Infrastructure Engineering - Research Publications
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ItemDeveloping a platform to facilitate sharing spatial data(Centre of Geo-Information Technologies (cGIT)., 2005)Users of positioning and spatial information services and tools require precise spatial information in real-time and real-world objects. Simply an accurate positioning of a future subdivision is no longer accepted by users, they require it to be visualized as well, in order to take into account outside influences. The capacity to meet such user needs and deliver services and tools within the spatial information market has gone well beyond the ability of single organisations (Rajabifard, et al, 2005a). There is now a wide range of products and services available for a wide range of information technology applications, and hence the development of an enabling platform can facilitate access to data and sharing resources and tools among different practitioners. The creation of an enabling platform for the delivery of these tools and positioning applications will allow users from diverse backgrounds to work together with current technologies to meet the dynamic market place. Up until now, individual jurisdictions within Australia for example have started utilizing different platforms in attempting to create mechanisms for accessing and delivering spatial data and associated applications and tools in a coordinated fashion. This has been done through the use of hierarchies of information, where jurisdictions utilize information both by those within a jurisdictional level as well as those at a higher or lower jurisdictional level. The benefits of this sharing of information have been documented, however they do not necessarily break down the barriers between jurisdictions. Just because different information can be gained about Victorian state for example from different jurisdictional levels, does not mean that the information will necessarily be compatible (it may not be of the same accuracy or have the same specifications, utilize the same symbology, etc) (Rajabifard, et al, 2005b). There is now a need to create a common rail gauge within Australia to aid in implementing initiatives which solve cross jurisdictional and national issues. In order to meet this need, there is a requirement for an enabling platform.
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ItemCreating an enabling platform for the delivery of spatial information( 2005)The ability of single organisations or government agencies to deliver services and tools that meet user needs withinthe spatial information market is shrinking. Users now require precise spatial information in real-time about realworldobjects. This requires governments and industry to work together to create such products and services. Theproblem in Australia however, is that much of the spatial information needed to create these services resides withingovernment agencies which is often difficult for industry to access.Governments are moving forward in relation to creating policies and initiatives which open up some of thisinformation to the public. They are also creating whole-of-government initiatives such as Western Australia’sShared Land Information Platform (SLIP) and Information Queensland which aim to make governmental spatialinformation accessible across all government agencies. What is lacking however is the ability for industry to engagedirectly with these whole-of-government/cross-agency initiatives. There is a need to create an infrastructure orenabling platform linking government and private industry from which applications and services can be leveragedand value added, providing the ability to grow the private sector and spatial information industry as a whole.This paper aims to describe the issues surrounding the creation of an enabling platform linking governments spatialinformation initiatives and the private sector. It also explores the relationship between top-down research required tospecify strategic goals and vision, prioritize plans, resolve policy issues and build enabling framework and thebottom-up commercialisation required to promote various local initiatives and build application-specific andenterprise-wide databases and services. This is done through an analysis of the concept of a virtual jurisdiction,outcomes of case studies undertaken within five Australian jurisdictions on spatial data infrastructure and spatialinformation initia
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ItemCreating an enabling platform for the delivery of spatial information( 2005)The ability of single organisations or government agencies to deliver services and tools that meet user needs withinthe spatial information market is shrinking. Users now require precise spatial information in real-time about realworldobjects. This requires governments and industry to work together to create such products and services. Theproblem in Australia however, is that much of the spatial information needed to create these services resides withingovernment agencies which is often difficult for industry to access.Governments are moving forward in relation to creating policies and initiatives which open up some of thisinformation to the public. They are also creating whole-of-government initiatives such as Western Australia'sShared Land Information Platform (SLIP) and Information Queensland which aim to make governmental spatialinformation accessible across all government agencies. What is lacking however is the ability for industry to engagedirectly with these whole-of-government/cross-agency initiatives. There is a need to create an infrastructure orenabling platform linking government and private industry from which applications and services can be leveragedand value added, providing the ability to grow the private sector and spatial information industry as a whole.This paper aims to describe the issues surrounding the creation of an enabling platform linking governments spatialinformation initiatives and the private sector. It also explores the relationship between top-down research required tospecify strategic goals and vision, prioritize plans, resolve policy issues and build enabling framework and thebottom-up commercialisation required to promote various local initiatives and build application-specific andenterprise-wide databases and services. This is done through an analysis of the concept of a virtual jurisdiction,outcomes of case studies undertaken within five Australian jurisdictions on spatial data infrastructure and spatialinformation ini
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ItemDevelopment of a Virtual Australia Utilising an SDI Enabled Platform( 2005)Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) which is an evolving concept and can be viewed as anenabling platform linking data producers, providers and value adders to data users. With thisin mind, many nations and jurisdictions are investing in developing such platforms andinfrastructures that enable their stakeholders to work together in a more mutual approach tocreate distributed virtual systems that support better decision-making. The success of thesesystems depend on collaboration between all parties and need to be designed to supportefficient access, retrieval and delivery of spatial information to where it is needed.Within Australia, through the Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information (CRC-SI),there is a vision to provide a single entry point to SI, modeling and visualization tools, makingspatial information available and useful to all - at any time and in any place. This requires theseamless integration of SDIs at different levels including state and national to form a virtualjurisdiction such as Virtual Australia, providing a foundation for identifying best practice andkey performance indicators of SDIs in terms of their policy, technology and institutionalframeworks.This paper will discuss how SDIs can be used as an enabling platform in the construction anddelivery of a Virtual Australia, based on the SDI hierarchy model where data flows withminimal impediments within and between state and federal/national levels. The benefits ofVirtual Australia will be more than just the representation of feature based structures of theworld, it will also include the administration and institutional aspects of such features,enabling both technical and institutional aspects to be incorporated into decision-making. Thisis an aspect of research identified as more challenging than complex technical issues.
