Spatial Data Infrastructure COOKBOOK 2009

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english INENGLISH
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http://www.gsdi.org/gsdicookbookindex
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From The SDI Cookbook
Welcome to the SDI Cookbook
The following contains the text of the book, broken down by chapter.
Each chapter is then broken into subsections.
Chapter 1: The Cookbook Approach
Chapter 2: Geospatial Data Development: Building data for multiple uses
Chapter 3: Metadata: Describing geospatial data
Chapter 4: Geospatial Data Catalogue: Making data discoverable
Chapter 5: Geospatial Data Visualization: Online Mapping
Chapter 6: Geospatial Data Access and Delivery: Open access to data
Chapter 7: Other Services
Chapter 8: Legal Issues and Economic Policy
Chapter 9: Outreach and Capacity Building: Creating a community
Chapter 10: Standards Suites for Spatial Data Infrastructure
Chapter 11: Case Studies
Chapter 12: Terminology
Annex A. Abbreviations and Terminology used in the GSDI Cookbook
Retrieved from "http://www.gsdidocs.org/GSDIWiki/index.php/Main_Page"
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From The SDI Cookbook
1 Chapter One: The Cookbook Approach
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Scope of This Cookbook
1.3 Spatial Data Infrastructures
1.4 The Global Spatial Data Infrastructure
1.5 Distribution
1.6 Contributors
1.7 Organisation
1.8 Cookbook Overview
1.8.1 Chapter 2: Geospatial Data Development: Building data for multiple uses
1.8.2 Chapter 3: Metadata: Describing geospatial data
1.8.3 Chapter 4: Geospatial Data Catalogue: Making data discoverable
1.8.4 Chapter 5: Geospatial Data Visualization: Online Mapping
1.8.5 Chapter 6: Geospatial Access and Delivery: Open access to data
1.8.6 Chapter 7: Other Services
1.8.7 Chapter 8: Legal Issues and Economic Policy
1.8.8 Chapter 9: Outreach and Capacity Building: Creating a community
1.8.9 Chapter 10: Case Studies
1.8.10 Chapter 11: Terminology
Introduction
At the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, a major resolution was
passed to focus on reversing the impacts caused by environmental deterioration. The Agenda 21 resolution establishes
measures to address deforestation, pollution, depletion of fish stocks, and management of toxic wastes to name a few.
The importance of geographic information to support decision-making and management of these growing national,
regional, and global issues was cited as critical at the 1992 Rio Summit, and by a special session of the United Nations
General Assembly assembled in 1997 to appraise the implementation of the Agenda 21. In 2003, a landmark effort was
made to illustrate the capabilities, benefits, and possibilities of using online digital geographic information for sustainable
development at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Geographic information is vital to making sound decisions at the local, regional, and global levels.Crime management,
business development, flood mitigation, environmental restoration, community land use assessments and disaster
recovery are just a few examples of areas in which decision-makers are benefiting from geographic information, together
with the associated infrastructures (i.e. Spatial Data Infrastructure or SDI) that support information discovery, access,
and use of this information in the decision-making process. However, information is an expensive resource, and for this
reason appropriate information and the resources to fully utilize this information may not always be readily available,
particularly in the developing world. Many national, regional, and international programs and projects are working to
improve access to available spatial data, promote its reuse, and ensure that additional investment in spatial information
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collection and management results in an evergrowing, readily available and useable pool of spatial information. This is
true of many initiatives even if they are not actually labelled as "SDI initiatives". An example of this is the Environment
Information System Program in sub-Saharan Africa (EIS-SSA). An emphasis on harmonising standards for spatial data
capture and exchange, the co-ordination of data collection and maintenance activities and the use of common data sets
by different agencies may also feature in such initiatives, although these activities by themselves do not constitute a
formal SDI.
In regions characterised by an availability of geographic information, in combination with the power of Geographic
Information Systems (GIS), decision support tools, data bases, and the World Wide Web and their associated
interoperability, the way better-resourced communities address critical issues of social, environmental, and economic
importance is changing rapidly. However, even in the new era of networked computers, the social habits of the past
continue to prohibit users from finding and using critical geographic information. This can lead to either the abandoning
of a proposed project, or to unnecessary - and expensive - recapture of existing geographic information. In many
agencies there is still the lost opportunity to reuse incidental digital geographic information collected for other purposes.
There is a clear need, at all scales, to be able to access, integrate and use spatial data from disparate sources in guiding
decision making. Our ability then, to make sound decisions collectively at the local, regional, and global levels, is
dependent on the implementation of SDI that provides for compatibility across jurisdictions that promotes data access
and use.
