The Strategic Imperative of a Global Spatial Data Infrastructure

Summary
Introduction
Definition
Benefits and Beneficiaries
History
Work Plan
Challenges
Conclusion
References
Acknowledgement
Attachment A - GSDI Executive Committee
Attachment B - GSDI Advisory Committee
Attachment C - GSDI Secretariat

Summary

The Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) encompasses the broad policy, organisational, technical and financial arrangements necessary to support global access to geographic information. It is seen by many as central to the response to the challenge of global sustainable development. It will potentially benefit many stakeholders - government and non-government organisations, education and research institutions, the commercial sector, and the general community - at the national, regional and global level. The GSDI offers the prospect of better decision-making and thus improved economic growth, social development and environmental management. The emergence of the GSDI concept can be traced through the mapping and land information system developments of the 1960's and 70's; the acceptance of the notion of information as a corporate resource in the 1980's; rapid improvements in computing, communications and positioning technologies through the 1980's and 90's; and finally, implementation of national SDI's in the 1990's. Three GSDI conferences have now been held with a fourth planned for South Africa in 2000 and a fifth foreshadowed in Columbia in 2001. An interim group, the GSDI Steering Committee, comprising representatives from all continents, has been tasked with establishing a permanent global umbrella organisation to take the GSDI into the future. The challenges confronting the GSDI are many - raising the level of awareness, acceptance and support; recognising and complementing related initiatives; including all stakeholders and engaging the less developed economies of the world; maintaining enthusiasm and momentum; and finally, delivering beneficial outcomes. Notwithstanding these significant challenges the potential of the GSDI to contribute to a better world in the future drives those who seek its realisation.

Introduction

In the final few years of the millennium the concept of a GSDI, and its potential realisation, has captured the imagination and attention of policy-makers, administrators, industry, and the professions. Although not widely known in the general community or commonly understood by its proponents the GSDI is seen by many as a central element in the global response to the challenge of sustainable development.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: firstly, to describe the emergence of the concept of the GSDI; and secondly, to outline the GSDI implementation activities currently underway and the challenges yet to be fully met. The paper begins with a definition of the GSDI, describes the potential benefits and beneficiaries of its implementation, summarises the outcomes of the three international GSDI conferences held to date, outlines the current work plan for its implementation, and presents some key challenges that must be confronted before the concept is fully realised. The paper draws heavily on the growing body of information about the concept, and the views of its active proponents, much of which is catalogued on the GSDI home page (http://www.gsdi.org).

Definition

The GSDI is envisaged to encompass the broad policy, organisational, technical and financial arrangements needed to support ready global access to geographic information. The definition of the GSDI adopted at the 2^nd GSDI Conference is (GSDI 1997):

Participants at this conference also agreed that the definition needed further discussion and that the concept of the GSDI should periodically be redefined.

Benefits and Beneficiaries

One of the central findings of the 2^nd GSDI Conference is that the GSDI is of vital importance to implementation of Agenda 21 of the Rio Summit and to multi-national environmental conventions and that it should be placed as central support for decision making before the meeting of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development in 2001. Further, the GSDI is critical to the attainment of substantial and sustainable development in both the developed and developing countries of the world.

Some of the benefits of the GSDI can be found in the concept of the Digital Earth (Gore 1998). The Digital Earth is seen as a multi-resolution, three-dimensional representation of the planet, into which we can embed vast quantities of geo-referenced data. The applications that will be possible with broad, easy to use access to global geospatial information will be, in the words of Vice-President Gore, limited only by the imagination. Some current USA-based examples cited in the Digital Earth announcement are:

The two theme papers presented at the 2^nd GSDI Conference (Coleman and McLaughlin 1997 and Rhind 1997, identify the many players potentially involved in (and regarded by the author as potential beneficiaries of) the GSDI. These include:

These theme papers expand on the potential benefits to three particular stakeholder communities:

Finally, the benefits from the growing number of significant SDI initiatives at national and regional level can be expected, in the view of the author, to be mirrored to a certain extent at global level through the implementation of the GSDI. Several of these initiatives were highlighted at the 3^rd GSDI Conference - national developments in countries such as Malaysia, Hungary, Australia, New Zealand, USA, UK, Canada - regional developments in areas such as South America, the Baltic Sea Region, Europe, Asia and the Pacific.

