GEO 465/565 - Lecture 6
U.S. National Spatial Data Infrastructure
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Partnerships in Action
Partnerships
Often fraught with hazards can take longer and create friction
BUT
Often there is no real choice for they can bring:
New staff skills
Additional technology
Marketing skills
Better brand image
New insights on user needs
New products
Cost- and risk-sharing
Local
partnerships: an example
Local
to global partnerships: an example
National
partnerships via NSDIs
The problem:
Data duplication commonplace so waste occurs
Ad hoc data sharing has many difficulties
Data often tailored to one application
Best data often collected in greatest detail at local level but not
accessible to regional or national folk
Indexes/metqadata to available GI unknown until recently
No general protocols for any of this until NSDI..
What
is a National Spatial Data Infrastructure?
the technology,
policies, standards, and human resources necessary to acquire, process, store,
distribute, and improve utilization of geospatial data
Source: Presidential
Executive Order #12906 (1994): 'Co-ordinating Geographic Data Acquisition and
Access:The National Spatial Data
Infrastructure'W Clinton.
BUT what does it mean in practice?
Initial
elements of the US NSDI
Defined standards (mandated on federal agencies and encouraged for
others) Minimising inconsistency
Clearinghouse metadata descriptions of existing data.Advertising what is available
National geospatial data framework - a common template on which to
assemble other data
Categories of Geospatial Data
Community-developed data
sets usually derived for a single purpose but made available for potential
re-use
Data sets developed to a
common content specification for high re-use potential. These are known as
Framework data.
Framework provides. . .
a foundation to which spatial information and
attributes can be added.
a base on which other themes of data can be compiled.
context to orient and link the results of analyses to
the landscape
Metadata: "nutritional" label for GIS
data sets
Internally - saves 4 hrs
research 10 times a year = (4x10x$50) = $2,000 (time it takes to look up or
contact someone for information about a dataset)
External Questions -
refer 30 inquires/year (1hr/inquiry) = (30x1x $50)=$1,500 (time it takes to
answer calls from people who want to use the data or find out more about
it)
Future reuse/enhancement
-$5,000 to $25,000
Liability (lawyers,
courts) - $$$$
Metadata developments
Refinement of the FGDC
Metadata Standard
Harmonization with
international standards
Collection tools
available
Training available from
FGDC
Clearinghouse provides...
Discovery of spatial
data
Distributed search
worldwide
Uniform interface for
spatial data searches
Advertising for your
data holdings
Who builds standards?
FGDC Standards working
group in partnership with . . .