Only through common conventions and technical agreements will it be easily possible for local communities, nations and
regional decision-makers to discover, acquire, exploit and share geographic information vital to the decision process. The
use of common conventions and technical agreements also makes sound economic sense by limiting the cost involved in
the integration of information from various sources, as well as eliminating the need for parallel and costly development of
tools for discovering, exchanging and exploiting spatial data. The greater the limitation on available resources for SDI
development, the greater the incentive for achieving alignment between initiatives to build SDI.
The development of a "cookbook" is envisaged as a means to clarify the SDI definition and to share the current
experiences in building SDI implementations that are compatible at many scales of endeavour. This cookbook is intended
to be a dynamic document available in printed and digital form, to include "recipes" or recommendations on developing
these infrastructures from a local, even non-governmental, scale through global initiatives.
Scope of This Cookbook
This SDI Implementation Guide or Cookbook, through the support of the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure community,
provides geographic information providers and users with the necessary background information to evaluate and
implement existing components of SDI. It also facilitates participation within a growing (digital) geographic information
community known as the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI).
To enable builders of SDI to make use of and build on existing SDI components in a way which makes their endeavors
compatible with the efforts of other SDI builders, this GSDI Cookbook identifies:
existing and emerging standards,
open-source and commercial standards-based software solutions,
supportive organisational strategies and policies and
best practices.
Working within a common framework of standards and tools based on these standards also makes it possible to maximise
the impact of the total available resources for SDI creation through future co-operation -- e.g. we develop this, you
develop that, and then we share. Although proprietary or project-based solutions for information sharing continue to
exist, the adoption of consistent geospatial data sharing principles will in general provide a better solution for information
dissemination, through publishing geospatial data using the Internet and computer media. In an increasingly "global
community", there is a need to ensure that transnational implementations and common knowledge bases are available.
Ultimately, these SDI activities should improve collaboration within the geospatial data industry and make the benefits
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derived from the use of geographic information part of everyday life for all.
Spatial Data Infrastructures
The term "Spatial Data Infrastructure" (SDI) is often used to denote the relevant base collection of technologies, policies
and institutional arrangements that facilitate the availability of and access to spatial data. The SDI provides a basis for
spatial data discovery, evaluation, and application for users and providers within all levels of government, the
commercial sector, the non-profit sector, academia and by citizens in general.
The word infrastructure is used to promote the concept of a reliable, supporting environment, analogous to a road or
telecommunications network, that, in this case, facilitates the access to geographically-related information using a
minimum set of standard practices, protocols, and specifications. The applications that run "on" such an infrastructure
are not specified in detail in this document. But, like roads and wires, an SDI facilitates the conveyance of virtually
unlimited packages of geographic information.
An SDI must be more than a single data set or database; an SDI hosts geographic data and attributes, sufficient
documentation (metadata), a means to discover, visualize, and evaluate the data (catalogues and Web mapping), and
some method to provide access to the geographic data. Beyond this are additional services or software to support
applications of the data. To make an SDI functional, it must also include the organisational agreements needed to
coordinate and adminster it on a local, regional, national, and or trans-national scale. Although the core SDI concept
includes within its scope neither base data collection activities or myriad applications built upon it, the infrastructure
provides the ideal environment to connect applications to data - influencing both data collection and applications
construction through minimal appropriate standards and policies.
The creation of specific organisations or programs for developing or overseeing the development of SDI, particularly by
government at various scales can be seen as the logical extension of the long practice of co-ordinating the building of
other infrastructures necessary for ongoing development, such as transportation or telecommunication networks.
The Global Spatial Data Infrastructure
Just as SDI programs of necessity involve the alignment of scarce resources for achieving success, so too it is necessary
to ensure that the SDI initiatives develop in harmony with each other in order to maximise the impact of these
programmes. In reality, many initiatives are working in isolation, not necessarily developing in harmony with others and
consequently unable to reap the benefits of working together.
Anyone who is involved in a project of which spatial information forms an integral part and who intends leaving a legacy
of spatial data or tools to exploit the data that lasts beyond the period of funding for the project is, by definition,
participating in some of the fundamental elements required by an SDI. As coordination between such organisations
expands, these projects very often lay the foundations on which initiatives formally dedicated to the establishment of SDI
can then build. See Chapter 9 for specific case studies.