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ItemSupporting decision making and management in the marine environment( 2005-08)The world’s oceans cover almost two thirds of the surface of the earth, regulating weather patterns and sustaining a huge variety of plant and animal life (UN, 2003). Given the diversity of this area, there is an economic, social and environmental need to effectively manage it. This management is difficult, due to the complex web of national and international government legislation, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). There are also overlapping and competing rights and responsibilities of a myriad of activities within the marine environment, often governed by separate agencies. In order to manage these rights and activities in the marine environment effectively, clear spatial certainty in relation to marine boundaries is needed (Collier et al. 2003). This can be achieved through the use of spatial information and decision support tools such as marine GIS. Historically, the marine environment has been managed secondary to the terrestrial environment through sectoral planning, with government fisheries agencies managing fisheries and historical shipwrecks managed by a separate government agency. Jurisdictional limits and marine boundaries are multiple and often unclear, there is generally no single agency managing offshore rights, and the mapping of legal boundaries is difficult due to the three-dimensional aspect and lack of physical reference. Added to this, information needed to effectively manage the marine environment is stored within silos, with no interconnection between relevant information streams. The management of the terrestrial environment evolved in a similar fashion to the marine environment, with spatial information in particular built up in silos. However the three global driver of sustainable development has created the need for greater access to environmental, economic, and social information. The introduction of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as a tool to aid in decision making has also seen the need to break down the barriers between agencies and silos. For effective analysis within a GIS, there must be access to a wide range of interoperable spatial datasets. In order to effectively and efficiently access and disseminate such spatial data, there has been the need to develop Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI), which aid in breaking down barriers between users and producers of spatial data. GIS is now being used to aid decision making in the Marine Environment, with interactive mapping applications, marine and coastal data download tools and associated metadata becoming readily available through various GIS systems. This paper aims to discuss the use of a SDI and marine cadastre in helping marine GIS users gain access to critical information relating to maritime boundaries and other important information used in marine management. Gaining access to such information will aid decision makers in utilising the wide range of tools offered through GIS packages in the marine environment, enabling the worlds oceans to be managed in line with current sustainable development drivers
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ItemAdministering the marine environment: the spatial dimension(Mapping Sciences Institute, Australia (MSIA), 2005)Administering the spatial dimension of the marine environment is very important as decision-makers in both land and marine related areas of the coastal zone need to access marine related datasets in order to effectively achieve their economic, social and environmental objectives. There is also the challenge of managing the complex interactions between, and competing rights of, stakeholders within the marine environment. This paper aims to discuss both the current and future direction of marine administration, including the development of a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) as a tool to achieve efficient management, concentrating on Asia and the Pacific region. This includes the socio-economic, policy and technical challenges and issues faced by countries within this jurisdiction, as well as an overview of the objectives, principle tasks and results of the International Workshop on Administering the Marine Environment – the Spatial Dimensions, held in Malaysia 2004. Although focusing on Asia and the Pacific region, the results and conclusions drawn from this paper can also be applicable to other marine jurisdictions.
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ItemSpatially Administering the Marine Environment(Spatial Sciences Institute, 2005)
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ItemDevelopment of a Virtual Australia Utilising an SDI Enabled Platform( 2005)Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) which is an evolving concept and can be viewed as anenabling platform linking data producers, providers and value adders to data users. With thisin mind, many nations and jurisdictions are investing in developing such platforms andinfrastructures that enable their stakeholders to work together in a more mutual approach tocreate distributed virtual systems that support better decision-making. The success of thesesystems depend on collaboration between all parties and need to be designed to supportefficient access, retrieval and delivery of spatial information to where it is needed.Within Australia, through the Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information (CRC-SI),there is a vision to provide a single entry point to SI, modeling and visualization tools, makingspatial information available and useful to all – at any time and in any place. This requires theseamless integration of SDIs at different levels including state and national to form a virtualjurisdiction such as Virtual Australia, providing a foundation for identifying best practice andkey performance indicators of SDIs in terms of their policy, technology and institutionalframeworks.This paper will discuss how SDIs can be used as an enabling platform in the construction anddelivery of a Virtual Australia, based on the SDI hierarchy model where data flows withminimal impediments within and between state and federal/national levels. The benefits ofVirtual Australia will be more than just the representation of feature based structures of theworld, it will also include the administration and institutional aspects of such features,enabling both technical and institutional aspects to be incorporated into decision-making. Thisis an aspect of research identified as more challenging than complex technical issues.