Infrastructure Engineering - Research Publications
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ItemSDI development to support spatial decision-making( 2002)Improved economic, social and environmental decision-making are principal objectives for investing in the development of spatial data infrastructure (SDI) at all political and administrative levels. So much so, resolution 7 of the recent 5th Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) conference in Cartagena, Colombia argued that the purpose of the GSDI is to improve the availability, accessibility, and applicability of spatial information for decision-making (GSDI 2001). Developing institutional support for decision-making that promotes and incorporates the availability and accessibility of spatial information therefore plays an important role in SDI implementation. From an institutional perspective the motivation for SDI implementation is driven by the impracticality of a single organisation producing and maintaining the wide variety of data and models needed to inform many decisions, which results in increased sharing of data, information, analytical, display and modelling tools. This is being seen particularly in the natural resource, environment and local government sectors in Australia (Feeney et al. 2002). These sectors are utilising a variety of institutional mechanisms in their development of spatial decision support capabilities, which are moving progressively towards models that support the development and availability of interoperable digital geographic data and technologies to support spatial decision-making at different levels and participation. The inclusion of technology support as part of developing SDIs has been recognised as essential to meeting the needs of the multi-disciplinary and multi-participant environments that characterise decision-making for sustainable development (Agenda21 1993, GSDI 2001, Rio+10 2002). Unless a diversity of decision support mechanisms are going to be incorporated more into decision processes many relevant and useful spatial datasets and technologies are not going to be used to their potential to support sustainable development. Government has a central role to play in developing infrastructure that supports the discovery, access and applications of spatial information and technologies for such decision support. This paper looks at a variety of institutional mechanisms, for supporting the decision process, being employed in SDI development in the natural resource and environmental sectors in Australia. The decision-making levels supported by these different mechanisms will be reviewed in terms of organisational decision-making and decision process theories, as well as the level of coordination between institutional approaches at the spatial data policy level. The paper will conclude with a discussion of the implications of the approaches to developing institutional support for decision-making, as part of SDI development, as well as a consideration of directions for SDI development in the future to support spatial decision-making.
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ItemSpatial and temporal representation of environmental policy outcomes using geocomputation: a case study in Victoria, Australia( 2003)For more than 30 years, cost-benefit analysis (CBA) has been used in many countriesas an important tool for evaluating public policies. In most cases CBA uses Kaldor-Hicks theory, which assumes that all the entities in the analysis should be consideredequal when distributing benefits and costs. However, for environmental policyevaluations, and especially for cases where a policy is directly affecting a communityor ecosystem with a high degree of vulnerability, the Kaldor-Hicks theory may not bein concordance with principals of equity and sustainability. In order to incorporatethese two concepts in the Cost-Benefit Analysis, a new approach to presentation ofenvironmental indicators for decision-making is proposed. The use of spatio-temporalenvironmental and social indicators provides the decision-maker with a broaderpicture of positive and negative impacts of the policy by considering entities in theanalysis in a differential form, according to their location in the space-time. A geocomputational(GC) system, which incorporates a space-time model and a geographicinformation system (GIS), was created and designed to generate new representationsof environmental policy outcomes. The system, which could be considered as adecision support system, has been designed to promote discussion in the decisionprocess rather than as a technocratic tool. The indicators and computer-based systemhave been tested in a water resources case study with long-term impacts over a largearea of south-eastern Australia.
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ItemGeo-computational alternative to improve economic evaluation of public policies( 2003)For more than 30 years, cost-benefit analysis (CBA) has been used in manycountries as an important tool for evaluating public policies. In most casesCBA uses Kaldor-Hicks theory, which assumes that all the entities in theanalysis should be considered equal when distributing benefits and costs.However, for environmental policy evaluations, and especially for cases wherea policy is directly affecting a community or ecosystem with a high degree ofvulnerability, the Kaldor-Hicks theory may not be in concordance withprincipals of equity and sustainability. In order to incorporate these twoconcepts in the Cost-Benefit Analysis, a new approach to presentation ofenvironmental indicators for decision-making is proposed. The use of spatiotemporalenvironmental and social indicators provides the decision-maker with a broader picture of positive and negative impacts of the policy byconsidering entities in the analysis in a differential form, according to theirlocation in the space-time. A geo-computational (GC) system, whichincorporates a space-time model and a geographic information system (GIS),was created and designed to generate new representations of environmentalpolicy outcomes. The system, which could be considered as a decisionsupport system, has been designed to promote discussion in the decisionprocess rather than as a technocratic tool. The indicators and computer-basedsystem have been tested in a water resources case study with long-termimpacts over a large area of south-eastern Australia.
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ItemDISCUSS: a methodology to support public participation in cost-benefit analysis( 2004)Despite many controversies, cost-benefit analysis (CBA) still been used in many countries as a tool in policy decision processes. More recently, publicparticipation in these CBA processes has become an important issue for governments. However, CBA by itself does not provide a good environmentfor public participation. The major reasons for this are the lack of spatial disaggregation in CBA results; the lack of community understanding of the economic methodologies used to generate these results and the uncertainty included in the technical models used during the process. A methodology based on geographic information system (GIS) is presented here to facilitate greater public participation in CBA. The process generates maps that represent the individual stakeholder perceptions and identification of areas where disagreements occur. This electronic governance tool, called DISCUSS(Decision Information System for Community Understanding of SpatialScenarios), is intended for situations where the government desires to encourage public participation in a decision process after the results from the CBA have been achieved. The main objective of the tool is to help thecommunities and the government in identifying the geographic areas that might require more attention during the discussion of the proposed scenariosfor the policy. DISCUSS and the maps that it produces are being tested in a public participation case study with long-term impacts over a large area of south-eastern Australia.