At a global scale, the most prominent examples of formal SDI programs are on a national scale. Most of these are driven
by the national or federal government (e.g. the NSDI in the USA, the SNIG in Portugal, Australia's ASDI, Malaysia's
NaLIS, South Africa's NSIF, Colombia, or the multi-national INSPIRE Initiative in Europe), but there are exceptions
such as the Uruguay Clearinghouse and NGDF in the United Kingdom, which have largely been driven by the private
sector. In most cases the need for wide participation in the development of lasting, useful SDI is acknowledged, and so
private-public partnerships are encouraged. The beneficiaries of SDI are generally seen to derive from the public and
private sectors, academia and non-governmental organisations, as well as individuals. Federal countries are often able to
build their national SDI programs on SDI programs being driven by provincial or state governments (e.g. the ASDI of
Australia). Regional SDI initiatives often arise out of existing multilateral structures (e.g. the Permanent Committee for
GIS Infrastructure in Asia and the Pacific was formed through the UN Regional Cartographic Conference for the
Asia-Pacific region).
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Distribution
This GSDI Cookbook wiki is intended to be a "living" and dynamic document that can be updated as new principles and
technologies are adopted. Distribution of this Cookbook is intended primarily via the World Wide Web, although
electronic copies will also be made available on other physical media such as PDF, CD-ROM and printed copy for
audiences that are not well connected to the Internet at this time.
Should you be reading this via the World Wide Web and wish to obtain a soft or hard copy, please contact the GSDI
secretariat, at www.gsdi.org .
Contributors
Contributions to this GSDI Cookbook are indeed global and are intended to satisfy many different categories of
participants. This was a deliberate choice, in order to ensure that the Cookbook represented various perspectives from
around the globe, to ensure both that the collective global experience and existing resources would be represented in the
Cookbook, and that its applicability could truly be global. The migration of the cookbook to a wiki environment is a
logical extension of this idea, allowing contributions to be provided on an ongoing basis.
The cookbook will be periodically revised by selected and nominated editors to create a concise version that can be
published as a electronic and paper document. This will allow outreach to people with an interest in SDI development
who may not have ready access to the wiki version.
Organisation
Each chapter is organised into three major sections that correspond to levels of detail and application:
The first section in each chapter establishes the background, context, and rationale for the subject suitable as
general orientation for all readers, but targeted for managers and end-users
The second section addresses the design architecture of organisations, roles, and software systems that are
intended to interact
The third section addresses the implementation with review of existing standards, protocols, and software as
appropriate
Each chapter is approximately 10 to 20 pages in length with links to other relevant documents. Use-case scenarios and
illustrations are featured in some chapters as inset boxes to further build understanding. Most chapters have a set of
recommendations placed in a summary. Terminology used in this document, as well as guidance on how to standardize
terminology, is presented in Chapter 10.
Case studies are intended to provide for local or regional relevance and interpretation. The document style not intended
to be overly technical, however contributors have provided references to more detailed and comprehensive technical
information where possible.
Finally, no manual of this type can claim to provide all the answers to suit all variations that may exist among
implementations of national spatial data infrastructures. The goal is to provide enough common guidance to allow
adjacent SDIs to exchange information easily through the adoption of common principles, standards, and protocols. This
cookbook does provide a basic set of guiding principles that have been successful for establishing compatible Spatial
Data Infrastructures, and are supported by the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure to promote successful decision-making
for issues of local, regional, and global significance. As mentioned in the preceding section, if you feel that you have a
contribution to make to the cookbook, or a question that you feel ought to be answered in the cookbook, please contact
the GSDI Technical Working Group.
Cookbook Overview
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The following sections provide an introduction to the content of each chapter. This is provided to help readers decide
where to begin their exploration. Some users may already be fluent in geographic information systems but are unfamiliar
with the tenets of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI). They may wish to start with the next chapter on SDI and GSDI.
Others may already have extensive databases that are ready to be published on the World Wide Web. By starting in
Chapter Two, they can learn how to catalogue and serve information about their data holdings in standard-based ways.
Chapter 2: Geospatial Data Development: Building data for multiple uses
In Chapter 2, you will learn about the development of standard and non-standard spatial data themes or layers for use in
a trans-national or global context. The development of consistent reusable themes of base cartographic content, known as
Framework, Fundamental, Foundation, or Core data is recognized as a common ingredient in the construction of national
and global SDIs to provide common data collection schemas.
Chapter 3: Metadata: Describing geospatial data
In Chapter 3, you will learn how geospatial data are documented with metadata, what relevant standards exist, and how
to implement them in software. Metadata are a key ingredient in supporting the discovery, evaluation, and application of
geographic data beyond the originating organisation or project.
