Infrastructure Engineering - Research Publications

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    Advanced principles of 3D cadastral data modelling
    AIEN, ALI ; Kalantari, Mohsen ; RAJABIFARD, ABBAS ; WILLIAMSON, IAN ; BENNETT, ROHAN (FIG, 2011)
    Current cadastral data models use a 2D land-parcel definition and extend it to cover 3D requirements. This approach cannot adequately manage and represent the spatial extent of 3D land rights, restrictions and responsibilities (3D RRRs). This paper aims to develop a 3D Cadastral Data Model (3DCDM) to configure 3D cadastral frameworks, manage and represent 3D RRRs, and facilitate 3D cadastre implementation. Three underlying principles have been proposed to develop the 3D Cadastral Data Model (3DCDM). These principles are: • Principle 1: The 2D cadastral data model is a sub-set of the 3D cadastral data model, • Principle 2: The 3D cadastral data model should not only accommodate 3D RRRs and their association with physical objects: the data model should also represent the spatial extent of 3D RRRs, and; • Principle 3: The 3D cadastre data model should cater for a broad range of land administration functions including land tenure, land value, land use, and land development with sufficient detail. These principles are used to assess and modify the core cadastral data model. Additionally, principles related to the legal property object are also used to modify the 3DCDM. The legal property object combines interests and its spatial dimension into a single entity. This creates more flexibility and enables inclusion of complex commodities and all kinds of RRRs. The first version of a 3D Cadastral Data Model (3CDM_Version 1.0) is provided at the end of this paper. 3DCDM maintains both legal and physical parts of 3D objects. The data model has wider application than the traditional requirements of cadastral systems: it is also usable in applications such as urban planning and disaster management.
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    Implementing spatially enabled government (SEG) concept in Indonesian local government, challenges and opportunities
    SUTANTA, HERI ; RAJABIFARD, ABBAS ; Aditya, Trias (Aura, 2010)
    Most government decisions and action at national and local levels have a spatial component. Local government activities with spatial components include, but are not limited to, spatial planning, land management, taxation, and the issue of building and site permits. A framework for governing spatially related activities needs to be formulated. An emerging concept of Spatially Enabled Government (SEG) is currently being developed, refined and implemented in many countries. SEG will increase efficiency, transparency and accountability of government activities. This paper will discuss the SEG concept, its prospects and challenges when implemented in the context of Indonesian local government. Local government in this paper refers only to district (kabupaten/kota) level. The following data were used: survey on local government’s website and questionnaire. Of the 479 districts in Indonesia, official websites of 442 districts established after 2006 were surveyed. Questionnaires were sent out to 71 districts, with 34 responses being received. The questionnaire covered areas of organization, human resources and spatial data infrastructures (SDIs). It was designed to investigate the existing capacity and understanding of local government spatial governance, specifically at the local planning agency. Website surveys revealed that local government had limited interest in exploiting the virtually unlimited potential of internet for spatially-related government activities. SDI, as an enabling platform for data sharing and exchange among government agencies, has not been considered important. Comprehensive policies on spatially-related government programmes were limited. Finding from the questionnaires indicates that funding and qualification of human resources were the main responsible factors for this situation. Local governments have limited staffs with expertise in spatial data handling. Some recommendations to overcome the challenges and impediments are presented. Although there are challenges and impediments, SEG may still be implemented in local government provided some necessary conditions are met. Recent central government initiatives on national spatial data infrastructure (NSDI) and telecommunication infrastructure, which will be implemented in the near future, are essential to speed up the process of creating better spatial data governance in local government.
