Infrastructure Engineering - Research Publications

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    The role [of] cadastral data modelling in e-land administration
    Kalantari, M. ; Rajabifard, A. ; Wallace, J. ; Williamson, I. P. (Centre of Geo-Information Technologies (cGIT), 2005)
    Enablement of land administration with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is heading toward e-Land Administration (e-LA): the transformation of land administration through the use of ICT. Existing initiatives include providing land information on line, electronic conveyancing, digital lodgement of survey plans, and online access to survey plan information. Thus far, implementation of these initiatives is isolated in their specific subsystems without reference to the broader land administration system or its core policy function of supporting sustainable development. One solution to isolation is to develop effective communication among the different land administration subsystems by harmonising data and functionalities, so they are capable of being used by all subsystems. The key to harmonisation is data modelling which both recognizes and reengineers existing business processes. Modelling allows every single process in land administration to influence the cadastral data model and vice versa. This paper describes the importance of cadastral data modelling in data management as well as coordination among subsystems in an e-LA.
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    Developing a platform to facilitate sharing spatial data
    RAJABIFARD, ABBAS ; BINNS, ANDREW ; WILLIAMSON, IAN (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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    Toward e-land administration : Australian online land information services
    Kalantari, M. ; Rajabifard, A. ; Wallace, J. ; Williamson, I. P. ( 2005)
    Sustainable development (SD) is accepted as a central driver in countries world wide with land administration playing an important role in delivering SD objectives. Within this context the emerging use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT) are increasingly being utilised by land administration organizations. These technologies provide opportunities for better service delivery and customer satisfaction and a reduction in operating costs. However establishment of these systems as part of e-land administration and in the context of e-government has to date not been fully realised and is often problematic.E-land administration includes the coordination among various parts of land administration businesses including front office operations like online customer services and private partnership services, and also back office operations like internal work flow and central data base management. The first step in improving the current systems within a particular jurisdiction is assessing the current performance of online land information services as part of e-land administration.There are various initiatives to deliver land related information over the Internet for the public in the different Australian states. Analysing these experiences and determining good practice will assist in proposing effective and innovative solutions to improve or re-engineer the existing services as a key infrastructure for implementing e-land administration services.This paper first introduces and discusses various quality of service criteria for the assessment of an online land information system. The criteria include popularity, performance, functionality and user requirements of services. The paper then reviews and presents current land administration services in Australian states including a statistical analysis to better understand the advantages and deficiencies of current services. The results are assessed and suggestions are proposed for improving on
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    Transferring our knowledge and systems: tenure formalisation
    Dalrymple, K . ; Wallace, J . ; Williamson, I. P. ; ( 2005)
    Land administration systems are key infrastructure for national growth. They deliver macroeconomic growth, allow greater market integration, provide security of tenure and investments, and increase the capacity to deliver welfare. However, land administration systems supporting these activities are complicated and limited. While advanced tools and principles may be borrowed by countries building local land markets, every situation requires innovative solutions in response to the unique and dynamic land administration environment. Project designs must capture a wide range of people to land relationships and different socio-environmental circumstances. An investigation of different people to land and natural resource arrangements was conducted in a development scenario. Case study investigations took place in three rural villages in Cambodia undergoing different stages of land administration project implementation. These studies revealed a wide set of indispensable informal tenure arrangements outside the design scope for providing formal tenure security. From 1990 to now, land projects design emphasis has moved from technological to institutional criteria. Further design change is still required, especially to deliver sustainability and social development. In particular land administration systems used in development scenarios must approach formalization of land tenure with more innovative approaches. This may also require an expansion of tenure security options beyond those currently included in formal systems. Formalised Western skills may be advantageous for delivering some services, but they must be complimented by a holistic understanding of local culture and capacity.