Chapter 4: Geospatial Data Catalogue: Making data discoverable
Geospatial data that are stored for use in local databases can often be used in external applications once they are
published. In this chapter, the concepts and implementation of geospatial data catalogues are presented as a means to
publish descriptions of your geospatial data holdings in a standard way to permit search across multiple servers.
Geospatial data catalogues are discovery and access systems that use metadata as the target for query on raster, vector,
and tabular geospatial information. Indexed and searchable metadata provide a disciplined vocabulary against which
intelligent geospatial search can be performed within or among SDI communities.
Chapter 5: Geospatial Data Visualization: Online Mapping
The primary view of geographic data has historically been through maps. In the context of SDIs, it is increasingly useful
to provide mapped or graphical views of geospatial data through online mapping interfaces. This can satisfy many of the
needs of novice or browse users of data without requiring download of the full data. Although it is not a replacement for
direct data access, it satisfies a broad requirement for public interaction with geospatial information.
Assuming that data are being used for their correct purpose and at an appropriate scale (the Fitness for Purpose concept),
maps can quickly portray a large amount of information to the inquirer. The rise of the Internet and in particular the
World Wide Web has allowed information providers to harness this technology to the conventional stove-pipe GIS
systems and data warehouses. This chapter describes current best practice in on-line mapping, and the results of the
OpenGIS Consortium in realising simple inter-operability through a public web mapping specification that is also a draft
ISO International Standard.
Chapter 6: Geospatial Access and Delivery: Open access to data
Once spatial data of interest have been located and evaluated, using the Catalogue and online mapping techniques
described in previous chapters, access to detailed geospatial data in its packaged form is often required by advanced
users or application software. Access involves the order, packaging and delivery, offline or online, of the data (coordinate
and attributes according to the form of the data) specified. Finally, exploitation is what the consumer does with the data
for their own purpose. This chapter walks through examples of data access and delivery that are recognized elements in a
full-service SDI.
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Chapter 7: Other Services
Web mapping services and Catalogue services are described as new, maturing technologies in earlier chapters. Additional
services that extend functionality over the Web by combining data from sources described in Chapter 6 are described
here. The application of special services, and service chaining, hold great promise in realizing true Web-based GIS
interactions on data in support of decision making.
Chapter 8: Legal Issues and Economic Policy
Several legal issues arise when implementing information infrastructures, including SDIs. Typical are intellectual property
rights (IPR) governing access to and use of spatial data, which includes copyright, patenting of software and algorithms,
and database protection, in those jurisdictions where such protection exists in law. Privacy regulations if spatial data is
used to identify individuals, commercial confidentiality and liability issues also arise. The chapter also reviews the several
cost-benefit analysis (CBA) methodologies that have been used to justify the cost of creating SDIs, at sector, national and
regional levels.
Chapter 9: Outreach and Capacity Building: Creating a community
The establishment of a Spatial Data Infrastructure at an organisational or national level requires an understanding of the
requirements and responsibilities of the members of the community. This chapter discusses, with examples, the elements
required for building and sustaining a geospatially-enabled community.
Chapter 10: Case Studies
One of the best ways to articulate the benefits of developing and using a spatial data infrastructure is to highlight the
success stories that have emerged at the local, national, regional, and global levels. This chapter provides detailed
accounts, or case studies from around the world that put into perspective the value of compatible SDI's and partnerships
in making better decisions regarding the increasingly complex environmental, economic, and social issues that face our
communities today.
Chapter 11: Terminology
This chapter provides an overview on how SDI organizations may wish to standardise their terminology; it also contains a
glossary of terms used elsewhere in this document with appropriate citations. The abundant use of terms and acronyms in
this highly technical field requires such a terminology reference.
Retrieved from "http://www.gsdidocs.org/GSDIWiki/index.php/Chapter_1"
This page was last modified on 14 April 2009, at 20:01.
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From The SDI Cookbook
1 Chapter Two: Geospatial Data Development: Building data for multiple uses
1.1 Context and Rationale
1.1.1 Achieving Benefits
1.2 Organisational Approach
1.2.1 Framework Leverages the Development of Needed Data
1.2.2 Who are the actors in framework data development?
1.3 Implementation Approach
1.3.1 Common Identities of Real World Objects
1.3.2 Candidate National Framework Categories
1.3.3 Candidate Global Data Categories
1.4 Recommendations
1.5 References and Linkages
Editor: open
Context and Rationale
In the times of traditional `mapping', collection and distribution of geographic information used to be highly centralised,
or controlled by powerful government monopolies. This pattern was established since the beginning of the history of
mapping, and lasted for centuries, until very recent times. It was a necessity that had never been challenged due to the
heavy costs and technology associated with traditional mapping and to the long time-scales of mapping projects that
often extended over several decades. Also, maps were not necessarily a consumer product, but were considered part of
the national/local assets - data mainly used by the government, for defense, taxes, planning and development.