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ItemDiscuss: an alternative for taking decisions with anincomplete SDI( 2004)An ideal situation for a country or region will be to have a spatial data infrastructure (SDI)containing the datasets and models necessary to support all the planning and decisionprocesses. Often, especially in developing countries, this is not the case. Can governments takegood and valid decisions in cases where the available SDI is not capable of having all thedatasets or models required for the decision? In order to approach this question we havedeveloped a decision support system called DISCUSS (decision information system forcommunity understanding of spatial scenarios). DISCUSS is a customised application underArcMap and uses a fuzzy logic methodology to incorporate the soft information from the expertsand the community into the decision process. The main objective of DISCUSS is to reduceuncertainty in the spatial distribution of decision impacts and at the same time support publicparticipation. The System and the maps that it produces are being tested in a case study withlong-term consequences for a large area of south-eastern Australia.
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ItemInterfacing visualisation with SDI for collaborative decision making(Spatial Sciences Institute, 2005)
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ItemDevelopment of a 3D ePlan/LandXML visualisation system in Australia(International Federation of Surveyors, 2012)The importance of managing properties and people’s interests in complex multi-level developments is increasing, due to population growth and shortage of land in urban areas. As a result, cadastral systems are under pressure to change the way they capture, register and visualise 3D data of these multi-level scenarios. However, interests in land and properties in Australia are registered and visualised through subdivision plans. This visualisation method is often paper-based and includes 2D floor plans, cross-sections and isometric diagrams. These drawings are used to represent 3D properties and associated rights. Although this has been a common practice for experts such as land registration officers and cadastral surveyors, non-expert users such as the public, lawyers and real-estate agents often find these methods difficult to understand and interpret particularly in complex high rise buildings. In order to visualise and represent properties and associated rights in 3D, a web-based prototype system was designed and developed utilising various technologies to enable a wide variety of users to explore 3D ownership rights. The prototype system’s architecture is based on a three-layer framework including, data access, process and presentation layers to represent cadastral data such as Rights, Restrictions and Responsibilities (RRRs). For developing the prototype system, the subdivision plan components and the electronic surveying and subdivision plans (ePlan) were studied and analysed. In this web-based prototype system, 3D LandXML files are converted to KML data format using Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT) and are visualised in the Google Earth API. Furthermore, attribute information such as bearing and distance, attached to subdivision plans, is also represented in this system. Although this prototype system is not able to visualise underground RRRs, it has potential to represent interests in land and properties through the Internet. This paper concludes that ePlan data model is able to contain 3D volume objects to store 3D interests in land and properties.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableImpediments in e-Planning in local government - Indonesian case study(FIG Congress 2010 - Facing the Challenges - Building the Capacity, 2010)Spatial planning is one of the most complex government activities since it involves multi stakeholders and directly influence the way community interact with land. Main deliverables of spatial planning is regulations and maps of planning zones. They need be delivered to community effectively and transparently. Traditional method of providing this service is by using printed material which sometime impractical, immobile, difficult to maintain and limiting public access. Internet offers improvement of this process by enabling electronic delivery of planning regulations and maps, and facilitating online transaction. The implementation of e-Planning depend on several factors, among them are human resources, funding, and ICT infrastructures. This paper describes findings on what challenges and impediments faced by local government in Indonesia if they want to implement e-Planning concepts. It was base on the findings from questionnaires distributed to local planning agencies and websites survey. Three broad aspect were investigated, organization, ICT infrastructures and spatial data infrastructures. Websites survey was conducted to investigate how local government and local planning agencies make use of their websites. There are some impediments in implementing e-Planning in Indonesian local government. They include staff qualification, limitedly available funding, ICT infrastructures, and institutional arrangement. To overcome this situation, a gradual steps approach is proposed, which includes technical and non-technical matters.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableStudying spatial plan in coastal urban environment - facing global threatand adapting to local condition(FIG Congress 2010 - Facing the Challenges - Building the Capacity, 2010)Spatial planning is a process involving projection on future usage of space. It requires in put from different sectors and stakeholders. Nowadays planners are also confronted with the increasing number of disasters in highly populated and economically important areas. There is a growing needs and awareness to incorporate disaster risk information in the spatial planning. One of the particular areas vulnerable to disaster is coastal urban environment. It is facing global threat from the impact of climate change and local-driven natural hazards. The paper firstly reviews literature on coastal urban cities and its characteristic. It also presents their function and importance to the society in terms of economic development and environmental sustainability. It then followed by a review on recent studies on global warming and natural hazards confronted by coastal cities as well as a conceptual frame work to reduce them. Spatial plan was proposed as a long term framework to facilitate disaster risk reduction. The paper took a case study approach using a medium size city of Semarang in Indonesia as an illustration. Three aspects were evaluated, how the spatial plan linked to the idea of disaster risk reduction, how the spatial plan address the issue of disaster risk reduction and how the spatial plan map represent disaster risk reduction effort. The findings indicate that the recent spatial planning documents in the case study area have made considerable progresses in addressing coastal disaster risk issues. The number of disaster related issues discussed in the Spatial Planning documents of 2010 to 2030 is much higher than those of 2000 to 2010. Guidance on what types of land use appropriate for hazard prone area and plans on hazard modification was provided. General directions for development restriction in hazard prone areas were also provided. Overall the city of Semarang has made considerable progress in addressing the numerous types of locally driven natural hazards, although with little reference to global threat from climate change.