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    A mixed method approach for evaluating spatial data sharing partnerships for Spatial Data Infrastructure development
    MCDOUGALL, KEVIN ; RAJABIFARD, ABBAS ; Williamson, Ian Philip (ESRI Press, Redlands, California., 2007)
    In recent years interjurisdictional partnerships have emerged as an importantmechanism for establishing an environment conducive to data sharing and hencethe facilitation of SDI development. However, unless the partnership arrangementsare carefully designed and managed to meet the business objectives of eachpartner, it is unlikely that they will be successful or sustainable in the longer term.The purpose of this paper is to focus on the methodological approaches and relevantissues for researching these new data sharing partnerships and their relationshipsto SDI development. This paper proposes a research methodology forinvestigating both the organisational context of data sharing partnerships andthe factors that contribute to the success of interjurisdictional data sharing initiatives.The paper examines past research and theory in spatial data sharingand examines the characteristics of a number of existing data sharing modelsand frameworks. The use of a mixed-method approach to evaluate local-stategovernment partnerships in Australia is described. Finally, the validationof the mixed-method approach and its generalisation to other SDI and datasharing initiatives is discussed.
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    SDI design to facilitate spatially enabled society
    RAJABIFARD, ABBAS (The University of Melbourne, 2007)
    The role that Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) initiatives are playing within society is changing. An SDI is a dynamic, hierarchic and multi-disciplinary concept that includes people, data, access networks, institutional policy, technical standards and human resource dimensions. SDIs were initially conceived as a mechanism to facilitate access and sharing of spatial data for use within a GIS environment. This was achieved through the use of a distributed network of data custodians and stakeholders in the spatial information community. Users however, now require the ability to gain access to precise spatial information in real time about real world objects, in order to support more effective cross-jurisdictional and inter-agency decision making in priority areas such as emergency management, disaster relief, natural resource management and water rights. The ability to gain access to information and services has moved well beyond the domain of single organisations, and SDIs now require an enabling platform to support the chaining of services across participating organisations.The ability to generate solutions to cross-jurisdictional issues has become a national priority for countries such as Australia as a federated state system and the development of effective decision-making tools is a major area of business for the spatial information industry. Much of the technology needed to create these solutions already exists; however, it also depends on an institutional and cultural willingness to share outside of ones immediate work group. This creates the need for jurisdictional governance and inter-agency collaborative arrangements to bring together both information and users to facilitate the realisation of spatially enabled society. This chapter outlines the role of SDI in creating more effective decision-making processes to deal with cross-jurisdictional issues through the creation of an enabling platform that links services and information across jurisdictions and organisations. The creation of an enabling platform will be more than just the representation of feature based structures of the world but will also include the administration and institutional aspects of such features, enabling both technical and institutional considerations to be incorporated into decision-making. The chapter also discusses the central role that SDIs are playing in the development of such an enabling platform to facilitate the vision of spatially enabled society. This would support a knowledge base to access information derived from a model of integrated datasets from different perspectives.
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    A Spatial Data Infrastructure for a spatially enabled government and society
    RAJABIFARD, ABBAS (Published jointly by Space for Geo-Information (RGI), Wageningen University and Centre for SDIs and Land Administration, Department of Geomatics, The University of Melbourne, 2008)
    Meeting sustainable development objectives is a complex and temporal process that involves multiple stakeholders. The creation of economic wealth, social stability and environmental protection can be achieved through developing products and services that are based on spatial information collected by all levels of government. These objectives can be facilitated by developing a spatially enabled government and society where spatial information is regarded as common goods made available to citizens and businesses to encourage creativity and product development. To do so requires data to be accessible and accurate, well-maintained and sufficiently reliable for use by the majority of society who are not spatially aware. With this in mind Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) are being developed by many countries as an enabling platform to improve access, sharing and to integrate spatial data and services. However there are still many challenges to overcome in order to have a fully functioning SDI and to guarantee the investment in its development. Furthermore, in order to deliver this SDI, there needs to be a mechanism of assessment that uses a set of agreed indicators to measure the progress of its development and delivery of its services. In this regard, the assessment of SDIs is an important component in any SDI design and development and needs to be part of an SDI support strategy. This assessment can help to better understand the issues, to find best practice for certain tasks and to also improve the system as a whole. This chapter aims to introduce and discuss various challenges and issues associated in re-engineering current SDI design to support the new vision of a spatially enabled government and society. It also discusses the central role that an SDI plays as the enabling platform. In order to support this, the chapter also discusses the importance of having an SDI assessment mechanism or strategy as part of the SDI to measure the success and delivery of SDI services aligned with the objectives of SDI development. The chapter then highlights a range of activities and processes to be created across all jurisdictional levels to facilitate SDI design and assessment, including aspects of its design, creation and the processes involved in its development, particularly governance of an SDI platform and the overall relations between different challenges and the SDI assessment process.