History

Background

The background to the emerging interest in a GSDI is well described in Coleman and McLaughlin's theme paper.

The extent of activity today in implementing spatial data infrastructures around the globe is well described in Masser 1998 and Onsrud 1998. Onsrud's survey, commissioned specifically for the 3^rd GSDI Conference, provides baseline information on the nature and characteristics of the SDI's currently being developed. It provides an important dataset against which to measure changes in SDI activity at national, regional and global level and will be regularly reviewed at future GSDI conferences.

Conference 1

The 1^st GSDI Conference, with the theme "The Emerging GSDI", was held in Bonn, Germany, 4-6 September 1996. The main goals of the conference, as described in the conference proceedings (GSDI 1996) were:

The conference generally agreed:

Conference 2

The 2nd GSDI Conference, with the theme "Towards Sustainable Development Worldwide", was held in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA, 19-21 October 1997. The main goals of the conference were:

The conference found (GSDI 1997), in addition to the central findings mentioned previously, that:

The conference resolved that:

One of the main outcomes of the 2^nd GSDI Conference was the creation of the GSDI Steering Committee. This informal group, chaired initially by conference convenor Jane Smith-Patterson of the USA, and with broad representation from around the globe, had as its primary task the implementation of conference resolutions and delivery of the 3^rd GSDI conference.

Conference 3

The 3^rd GSDI Conference was hosted by the Permanent Committee on GIS Infrastructure for Asia and the Pacific and was held in Canberra, Australia, 17-19 November 1998. The conference theme was "Policy and Organisational Framework for a GSDI". The main goals of the conference were to:

The conference found (GSDI 1998), in addition to the central findings mentioned previously, that:

The conference recommended:

Work Plan

The resolutions of the 3^rd GSDI Conference form the basis of the current workplan of the GSDI Steering Committee.

Statement to the United Nations

One of the major resolutions from the conference is to request the Statistics Division of the United Nations to submit the following statement to an appropriate United Nations body for consideration:

Organisation design

The organisational model recommended for the GSDI in the long run is the global umbrella organisation which brings together regional committees, national committees, and other relevant international institutions (e.g., ISO, OGC, ISCGM, ISPRS, ICA, etc.) in the context of principles of flexibility, inclusivity, simplicity and subsidiarity. The characteristics of this model are well described in the theme paper for the 3^rd GSDI Conference (Brand 1998). As an interim measure, the GSDI Steering Committee will continue to serve as the guiding body for the GSDI while a permanent umbrella organisation is established.

Business case

The GSDI Steering Committee is to commission a major study into the business case for SDI development. The study will identify the economic, social, environmental and disaster management benefits that can be achieved through development of national and regional SDI's and the global SDI. It is envisaged that SDI development will be facilitated through:

• Financial support and capacity building, by national governments and international agencies; and
• Policy changes to enable wider access to public sector spatial data, by national governments.

The study is expected to:

• Build on existing national and other economic, social, environmental and disaster management studies, and refer to the development policies of international bodies;
• Be undertaken by independent experts, with funding from independent sources;
• Include real multi-national and/or global case studies that illustrate SDI benefits; and
• Be suitable for submission to national governments and international funding agencies.

The draft business case is to be presented to the next GSDI Conference for approval. It is anticipated that the document will then be used by the GSDI umbrella organisation in a major campaign to secure government and funding support for national, regional and global SDI development.

Technical matters

A Technical Working Group is to be tasked with development of detailed proposals by or before the next GSDI Conference that:

• Propose reference models or best practice recommendations for data documentation and data
• Define core data categories, their resolution and content for the GSDI;
• Provide a working model of this core data using metadata and clearing house best practices; and
• Define a single standard for spatial referencing by geodetic coordinates that may be adopted as a standard to which countries may move toward and - in the interim - to which countries relate their own respective standards.

