International Journal of Spatial Data Infrastructures Research (Joint Research Centre of the European Commission)
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Land Administration as a Cornerstone in the Global Spatial Information Infrastructure
Get PDFThis paper shows how standardization activities are progressing and contributing to the fact that Land Administration (LA) is considered more and more the cornerstone of the spatial information infrastructure. This is equally valid for regional, national, continental, and global levels, as will be illustrated in this paper. The paper describes the involved organizations and the current status of the LA standardization efforts. The crucial role that LA plays within the spatial information infrastructure is analyzed; including the relationship LA does have with other registrations and themes within the information infrastructure, of which some are non-spatial ones, such as persons. Special attention is given to a number of global aspects related to LA: combating slums (UN-HABITAT), stabilizing post-conflict areas, development of LA based on free/libre/open source software (UN-FAO) and climate change. Finally, the concept of ‘land administration levels of maturity’ is introduced and four stages of maturity are identified: 1. Standards, 2. Connectivity, 3. Integration, and 4. Network. The earlier described LA initiatives are assessed in the context of these levels of maturity
Building an Online Learning and Research Environment to Enhance Use of Geospatial Data
Get PDFGeospatial data availability, interoperability, and integration remain a problem today. Current spatial data infrastructures (SDIs) are of limited use particularly to non-expert user communities. GeoBrain, a NASA funded project, has aimed to address those challenges, facilitate easy use of geospatial data and overcome some limitations of current SDIs through building a data-intensive, Service-oriented Architecture (SOA) based online learning and research environment. By adopting the latest developing Web services and knowledge management technologies, this online environment enables easy, open, seamless, and on-demand discovery, access, retrieval, visualization and analysis of distributed geospatial data, information, services, and models from any computer connected to the Internet. Such an online environment is able to serve the different needs of global Earth sciences research and higher education communities, bridge gaps between data user needs and provider capabilities, and greatly enhance use of geospatial data
Creation of an NSDI strategy – Case Study Croatia
Get PDFThis paper gives an overview of research conducted in Croatia to recognize the needs and expectations of spatial data producers and users at national level in the process of improvement of the existing NSDI. The results of the research make groundwork for creating an NSDI vision and an efficient national improvement strategy. For building such a strategy, a general model of improvement was devised, applicable in Croatia and in countries with similar circumstances. There are no two identical NSDIs in the world and it is important that each country, at national level, develops a strategy by itself, whereby experiences from countries with a developed NSDI can be of great hel
SDI in East Africa – Leveraging the UN presence
Get PDFDuring 2007, East Africa has been the venue for an attempt to field-test the principles of spatial data infrastructures (SDIs). The effort has involved a self-motivated group of United Nations (UN) offices and programmes, and their partners amongst the non-governmental organizations, inter-governmental organizations, regional research institutions, and academia and beyond. The motivation for the exercise arises from the on-going definition of a United Nations Spatial Data Infrastructure (UNSDI) coupled with the recognition that there is little practical basis upon which to base such design, especially in the case of the governance structures necessary to sustain a co-dependent community of institutions that are building business applications over each others' data and services. A number of key points distinguish SDI-East Africa (SDI-EA) from equivalent ones occurring in more economically developed countries or regions in that it lacks top-down mandate or authority; there is a wide variety of institutional and legal frameworks governing data and service provision; the breadth and disparity of technical capability and infrastructure amongst the participants; the serious and pressing needs driving applications in areas as diverse as humanitarian response and protection, food security, and social and environmental vulnerability and adaptation to global climate change. The lesson emerging is that the constraints limiting effective SDI implementation are less to do with communications and technical infrastructure, and far more related to institutional misapprehension, "mission lock" and mistrust. Effective strategies for outreach, policy development and capacity building are considered
A geo-service semantic integration in Spatial Data Infrastructures
Get PDFIn this paper we focus on the semantic heterogeneity problem as one of the main challenges in current Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs). We first report on the state of the art in reducing such a heterogeneity in SDIs. We then consider a particular geo-service integration scenario. We discuss an approach of how to semantically coordinate geographic services, which is based on a view of the semantics of web service coordination, implemented by using the Lightweight Coordination Calculus (LCC) language. In this approach, service providers share explicit knowledge of the interactions in which their services are engaged and these models of interaction are used operationally as the anchor for describing the semantics of the interaction. We achieve web service discovery and integration by using semantic matching between particular interactions and web service descriptions. For this purpose we introduce a specific solution, called structure preserving semantic matching. We present a real world application scenario to illustrate how semantic integration of geo web services can be performed by using this approach. Finally, we provide a preliminary evaluation of the solution discussed
Standards Based Approaches for Cross-Domain Data Integration
Get PDFThe term "geohazards" provides a label for a common way of looking at the relationships between the state of a phenomenon, its geographical context and the impacts it may have. This way of thinking applies equally to hazards such as floods, landslides, severe weather, biological agents etc. Each of these domains must be modeled separately according to the way it behaves, but there are common problems, and in the case of geohazards, need for common views of the potential impacts and linkages. A common approach allows us to integrate data, or simply be the enabler by allowing us to share tools and methodologies.
