International Journal of Spatial Data Infrastructures Research (Joint Research Centre of the European Commission)
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Harnessing Location-based Services for Effective Citizen Observatories
Get PDFThe essence of a city is its citizens and communities. A city’s infrastructure and associated services play a vital role in citizens' day-to-day living and their overall quality of life. Traditionally, services are deployed in a top-down approach where authorities, councils and public bodies take a reactive approach to address community needs and concerns. In this paper, we propose our ‘Citizen Observatory’ approach to enable citizens to take a proactive role in the management of their local communities and environment by supporting their engagement in the decision-making process. We discuss how to empower citizens and communities to engage with and assist authorities to establish a more informed understanding of residents’ needs and the status of their local environments. Through the WeSenseIt project, we employ a location-based crowdsourcing and communication strategy to develop a resilient, efficient and collaborative information ecosystem for decision-making in urban and rural areas
Many Points of View: Visibility Mapping for Marine Spatial Planning
Get PDFIn order to manage and facilitate economic growth while safeguarding environmental objectives in the marine environment, new European legislation mandating the development of Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) using an ecosystem approach has been introduced. One critical component of the ecosystem approach is the inclusion of ecosystem services into management decisions. In order to contribute to the planning process a map of the visibility of the entire Scottish national Exclusive Economic Zone was produced using cumulative viewshed analysis and displayed using a novel dynamic web display system. The layer maps the spatial distribution of one aspect of cultural ecosystem services, the visual amenity of coastal areas and is being used in the Scottish Marine Spatial Planning process
Future development of NSDI based on the European INSPIRE Directive – A case study of a Bosnian and Herzegovinian geoportal
Get PDFThe term infrastructure, as a mechanism of support for spatial data, was used for the first time in the early 1990s in Canada. Today, the concept of spatial data infrastructure (SDI) has become a new paradigm worldwide for the collection, use, exchange and distribution of spatial data and information. Spatial data infrastructures are developed through sets of spatial data, metadata, agreements for joint spatial data use and distribution, network services and coordination activities. SDI is always present in a certain form, but the level of implementation varies according to current demand. In this context, the building or setting up of an SDI can be seen as an improvement or addition to one already in existence. One of the main goals of SDI is the horizontal and vertical linking of subjects that create and use spatial data. Subjects can be classified at several basic levels – from personal and corporative, through local and county, to national, regional and finally, global. Today, the most important level is the national level i.e. the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) project and the European Union (EU) Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE) Directive. Without spatial data and services, it would be impossible to manage space effectively, plan city development, monitor the situation on the ground, or carry out many other activities. This paper gives an overview of different initiatives and efforts in establishing SDI in Bosnia and Herzegovina. State bodies such as the government and the State Geodetic Administration have the main role in collaborating with the public and commercial sectors and also with the academic community. As the main factor in creating a future SDI, the State Geodetic Administration has launched several initiatives the goal of which is the installation of new technologies, equipment and procedures in map production and the establishment of digital topographic and cadastre databases. In the next few years Bosnia and Herzegovina must accomplish numerous tasks to arrange spatial records. These tasks must be accomplished very conscientiously and in a reasonable period of time. It is very important for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s prosperity and for the fulfilment of the conditions established for the process of entering European and international integrations. The iGEO geospatial portal implementation, described in detail further down in this paper, represents an initial drive towards establishing state-wide SDI-based services as a focal point to handle the above stated tasks. It represents a standardized, INSPIRE-driven way of providing important geospatial data to end-users throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina
Assessing the Openness of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI): Towards a Map of Open SDI
Get PDFThis paper introduces the Open Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) Assessment Framework as a new approach for assessing the openness of SDIs. Open SDIs are SDIs in which non-government actors such as businesses, citizens, researchers and non-profit organizations can contribute to the development and implementation of the SDI, use spatial data with as few restrictions as possible and benefit from using these geographic data. A pilot application of the new framework resulted in the Map of Open SDI in Europe, which aims to show the level of openness of national SDIs in Europe. The map could become a relevant and practical tool that shows the status of Open SDIs in Europe and supports decision makers and practitioners in making their own SDI more open
A multi-level perspective on a spatial data ecosystem: needs and challenges among urban planning stakeholders in New Zealand
Get PDFSpatial data ecosystems are often complex, and stakeholders express difficulties in finding, accessing, using and sharing spatial information. Doing so can be essential for making good evidence-based decisions on urban development. New Zealand's urban planning spatial data ecosystem is no exception. This paper identifies and maps key stakeholders, their data needs and respective barriers to an improved use of spatial information. We apply a multi-level perspective approach to analysing challenges of a transition towards an improved spatial data ecosystem for urban decision-making. Based on expert interviews and the international literature, we provide recommendations to improve the spatial data ecosystem and reduce barriers to making spatial data more available to support urban decisions. Our stakeholder-based analysis highlights the importance of intensive stakeholder engagement across the multiple levels of the spatial data ecosystem, fostering increased awareness and understanding of the value of fit-for-purpose spatial information for better planning outcomes. We argue for a coordinated, stakeholder-based mechanism addressing in particular cultural and governance local practices
Techniques for and consequences of using INSPIRE extensions: a case study with Swedish hydrological data
