Infrastructure Engineering - Research Publications

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    SDI governance bridging the gap between people and geospatial resources
    Box, Paul ; RAJABIFARD, ABBAS ( 2009)
    Organisational arrangements have long been recognised as a critical enabler and fundamental component of Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI). More recently, the term “governance” has become increasingly used to refer to aspects of institutional frameworks that support SDI. However, given the polysemous nature of the term and the evolving nature of approaches to implementing SDI, it not clear exactly what is meant by the term “SDI governance” and thus the scope, nature and challenges of governance are not well understood. Through an exploration of concepts and model of governance in a variety of contexts, a conceptual model of SDI governance is being developed. An investigation of practical realities of governance in four Australian SDI initiatives has been used to inform the development of this model. This paper provides an overview of the concepts of governance, presents some key findings from the Australian SDI cases studies; and describes an initial conceptual model of governance.
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    Developing a seamless SDI model across the land-sea interface
    Vaez, Sheelan Sheikheslami ; RAJABIFARD, ABBAS ; BINNS, ANDREW ; Williamson, Ian Philip ( 2007)
    A more integrated and holistic approach to management of spatial information relating to coastal and marine environments is needed and this can be facilitated by the creation of a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) on a seamless platform. 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 paper discusses the principles and concepts followed by introduction to 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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    Building the spatial data infrastructure through data sharing: measuring progress within Australian local and state government jurisdictions
    MCDOUGALL, KEVIN ; RAJABIFARD, ABBAS ; Williamson, Ian Philip ( 2007)
    In the past decade efforts to develop spatial data infrastructures (SDIs) have migrated from the initial “top-down” national approaches to “bottom-up” and cross jurisdictional efforts at the sub-national level. Although national SDI developments are fundamental to building the SDI culture and policy, it is sub-national and local SDI development that will deliver the immediate benefits to citizens and the community. In countries which have highly decentralised federations of states such as Australia, United States and Canada, the challenge is how to co-ordinate the literally thousands of often small local government jurisdictions which are important contributors to state and local SDIs. In recent years, a number of co-operative spatial data sharing partnerships between local and state government have emerged in Australia. These partnerships are relatively new initiatives that have been established to facilitate more effective sharing of spatial data between organisations, but also as a mechanism to contribute to SDI development. To maximise the benefits from these partnerships it is essential to understand the factors that contribute to their successful operation and sustainability. This paper investigates these collaborative arrangements and examines the motivations, mechanisms and frameworks for data sharing between local and state governments.
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    SDI to Facilitate a Spatially Enabled Society
    RAJABIFARD, A ; BINNS, A ; WILLIAMSON, I (Spatial Sciences Institute, 2007)
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    A strategy framework to facilitate spatially enabled Victoria
    Thomas, Elizabeth ; Hedberg, Ollie ; THOMPSON, BRUCE ; RAJABIFARD, ABBAS ( 2009)
    Spatial Information is at a critical turning point in its development. More people are using it for a wider range of purposes, including social networking; technology is changing the way we communicate with each other; there are new ways of thinking about ‘location’; and big corporate players are entering the market and are starting to drive standards. At the same time, all levels of government, business and the community face significant challenges in producing and using products and services in environmentally and socially sustainable ways. Spatial information has an integral part to play in developing solutions to these challenges. But this cannot be achieved without a clear strategy and a framework that harnesses everyone’s skills and expertise. Victoria is fast being recognised as a leader in many aspects of State SDI development in Australia and internationally. The Victorian Spatial Council – which is the peak body that provides a coordinated approach to policy and development and management of spatial information – has recently painted the emerging landscape for spatial information in Victoria. Through the Victorian Spatial Information Strategy 2008-2010 it highlights some of the changes occurring in spatial information and technology and the key challenges they pose, and sets the broad themes for facilitating the whole spatial information community’s participation in that landscape. VSIS is a basis for delivering spatially enabled Victoria. At the same time, it considers that spatial information should be seen as part of the wider information resource created by and available to society. It presents a challenging agenda and the strategic framework it sets out lays the foundation for fulfilling the promises that are held out by the developments it describes. This paper aims to present and discuss VSIS, its development process and its role in connecting all levels of government, the private sector, utilities, academia, the professions and a wider community from a spatial data perspective. The paper starts with a discussion on the importance of having a spatial information framework in the context of spatially enabled society and then discusses the central role VSIS plays in facilitating the spatially enabled vision in Victoria. The paper then highlights a range of activities and processes to be undertaken across all disciplines and sectors to facilitate framework development. This includes aspects of design, creation, governance and processes involved in developing an enabling platform, and the overall relations between different challenges to facilitate spatial data activities. The results and lessons learned from the development of the strategy can be used and applied in other jurisdictions, at both national and global levels.
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    An Initial Model Of The Computation Viewpoint For A SDI
    COOPER, ANTONY ; Moellering, Harold ; Delgado, Tatiana ; Duren, Ulrich ; Hjelmager, Jan ; Huet, Michel ; Rapant, Petr ; RAJABIFARD, ABBAS ; Laurent, Dominique ; Iwaniak, Adam ; Abad, Paloma ; Martynenko, Alexander ( 2007)
    The Commission on Spatial Data Standards of the International Cartographic Association (ICA) is working on defining formal models and technical characteristics of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI). The Commission has already presented models of the Enterprise and Information Viewpoints from the ISO Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing (RM-ODP) standard (ISO/IEC 10746:1995). The Commission is now taking this further to model the Computation Viewpoint, which describes how the different services of an SDI fit together. The models should be seen as a continuing step towards the overall model of the SDI and its technical characteristics.The Commission has identified six broad groupings of services: Registry, Data, Processing, Portrayal, Application and Management. The interactions between these high-level services have been modelled using the Unified Modeling Language (UML) Component Diagrams. The detailed services have been modelled using UML Class Diagrams (Object Management Group 2005).