Agreement on the commonality means "standards" - and mechanisms and governance of these standards. This paper proposes an outline of the set of standards required to achieve cross-domain data integration, and the governance arrangements required to achieve this. In particular, it proposes a potential mechanism for INSPIRE and other Spatial Data Infrastructures to achieve cross-domain harmonisation of data standard specifications through a simple generic geographic contextualisation framework that removes the need for complex cross-domain interdependencies in data models
INSPIRE obscured by clouds of inter-organizational cooperation with geoICT?
Get PDFThe INSPIRE Directive, a European Union Directive to promote change in the use and re-use of geospatial information in all European member states, is indirectly and implicitly assuming new forms of cooperation between public authorities, and assuming non-problematic networking and cooperation between public authorities. Empirical evidence from public administration science is however showing that cooperation is a frequently researched and loaded term and that changing existing forms, or introducing new forms of public sector cooperation, has often proven to be problematic. This article investigates for three cases in the Netherlands how political-organizational motives may play a role in the cooperation with geographic information and communication technology (geoICT). In the analysis, the assumption is that individual organizations operate in a dynamic arena of interests and influences, which have an impact in decisions and behaviour within the cooperation. The analysis itself applies an analytical approach, whereby for each case a selected set of political-organizational notions are compared. These notions include: authority, interest, command, control and coordination. The cases chosen are different in the degree to which INSPIRE objectives play a direct role, or a less direct role. The data was collected through qualitative research techniques. The investigation shows that the political-organizational context in which INSPIRE needs to be adopted has a direct impact on the degree of its acceptance. Common in the cases is the increase of operational agreements, which trigger an increase of alternative structures. These alternatives are legitimized by other policies and directives. The consequence for INSPIRE implementation is that if these political-organizational motives are not taken into account appropriately, the unintended and often hidden counter-effects may hamper the overall implementation of the INSPIRE Directive. A possible next phase of the research would need to validate the results by investigating the cases more longitudinally, and by comparing with other cases, both in the Netherlands and Europe
Towards Semantic Composition of Geospatial Web Services – Using WSMO in Comparison to BPEL
No full textGeospatial Web Services (GWS) provide access to geospatial data and expose basic processing functionality using Web Service technology. The complexity of geo-processing tasks necessitates the combination of basic Web Services to user-oriented and application-specific service compositions. Semantic heterogeneity and lack of automation have been identified as core problems that hinder the full exploitation of GWS. Current composition approaches do not address these problems. This paper presents an analysis of the use of Business Process Execution Language (BPEL), a state-of-the-art composition approach. Its major limitations in composing GWSs are highlighted. Semantic Web Services (SWS) composition using the Web Services Modeling Ontology (WSMO) is proposed as improvement. As basis for comparison a use-case application is developed in BPEL and in WSMO
A Note on Hierarchical Routing Algorithms based on Traverse-oriented Road Networks
Get PDFFinding the shortest route has become almost an omnipresent task in our society. This task runs across in the internet, for outdoor activities and of course within in-car navigation systems. Nowadays finding the shortest path gets more popular compared to the past because of rising fuel prices. That is why driving along an optimised route has financial benefits on the one hand and on the other hand it spares energy resources of our environment. In this paper a hierarchical approach of route computation based on traverse elements is discussed. Furthermore an experimental setup consisting of an open source database management system (PostgreSQL/PostGIS) is realised to verify the theoretical part
Universal Land Registry to Support Independent Economic Development in Tanzania
Get PDFA simple land property registration procedure cannot be taken for granted in Tanzania. Nevertheless, it is crucial for private investment and wealth accumulation in one of the poorest countries in the world. To improve the formal land registration procedures is currently one of the topmost items on the agenda of the Tanzania Government.
To help speed up the technical implementation of an improved land registration procedure, a group of volunteers – GIS experts and students from Europe and North America – elaborated the solution design for a Universal Land Registry (ULR) application. A prototype implementation demonstrates the feasibility of the solution with Open Source Software.
The solution design with use cases, data model and solution architecture is presented in this paper. Furthermore, some implementation considerations are made to support the distributed nature of the different partners involved from land use planners at national level to the individual land owner on his or her plot. In particular, different requirements related to data quality (spatial precision, completeness etc.) are considered for a viable solution in such a vast country like Tanzania. As land use and land ownership information is core information for a National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), a close organizational and technical integration of the ULR with all efforts to construct a NSDI is envisaged