Get PDFThe demand for easily available geographic information is increasing in society. Moreover, knowledge of spatial data infrastructures (SDIs) has increased in many European governmental agencies, in large part because of the implementation of the INSPIRE directive. Many countries, thus, recognise the need to provide more detailed geographic information as network services at the national level. One means of realising this goal is to create INSPIRE extensions, i.e., to extend the INSPIRE data specifications with more detailed and specific national information. This paper describes a study where a complex INSPIRE extension has been created to describe the national need of hydrography information in Sweden, based on the Swedish water system standard (SWSS). The study includes the creation of a UML application schema that extends the INSPIRE Hydrography (HY) theme, the transform from UML to an XSD schema, the creation of GML files, and finally, testing and evaluating the approach of using INSPIRE extensions. When evaluating the results, the consequences of replacing existing dataset/download services with one extended INSPIRE HY dataset/download service are evaluated from the perspectives of both users and data providers. The evaluation is carried out as quantitative tests of the resulting GML files, in a user-centric test where a user tests the applicability of the GML files in hydrological analyses, and by telephone interviews with personnel from Lantmäteriet, the Swedish mapping, cadastral and land registration authority. Beside these evaluations, the possible effects on the information modelling process when creating an INSPIRE extension are also examined. The study shows that it is possible to create complex INSPIRE extensions that include many object types, attributes and relations. From a user perspective, extended INSPIRE HY files do not differ substantially from SWSS files, and can be used in hydrological analyses. Data providers can relatively simply replace their current download services with one for the extended INSPIRE HY, but the specific economic consequences for this could not be drawn. It could be expected, though, that there can be both economic, administrative and maintenance advantages if today’s separate INSPIRE and national download services are replaced with services exposing datasets based on an extended INSPIRE data model for all adequate themes
Standardized Information Models to Optimize Exchange, Reusability and Comparability of Citizen Science Data. A Specialization Approach
Get PDFThe number of citizen science projects is constantly growing. Local, national, and international platforms feature new projects almost every month, resulting in an endless number of new observations that are constantly gathered and stored in databases. Often, these data sets are only used for the sampling campaign’s objectives, thus leaving a huge potential unused: its reusability in other contexts and its comparability with other data sets. Reusability and comparability require a number of aspects to be fulfilled. This paper describes those aspects and focuses on the citizen science application profile as a standardized information model to ensure syntactic and semantic understanding of citizen science data. Data compliant with this information model can be discovered and accessed through standardized Web interfaces and therefore easily integrated into any data processing environment or compared to any other data set. It is emphasized that the application profile described in this paper is one of two possible solutions that are currently being explored. The second one is briefly addressed and will be documented in detail in future publications
Transformation of a Cadastre-Compliant 3D Building Model of Bavaria to INSPIRE
Get PDFIn Germany, a dataset of 3D building models has been created at two levels of detail, based on the nationwide standards of the Working Committee of the Surveying Authorities of the States of the Federal Republic of Germany (AdV). This work has been done by the German federal states. There are some interesting details in the datasets; for example, in Bavaria, the building ground plans are taken from the official cadastral map. Both the 3D building model of Bavaria and the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) directives for the data specification of buildings (INSPIRE-BU) are based on the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) CityGML standard. Thus, an obvious development was to investigate the possibility of converting these data to a schema conforming to INSPIRE. In order to convert these 3D building models at the second level of detail to INSPIRE, a project group of the AdV entitled “3D-Geobasisdaten” created an initial mapping table, based on the AdV-CityGML profile and GeoInfoDok 7.0 beta. To ensure that the schematic transformation is operational, 100% compliance between the source data and the source schema is required. The 3D-Geobasisdaten group and the Central Office for House Coordinates, Building Polygons and 3D Building Models (ZSHH) have jointly developed relevant criteria for data at both levels of detail. Tests on 3D building models at both levels of detail were carried out to check the conformity of the schema and profile, as well as the geometric and semantic data checks defined by the AdV. During the operational work at the Bavarian Agency for Digitization, High-Speed Internet and Surveying, it was shown that errors can reliably be detected. In an extension of this work, a joint research project between the former Bavarian State Agency for Surveying and Geoinformation and the Chair of Geoinformatics at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) provided proof of the convertibility of 3D building models based on AdV standards to INSPIRE specifications via conversion of a sample dataset
Just Good Enough Data and Environmental Sensing: Moving beyond Regulatory Benchmarks toward Citizen Action
Get PDFDiscussing a research project that investigates citizen sensing practices in relation to monitoring air pollution from hydraulic fracturing sites, this paper investigates the types of data that citizen monitoring generates, and the uses to which it might be put. The discussion is located within the wider context of the rise of environmental sensing technologies and practices that are emerging and that seek to enable citizens to use DIY and low-tech monitoring tools to understand and act upon environmental problems such as air pollution. These “citizen sensing” projects intend to gather data that can indicate environmental change and give rise to political action. However, regulators often contest citizen-gathered data as inaccurate, and as collected through sub-standard instruments and practices. Drawing on a report developed by the US EPA, we use the concept of “just good enough data” to demonstrate that citizen-gathered data can have multiple other uses beyond regulatory comparison and compliance. Describing the collaborative development of an environmental monitoring kit, as well as the deployment of this kit within a participatory research setting, we suggest that the relevance of citizen-collected air quality data should not be solely evaluated through absolute criteria such as alignment to state- or federally managed air quality data, but rather should be incorporated for the unique citizen-based insights and perspectives it provides
Working Towards a New Set of Global Rules for Certain Satellite-Related Commercial Transactions in the Tradition of the Incoterms® Rules
Get PDFDue to the lack of a unitary and concise private contractual practice related to satellite data and imagery, some academics favour a remote sensing convention as the lack of regulation and system controls creates ambiguities and adaptation problems. In this article, the author suggests to the scientific community the creation of a legal base and a contractual paradigm, leading to the establishment of a new set of satellite and individual trade-related terms. Such terms would be applied uniformly to the satellite data and imagery of online transactions. A practical, fast and effective method would allow parties to close online transactions in a more legally secure manner, at least theoretically