Management

The GSDI Steering Committee is to be modestly restructured. It will continue to comprise an Executive Committee and an Advisory Committee. The names and contact details of executive and advisory committee members, as they currently stand, are described at attachments A and B respectively.

The Executive Committee comprises the chair and vice chair; the past chair of the steering committee; representatives from each of the four regions of the world (i.e. Asia-Pacific, Europe, Africa-Middle East, and the Americas); and members at large who represent nations and a cross section of the GSDI stakeholder community. The chair is a representative of the region or nation that hosted the most recent GSDI conference. The current chair is Peter Holland from Australia, a representative of the Asia-Pacific region and host of the Canberra meeting. The vice chair is selected by the host organisation of the next GSDI conference and is responsible for conference planning. The current vice chair is Derek Clarke, a representative of the Africa region, and host of the 4^th GSDI Conference in 2000. Membership on the Executive Committee will rotate with each GSDI Conference.

Each regional and national SDI and stakeholder organisation shall be encouraged to name a representative to the Advisory Group. The chair and vice chair shall propose regional representatives and stakeholder community representatives from participants of the GSDI meetings and other interested, appropriate individuals as needed to ensure balanced representation of interests from around the world.

It is agreed that a GSDI secretariat is needed to ensure and facilitate communications among members, oversee fund raising, and assist work groups. David Robertson from Australia is the current Secretary of the GSDI Steering Committee. The contact details for the secretariat are shown at attachment C.

The business of the GSDI Steering Committee will be undertaken through four initial working groups:

• Operations Working Group - to oversee the implementation of the umbrella organisation structure, and general administrative issues related to the GSDI.
• Technical Working Group - to advise the Steering Committee on technical aspects of the GSDI.
• Communication and Awareness Working Group - to inform the broad community about GSDI and the value of spatial data, and to promote the GSDI concept.
• Legal and Economic Working Group - to advise the Steering Committee on economic, legal and funding mechanisms underpinning the GSDI.

Terms of reference for each working group are now being developed for consideration by the Executive Committee.

Facilitation of transitional initiatives

The GSDI Steering Committee has also been asked to support and advocate transitional initiatives, in particular, Permanent Committees for GIS Infrastructure for the Americas, Africa, and the Middle East.

Future conferences

Finally, participants at the 3^rd GSDI Conference endorsed the need for a future meeting to continue activities of the GSDI begun in Konigswinter, Germany and carried forward at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA and at Canberra, Australia. There was consensus to accept the invitation of South Africa that the next meeting is early in the year 2000 in South Africa. Further, there was consensus to accept the invitation of South America to hold the following meeting in 2001 and Colombia was requested to accept responsibility to develop the conference site. Finally, there was consensus that the conference should rotate after 2001 to other regions of the world.

Challenges

There are many challenging issues to address before the GSDI will become a reality:

• Raising the level of awareness, acceptance and support. The GSDI concept is not widely known, let alone well accepted and supported. Given the requirement for a broad group of stakeholder interests to be satisfied this presents a significant communication challenge. Perhaps the most important task at this present juncture is to gain the support of the senior-most members of government, non-government, business and community groups, and in doing so influence legislative, policy and financial decisions that are critical to effective GSDI implementation;
• Recognising and complementing related initiatives. The GSDI is but one of many global, regional and national initiatives aimed at improving access to geographic information. It is essential that these initiatives are identified, recognised and appropriately supported so that the maximum synergy can be obtained from their collective outcomes. This requires a continuous scan of the external environment and effective communication networks amongst those involved.
• Including all stakeholders. For the GSDI to be seen to be truly successful by its stakeholders they must be appropriately involved in, and contribute to its design and realisation. Given the breadth of the GSDI stakeholder group - government and non-government organisations, education and research institutions, the commercial sector, and the general community - it is not surprising that many, if not a majority of stakeholders are not yet included.
• Engaging the less developed economies of the world. Much of the thought, discussion and effort thus far in defining, designing and implementing the GSDI has been from the perspective of the more developed economies of the world - Europe, North America, parts of Asia and Australasia. Most of the globe - generally the less developed economies of Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Oceania - has played only a minor role, if any role at all. If the GSDI is to be a truly global initiative and confer its benefits to all global citizens then a way must be found to bring these nations on-board.
• Maintaining enthusiasm and momentum. Having made the previous point it would be unfair and misleading not to recognise the many individuals and groups who have contributed to the GSDI thus far. This enthusiastic and committed global group must be encouraged to expand their efforts and bring others on-board, thus increasing the momentum of the GSDI initiative.
• Delivering beneficial outcomes. The final, and arguably the most important, issue of all to be addressed is ensuring that the GSDI delivers benefits that can be described and measured in some way, and are regarded as important by the relevant stakeholder group. If this does not occur for some time, or not at all, then the significant effort in involved in realising the GSDI will be questioned and potentially compromised.