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    What will motivate local governments to share spatial information
    McDougall, K. ; Rajabifard, A. ; Williamson, I. P. ( 2005)
    Local government is a rich source of accurate and detailed spatial information which is utilised not only at the local level but increasingly at other levels of government. To build the spatial data infrastructure (SDI) at a state and national level, the role of local governments and their motivation to participate in the sharing of spatial information must be better understood. Although institutional problems still present some of the greatest challenges in building multi-jurisdictional SDIs, the technical and physical capacity of the smaller jurisdictions can impact on their ability to participate with larger and usually better resourced jurisdictions.In recent years partnerships have emerged as a useful mechanism for establishing a framework and environment conducive to data sharing. However, unless the partnership arrangements are carefully designed and managed to meet the business objectives of each partner, then it is unlikely that they will be sustainable in the longer term. This paper outlines research being conducted on the factors that contribute to the success of local-state government partnerships initiatives in Australia. The research methodology, which consists of mixed method approach utilising case studies and a qualitative survey of local government experiences in partnerships arrangements will be discussed. The case studies based in Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania focus on the arrangements to share property related information and reflect a variety of collaborative approaches. Some initial findings of the research will be presented and their possible implication to future partnership initiatives will be discussed.
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    Creating an enabling platform for the delivery of spatial information
    Rajabifard, A. ; Binns, A. ; Williamson, I. P. ( 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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    What Will Motivate Local Governments to Share Spatial Information?
    MCDOUGALL, K ; Rajabifard, A ; WILLIAMSON, IP (Spatial Sciences Institute, 2005)
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    Creating an enabling platform for the delivery of spatial information
    Rajabifard, A. ; Binns, A. ; Williamson, I. P. ( 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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    The dynamic nature of spatial data infrastructures: a method of descriptive classification
    Chan, Tai On ; Feeney, Mary-Ellen ; RAJABIFARD, ABBAS ; Williamson, Ian P. ( 2001)
    Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) is understood and described differently by stakeholders from different disciplines and different administrative/political levels. However, current SD Idefinitions are individually insufficient to describe the dynamic and multi-dimensional nature of SDI. Despite the international interest and activities toward SDI development, SDI remains very much an innovation even among practitioners. There are still doubts regarding the nature and identities of SDI, particularly in connection with how it evolves over time to meet user needs. Asa starting point a means to describe SDI’s multi-dimensional capacity as an inter- and intra- jurisdictional spatial information framework is required. The aim of this paper is to better understand and describe the nature of SDI and its components. A method to classify the perceived roles of SDI is identified. The method is extrapolated from a technique to describe different perspectives of Geographical Information System (GIS) diffusion, based on identified parallels between GIS and SDIs. The methodology may facilitate description and understanding of the SDI technological and user environment, by promoting insight into the dynamic roles of SDI.
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    Directions for the Future of SDI Development
    RAJABIFARD, ABBAS ; Feeney, Mary-Ellen F. ; Williamson, Ian P. ( 2002)
    Understanding the role of Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) is important to acceptance of the concept and its alignment with spatial industry objectives. Much has been done to describe and understand the components and interactions of different aspects of SDIs and their integration into the transactions of the spatial data community. However, what fails to be received through these perceptions, is that the role SDI plays is by necessity greater than the sum of individual components of SDI and stakeholder groups.SDI is fundamentally about facilitation and coordination of the exchange and sharing of spatial data between stakeholders in the spatial data community. To this end, the authors propose that the roles of SDI have been pursued through different approaches: product-based and process-based. Both approaches have value, but contribute to the evolution, uptake and utilisation of the SDI concept in different ways. They provide different frameworks for dealing with SDI mandates for the objectives of spatial data access and sharing. This paper reviews the nature and concept of SDI, including the components, which have helped to build understanding about the importance of an infrastructure to support the interactions of the spatial data community. Several examples of how SDIs have been described are offered to aid understanding of their complexity. The need for descriptions to represent the conflict between the role and deliverables of an SDI and thus contribute to a simpler, but dynamic, understanding of the complexity of the SDI concept, are postulated. The transition between the understanding of SDIs from product-based to process-based approaches is investigated, with a review of the positions taken by current SDI initiatives throughout the world. A model of how these approaches provide a framework to meet the mandates of the relevant jurisdictions is proposed, and factors contributing to the success of such positions in the future are discussed.