsistencies in the availability and quality of

spatially referenced data

• Inconsistent policies concerning access to and use of

spatially referenced data

• Incomplete knowledge about the availability and

quality of existing spatially referenced data

• Lack of best practice in the utilisation of enabling

technologies

Barriers to National SDI

SDI-Readiness

53

56

64

59

66

53

65

42

41

58

39

58

32

59

66

48

37

70

64

37

55

53

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Argentina

Brazil

Canada

Chile

Colombia

Cuba

Denmark

Ecuador

Guyana

Jamaica

Malaysia

Mexico

Nepal

Netherlands

Norway

Poland

Serbia

Spain

Sweden

Turkey

Uruguay

Average per sample

Clearinghouse suitability

49

0

10050

76

60

0

47

0

46

7675

49

0

77

36

0

96

500

52

45

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Argentina

Brazil

Canada

Chile

Colombia

Cuba

Denmark

Ecuador

Guyana

Jamaica

Malaysia

Mexico

Nepal

Netherlands

Norway

Poland

Serbia

Spain

Sweden

Turkey

Uruguay

Average per sample

State-of-Play

52

50

74

50

76

59

59

59

27

65

44

73

55

59

76

39

55

71

55

32

52

56

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Argentina

Brazil

Canada

Chile

Colombia

Cuba

Denmark

Ecuador

Guyana

Jamaica

Malaysia

Mexico

Nepal

Netherlands

Norway

Poland

Serbia

Spain

Sweden

Turkey

Uruguay

Average per sample

‘Organisational’

50

75

100

75

100

75

75

75

50

100

50

75

50

75

75

50

50

75

100

50

50

70

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Argentina

Brazil

Canada

Chile

Colombia

Cuba

Denmark

Ecuador

Guyana

Jamaica

Malaysia

Mexico

Nepal

Netherlands

Norway

Poland

Serbia

Spain

Sweden

Turkey

Uruguay

Average per sample

Example Local

Location target groups (Wevelgem) Location schools and services (Kortrijk region)

Waste Water (Deerlijk) Child care (Kuurne)

From simple…

Local services

Unoccupied houses (Wevelgem)

Impact Tour de France (Deerlijk) Roadworks (Wevelgem)

Cemetaries (Avelgem)

… over e-Government

Local services

Services in your neighborhood (Norfolk County)

Statistical data for businesses (Norfolk County)

… to sophisticated

Geodata layers as WMS/WFS (Norfolk County)

Local services

Cross-border services

GMES Land Use Map Lille Metropolitan Area (Belgium-France)

WMS/WFS service

A short history of SDI

■ 1991 Term SDI from Canada

■ 1994 Clinton Executive Order 12906 (SDI)

■ 1996 GSDI organization

■ 2007 INSPIRE directive

History

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

# c

leari

nghouses

# national

clearinghouses

implementedCumulative

Spatial distribution

(April 2005)

SDI-Development + Community

Techno-Centric

Spatial data community

Focus on technology

Technology push

Because it’s possible

Others are developing

Specified by technologist

Static in nature

Socio-Technical

Spatial data community

People and technology

Demand pull

Because it’s needed

We need it

Specified by Users

dynamic in nature

(Modified from Petch and Reeve 1999)

Human and Community Issues

Communities/people concerned are expecting to reap benefits

from their investment in SDI in terms of improved corporate

performances and cooperation.

Therefore

• It is essential to understand the significance of human and

community issues, as much as technical issues as they

determine the long running success of an SDI innovation;

• Developing a successful SDI must be seen as a socio-

technical, rather than a purely technical exercise.

Obstacles

• Technical/Technological issues

– lack of data, standards, metadata, search engines,

communication network/bandwidth

• Economic/financial issues

– cost sharing, funding

• Social/institutional/organisational issues

– awareness, education, pricing, security, freedom

of access, political power

• Political/legal issues

– sensitive data, intellectual property

Some Reasons for the Limited Support

Lack of awareness of the value of SDIs;

Defining the SDI;

The complexity of different issues such as

diverse political, cultural and economical positions of

members.

SDI Development Models

• Product-Based Model: (linked) database(s)

• Process-Based Model: strategy required to

manage information assets

Product-Based Model

...the main aim of an SDI initiative being to link

existing and upcoming databases of the respective

political/administrative levels of the community.

People Spatial

Data

Policies

Technology

Standards

Definition

Collection

Integration

DataBase Creation

Dissemination

Technology Components

...the main aim of an SDI initiative as defining a

framework to facilitate the management of

information assets.

Process-Based Model

..or the objectives behind the design of an SDI are to

provide better communication channels for sharing

and using data assets.

Border of Social System

Knowledge Infrastructure and Capacity

Building

Communication Channel

Coordination

Facilitation

People

SDI

Facility

Metadata

directory

Awareness Knowledge

Infrastructures Persuasion Decisions Utilisation

Communication Channels

Participation

SDI-development

Organisations with Databases with

Databases Organisations

Summary

■ Many stakeholders

■ Emerging/changing over time

■ Adaptive

■ Various components

■ Scalable (e.g Local, National – Continental)

■ Users and source data are spatial

disconnected

• An SDI is much more than data and goes far

beyond surveying and mapping;

• It provides an environment within which

organizations interact with technologies to

foster activities for using, managing and

producing spatial data and information.

Summary

• People are looking for Faster, Cheaper, and

Better technology, techniques or initiatives;

• SDI is a long-term process;

• SDI is all about sharing;

• Start it (even with less involvement), then

others will join.

Summary