Conclusion

In this paper I have endeavoured to briefly and faithfully describe the evolution of thinking and action on the global spatial data infrastructure. I have deliberately quoted directly, and some might say copiously, from a few of the many leaders in the SDI area in order to give the reader the opportunity to assess for themselves the importance of the GSDI concept. I have chosen what I, as present chair of the steering committee, regard as the more important challenges facing GSDI implementation. I trust that in presenting the paper in this way the reader will come to the view that, notwithstanding the challenges, the potential of the GSDI to contribute to a better world in the future is worth the effort in seeking its realisation. Finally, I would encourage the reader interested in learning more about spatial data infrastructures to seek out some of the many publications referred to in the references below.

References

Brand, M. 1998. Theme Paper: Global Spatial Data Infrastructure: Policy & Organisational Issues, available at http://www.gsdi.org/canberra/theme.html

Coleman, D. and McLaughlin, J. 1997. Theme Paper 1: Defining Global Geospatial Data Infrastructure (GGDI) Components, Stakeholders and Interfaces, paper presented at the 2^nd GSDI Conference, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA, 19-21 October 1998, also available at http://www.gsdi.org/docs/ggdiwp1.html

Gore A. 1998. The Digital Earth: Understanding Our Planet in the 21st Century, available at http://www2.nas.edu/besr/238a.html

GSDI 1996. Report on the Emerging GSDI Conference, Bonn/Konigswinter, Germany,. 4-6 September 1996, available at http://www.gsdi.org/docs/rapbonn.html

GSDI 1997. Conference Findings and Resolutions, 2^nd GSDI Conference, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA, 19-21 October 1998, available at http://www.gsdi.org/docs/gsdi97r.html

GSDI 1998. Conference Resolutions, Recommendations and Findings, 3rd GSDI Conference, Canberra, Australia, 17-19 November 1998, available at http://www.gsdi.org/canberra/gsdi3res.html

Onsrud, H. 1998. Survey of National and Regional Spatial Data Infrastructure Activities around the Globe, results presented at the 3^rd GSDI Conference, Canberra, Australia, 17-19 November 1998, also available at http://www.spatial.maine.edu/harlan/gsdi/GSDI.html

Masser, I. 1998. The First Generation of National Geographic Information Strategies, paper presented at the 3^rd GSDI Conference, Canberra, Australia, 17-19 November 1998, also available at http://www.gsdi.org/canberra/masser.html

Rhind D, 1997. Theme Paper 2 : Implementing a Global Geospatial Data Infrastructure, paper presented at the 2^nd GSDI Conference, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA, 19-21 October 1998, also available at http://www.gsdi.org/docs/ggdiwp2b.html

Acknowledgment

Although responsibility for this paper rests entirely with the author, large amounts of material in the paper has been quoted directly from the works of others. These significant others (both individuals and groups of people) have been some of the guiding lights of the GSDI initiative and to whom the author gratefully acknowledges. Particular acknowledgment and thanks goes to those hard-working members of the GSDI Steering Committee, and to my colleague David Robertson, on whose shoulders now rests the heavy responsibility for taking this important global initiative forward. Finally, and by no means least of all, my thanks go to the staff of AUSLIG and my Department for their forbearance and support for my continuing involvement in the GSDI initiative.

Attachment A

GSDI Executive Committee

Attachment B

GSDI Advisory Committee

Attachment C

GSDI Secretariat