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    Evaluation and performance indicators to assess Spatial Data Infrastructure initiatives
    STEUDLER, DANIEL ; RAJABIFARD, ABBAS ; Williamson, Ian Philip (Published jointly by Space for Geo-Information (RGI), Wageningen University and Centre for SDIs and Land Administration, Department of Geomatics, The University of Melbourne, 2008)
    Many countries are developing Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) to improve access, sharing and the integration of spatial data and services. However the challenge of designing, building and managing an SDI draws on many different disciplines and requires the examination of a large number of factors and issues. In this regard, the comparison and evaluation of SDIs can help to better understand the issues, to find best practice for certain tasks and to improve the system as a whole. Evaluating and comparing public and private administration systems can be significant in terms of improving processes and institutional structures. The application of these principles to the development of SDIs will therefore come to play a crucial role in the management of our spatial data and that pertaining to the administration of our societies. This chapter therefore aims to introduce the role and value of evaluation and performance indicators for assessing and comparing SDIs by using experiences in the field of land administration systems. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products and organisations to improve their effectiveness. The evaluation is about finding answers to questions such as 'are we doing the right thing' and 'are we doing things right'. These are prominent questions for SDIs, the development of which has been very dynamic over the last decade and has involved significant learning from other national or local initiatives. The commonalities between SDIs and the objectives of efficient and effective land administration systems provide strong grounds for deriving evaluation and performance indicators for SDIs from land administration principles. Key issues include sustaining a culture of sharing, establishing a common language and maintaining reliable financial support. To achieve this, the chapter first presents and discusses major classes of factors which influence, or contribute to, the development of an SDI initiative followed by a reviewing key components of land administration systems and SDIs. It is then proposed that a general evaluation framework which can be applied to SDI and its different components be developed before drawing some conclusions.
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    Seamless SDI model: bridging the gap between land and marine environments
    Vaez, Sheelan S. ; RAJABIFARD, ABBAS ; WILLIAMSON, IAN (Netherlands Geodetic Commission, 2009)
    With climate change, rising sea levels pressing harder year on year and the need to manage our resources more carefully in this dynamic environment, the inability to integrate land and marine base information is an increasing problem in many countries. The absence of a seamless spatial data framework prevents the execution of standard practice of locating and referencing spatial data across the land-marine interface where so much pressure and development is taking place. There is a growing and urgent need to create a seamless SDI model that bridges the gap between the terrestrial and marine environments, creating a spatially enabled land-sea interface to more effectively meet sustainable development objectives. This article discusses drivers for integrating land and marine environments and proposes a seamless SDI model as an abstract level SDI and its associated components. This is followed by issues and challenges that must be overcome in developing an overarching architecture for a seamless SDI that allows access to and interoperability of data from marine, coastal and terrestrial environments.
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    Local government and SDI: understanding their capacity to share data
    MCDOUGALL, KEVIN ; RAJABIFARD, ABBAS ; WILLIAMSON, IAN (Netherlands Geodetic Commission, 2009)
    Local government has been recognised as an early leader in the development, deployment and innovation in spatial information systems. The introduction of corporate wide spatial data portals within local government was as significant as the release of Google Earth to the wider public. Although these information systems continue to expand and mature, the potential for these local spatial data infrastructures (SDIs) to contribute to higher level SDI initiatives remain largely unrealised. This article explores local government SDI within Australia to assess its capacity to contribute to higher level SDI initiatives. A comprehensive survey of over 100 local government authorities was undertaken to assess their SDI capacity and collaborative initiatives. The results were analysed to identify factors that contribute to their successful local SDI development and, more widely, to the development of higher level SDI initiatives through data sharing partnerships. The findings from the analysis indicate that suitable policy frameworks, an understanding of business needs, organisational support and ability to access data through equitable sharing arrangements are critical drivers in building and developing SDI from the local level.