Thus the governments determined the collection of the information in specific types and formats required for its intended
applications. Applications did not vary much across borders, and therefore a similar range of products was developed in
many countries. These include:
Cadastre, cadastral maps (scales from 1:100 to 1:5 000)
Large scale topographic maps for urban planning and development (scale from 1:500 to 1:10 000)
National `base maps' (medium scale, 1:20 000 to 1:100 000)
Small scale maps (1:100 000 and smaller)
Most, if not all, other mapping products and projects would use these main `basic maps' as a template, as a common
reference, and for building upon this `basic information' the thematic data and applications that were required. Thus
national interoperability was achieved. Moreover, needs across borders being very comparable, national products across
borders were also quite similar, and if edge-matching was not always evident, anyone from country 'A' would be able to
read and use a paper map from country 'B with no special effort required. Thus tacit cross-border interoperability also
existed.
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GIS technology has changed all that, particularly with the development of desktop GIS. Usage and type of applications is
now incredibly diverse. GI has become a mass-market product on its own or is found integrated in hard- and software
solutions. Nearly anyone can create their own maps, thanks to the use of desktop mapping, GIS, GPS surveying, satellite
imagery, scanning and intelligent software. The old monopoly is shaken.
GIS technology is been employed in many different areas and in newer fields of applications, as computer hardware and
GIS software applications provide improved capabilities at reduced cost. However, the overall cost of developing
geospatial data required to support GIS applications remains relatively high compared with the hardware and software
required for GIS. In addition, GIS users tend to develop their own data sets, even if there are existing geospatial data sets
available for them, because:
they may not know available existing data sets that could be appropriately used for their applications; or access to
these data sets is difficult
they are not used to sharing data sets with other sectors and/or organisations; and
existing geospatial data sets stored in a certain GIS system may not be easily exported to another system.
These problems arise from the fact that existing geospatial data sets have been poorly documented in a standardised
manner. Consequently, there have been duplicate efforts in geospatial data development, which sometimes hinders
further dissemination of GIS applications in local, national, regional and global circumstances.
As a result, the new era of GIS is still characterised by:
many actors involved in data collection and distribution
a proliferation of GI applications, product types, and formats
duplication as a consequence of the difficulties to access the existing data, and the highly specific quality of the
data collected
increasing difficulty in the exchange and use of data that came from different organisations
Core-, Reference-, Base-, Fundamental-data, and other similar terms are often used, and generally understood ... until
one tries to define what concept(s) they cover, or until one tries to define the related specifications.
Most GIS applications employ a limited number of common geospatial data items, including geodetic control points,
transportation networks, hydrological networks, contour lines and so forth. These items are common to many GIS
applications and provide keys for the integration of other and more specialized thematic information. They represent the
content found in most traditional base-maps, or in modern technology and terminology, in most GI databases and
products. Does that mean that these items are the `core'? What about postal addresses? What about cadastral parcels?
The concepts of `core-data' and of `reference-data' relate to two quite different perspectives. But fortunately they may
result in the definition of very similar specifications. Let's start with `reference'. The primary reference for cartographers
is the geodetic and levelling networks that give the surveyors the physical links to a co-ordinate system. Of course, this
has recently and dramatically changed with satellite positioning technologies, but the principle remains that the primary
reference is what gives access to geodetic coordinates. We are not really concerned with this type of reference here,
because it is generally not a part of the Geographic Information that is used in GIS applications, but rather its
background. Very often it is even not visible.
If geodesy is the reference for the cartographer and the surveyor, the `reference' of the GI user is generally more closely
related to the real world. It includes concrete themes, such as infrastructure - roads, railways, power-lines, settlements,
etc, or physical features - terrain elevation, hydrography, etc. It includes also less tangible features that have nonetheless
a significant role in human life: administrative boundaries, cadastral parcels, gazetteer, postal addresses, etc. All these
features are keys that allow one to relate, to `refer', external information to the real world, through the media of its GI
representation. Therefore they may be considered as comprising a reference for the GI user -- the `reference data'.
A different perspective presides over the conceptual approach of the `core data'. The core being the heart, the central
part, the fundamental part, it may be also considered as being the common denominator of all GI data sets, being so
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