Infrastructure Engineering - Research Publications
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ItemThe role of sub-national government and the private sector in future Spatial Data Infrastructures( 2006-08)A Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) facilitates and coordinates the exchange and sharing of spatial data between stakeholders in the spatial data community. With this objective in mind, countries throughout the world are developing SDIs to manage and utilise their spatial data assets more effectively. These countries are developing SDIs to assist in various kinds of decision-making at different levels of government jurisdictions that have an important impact within their national boundaries. However, current research shows that SDI is understood and described differently by stakeholders from different disciplines and different jurisdictional levels. Therefore, in many cases SDI initiatives remain very much an innovation even among practitioners. There are still uncertainties regarding the benefits and identities of SDIs, particularly in connection with how they evolve over time to meet user needs.This paper reviews and assesses the development of SDIs throughout the world over the past fifteen years and the leadership role of national governments in SDI creation. This assessment is based on the SDI activities of various jurisdictions including Asia-Pacific, Australia, North America and Europe and research into the worldwide effects of spatial information clearinghouses. This assessment includes a discussion on emerging trends in SDI development, with particular reference to the increasingly important role played by sub-national governments and the private sector within the framework of SDI development. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for future SDI development, including the delivery of a virtual world that has a particular focus on facilitating decision making at a community level within a national context.
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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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ItemHierarchical spatial reasoning applied to spatial data infrastructures( 2000)Many countries throughout the world believe they can benefit both economically and environmentallyfrom better management of their spatial data assets, enabling them to access and retrieve complete andconsistent datasets in an easy and secure way. This has resulted in the development of the Spatial DataInfrastructure (SDI) concept at various political and/or administrative levels. The SDI concept has beenrepresented by different descriptions of its nature, however, currently these demonstrate an overlysimplisticunderstanding of the concept.The simplicity in existing definitions has been slow to incorporate the concept of an integrated, multilevelledSDI formed from a hierarchy of inter-connected SDIs at corporate, local, state/provincial,national, regional (multi-national) and global (GSDI) levels. Failure to incorporate this multidimensionality,and the dynamic mechanistic and functional roles of the SDI, have rendered manydescriptions of SDI inadequate to describe the complexity and the dynamics of SDI as it develops, andthus ultimately constrain SDI achieving developmental potential in the future.As a result, the objective of this paper is to demonstrate the fitness and applicability of HierarchicalSpatial Reasoning (HSR) as a theoretical framework to demonstrate the multi-dimensional nature ofSDIs. It is argued that by better understanding and demonstrating the nature of an SDI hierarchy, anySDI development can gain support from a wider community of both government and non-governmentdata users and providers. The findings presented in this paper build on the authors' experiences inRegional SDI (multi-national) development and HSR.
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ItemThe dynamic nature of spatial data infrastructures: a method of descriptive classification( 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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ItemDirections for the Future of SDI Development( 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.
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ItemThe cultural aspects of sharing and dynamic partnerships within an SDI hierarchy(Informa UK Limited, 2002-01-01)
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ItemSpatial data infrastructures: concept, SDI hierarchy and future directions( 2001)The world as we know it is changing. Economies world wide are undergoing a process ofprofound and continuing structural change, and the global village is becoming a reality driven byIT and communication technologies. With this in mind, many countries believe that they canbenefit both economically and environmentally from better management of their spatial data assetsby taking a perspective that starts at a local level and proceeds through state, national and regionallevels to global level. This has resulted in the development of the Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI)concept at these levels.SDI is fundamentally about facilitation and coordination of the exchange and sharing ofspatial data between stakeholders from different jurisdictional levels in the spatial datacommunity. Understanding of its role and nature are important to the acceptance of the conceptand its alignment with spatial industry objectives.The aim of this paper is to present the nature and concept of spatial data infrastructures,including the SDI hierarchy, which have helped to build understanding about the importance ofthe relationships within different levels of SDIs to support the interactions and partnerships of thespatial data communities. Moreover, the paper will highlight the importance of sharing andunderstanding its special social system, followed by a discussion of the future direction of SDIs. Itis argued that by better understanding the future direction of SDIs, any SDI development can gainsupport from a wider community of both government and non-government data users andproviders.
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ItemSpatial data infrastructure frameworks to support decision-making for sustainable development(Geography Institute of Colombia, 2001)
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ItemKey Factors Influencing Regional SDI Development and Relevance to Global and Other Levels(GSDI6, 2002)The challenge of designing, building, implementing, and maintaining an SDI draws on many different disciplines and requires examination of a large number of factors and issues. It is essential that SDI practitioners understand the significance of human and societal issues as much as technical issues, all of which contribute to the success of SDI developments. Key issues include sustaining a culture of sharing, establishing a common language, and maintaining reliable financial support. This paper presents and discusses major classes of factors which influence, or contribute to the development of a Regional SDI initiative together with recommendations to facilitate the development of Regional SDI initiatives. It is argued that the adoption and implementation of these recommendations can assist Regional SDI coordinating agencies to receive more support and speed up their progress in the development of SDI initiatives. This paper draws on research conducted by the authors in Asia and the Pacific region, based on the theory of innovation diffusion which provides the research framework. The results and lessons learned from this research can also be used and applied in other regions, and potentially other jurisdictional levels such as local, state, national and global.