TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

COORDINATION ARRANGEMENTS IN AUSTRALIA

COORDINATION IN JURISDICTIONS

AUSTRALIAN SURVEYING AND LAND INFORMATION GROUP

AUSTRALIAN SPATIAL DATA INFRASTRUCTURE

PERMANENT COMMITTEE ON GIS INFRASTRUCTURE FOR ASIA & PACIFIC

UNITED NATIONS REGIONAL CARTOGRAPHIC CONFERENCE

GLOBAL SPATIAL DATA INFRASTRUCTURE

CONCLUSION

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

REFERENCES

FURTHER INFORMATION

The development of a national spatial data infrastructure in Australia has gained the support of all levels of government and the private sector. This support is essential for the successful implementation of the Australian Spatial Data Infrastructure (ASDI) but also means that co-ordination arrangements are a key factor in its implementation.

The Australian model for a spatial data infrastructure translates well to the regional and global levels and Australia's experience has enabled it to play a useful role in the Permanent Committee on GIS Infrastructure for Asia and the Pacific (PCGIAP), the United Nations Regional Cartographic Conference for Asia and the Pacific (UNRCC-AP) and the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) initiative.

The Australia New Zealand Land Information Council (ANZLIC) is the peak inter-governmental council responsible for the co-ordination of land and geographic information management in Australia and New Zealand. It provides focus and leadership for the land and geographic information community. The ANZLIC organisation structure is shown in figure 1.

ANZLIC was originally established in January 1986 as the Australian Land Information Council by agreement between the Australian Prime Minister and the heads of the State and Territory governments in response to a clear and growing need to:

• co-ordinate the collection and transfer of land-related information between the different levels of government; and
• promote the use of that information in decision making.

Each delegate to ANZLIC represents a co-ordinating body within their jurisdiction. The responsibilities of delegates include:

• consultation within their jurisdiction, through the co-ordinating body, to develop a jurisdiction point of view;
• expression of the jurisdiction point of view at ANZLIC; and
• promotion of ANZLIC activities within their jurisdiction.

Each jurisdiction is also represented on an Advisory Committee, established to provide technical advice to Council. ANZLIC maintains close links with other national co-ordinating bodies, such as the Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping (ICSM), with relevant Ministerial Councils, with local government and with industry.

ANZLIC's Vision is expressed in the Council's Strategic Plan 1997-2000, and is that Australia and New Zealand will have the land and geographic information needed to support their economic growth, and their social and environmental interests.

It$BCT(B Mission is to provide leadership for effective management and use of land and geographic information to achieve that vision.

Over the past few years, ANZLIC has focused its efforts on defining, promoting and implementing an ASDI. Some of the activities undertaken include:

• holding workshops and seminars to obtain the advice of the spatial data industry on the characteristics of the ASDI
• publishing a discussion paper describing ANZLIC's vision for the ASDI;
• establishing an Internet World Wide Web (WWW) site to promulgate its plans for the ASDI;
• establishing a Metadata Working Group to develop a standard for metadata;
• publication of the Metadata Guidelines in hard copy and on the WWW site;
• publication of Guidelines on Custodianship;
• raising consultancies to gain advice on the implementation of a distributed national directory system; and
• establishment of prototype directory nodes to promote the collection of metadata and to trial technology for distributed directories.

ANZLIC's commitment to the ASDI continues and over the next year or so ANZLIC proposes to:

• hold a Ministerial Forum to gain political support for the ASDI and to raise awareness of the importance of spatial data for national development;
• continue with the implementation of the national directory in all jurisdictions;
• support the identification and improvement of national datasets through such initiatives as the National Land and Water Audit, and the Public Sector Mapping Agencies (PSMA) consortium;
• consult the broader user community to refine the model for the ASDI;
• continue its exploration of key issues such as copyright, liability and privacy, as they relate to improving public access to spatial data; and
• develop the national directory network into a distribution mechanism.

ANZLIC does not believe that it is either desirable or necessary to create large centralised databases to achieve its objectives. In all its activities ANZLIC has promoted a vision for the ASDI that is based on jurisdictions and custodians maintaining control of the data it has invested in whilst improving co-ordination and standardisation to ensure that those individual datasets can be combined to create nationally consistent datasets. This is the vision that ANZLIC has promoted in the Asia Pacific and in global spatial data forums.

Working under the auspices of ANZLIC, the ICSM provides a focus for surveying and mapping issues, including topographic mapping, cadastral data, geodesy and geographical names.

ICSM provides national co-ordination of activities, seeks to establish standards and protocols across jurisdictions and helps to avoid unnecessary duplication. Additionally, ICSM promotes development of the latest technology and enables exchange of information and ideas in the national interest and between Australia and New Zealand. It has a close relationship with ANZLIC especially regarding ICSM$BCT(B role within the ASDI.

The membership, as with ANZLIC, comes from Australian Federal, State and Territory, and New Zealand government.

ICSM has restructured its work programs to closely align them with its commitments to the ASDI. ICSM has eight Working Groups that are addressing different elements relevant to the ASDI. These are:

It has previously been noted that each delegate to ANZLIC represents a co-ordinating body within their jurisdiction. This is a key feature of the ANZLIC structure and one that provides ANZLIC with the capacity to address issues of spatial data management in the broadest sense. Spatial data is an important resource for almost all areas of government so no single agency has a monopoly over its management. Without these co-ordination mechanisms a national spatial data infrastructure could not be achieved.

The co-ordinating body within the Federal Government is the Commonwealth Spatial Data Committee (CSDC) and the Chairman of the CSDC represents the Commonwealth at ANZLIC. All Commonwealth agencies with an interest in spatial data, either as a custodian or as a user, are represented on the CSDC and so, through this mechanism, the Commonwealth Government's interests can be well represented in the national forum.

The CSDC and ANZLIC work together closely, promoting actively the concept of the ASDI to provide fundamental spatial data needed to support sound decision-making. A draft Commonwealth policy on the ASDI has been developed by CSDC, consistent with the concept developed by ANZLIC.

The Committee is supporting actively the development of the Australian Spatial Data Directory (ASDD) containing metadata (information about available data) fully compliant with national metadata guidelines. It will be a computerised $BAZ(Bellow pages’ that describes datasets available from national and state government agencies.

The Commonwealth Public Interest Spatial Data Transfer Policy was developed by the Committee to enable more extensive use of a valuable public resource. The Committee has also developed the Commonwealth Custodianship Guidelines to help Commonwealth data custodians meet their obligations as managers of government spatial data. The guidelines set out the custodians’ rights and responsibilities. The Committee is co-ordinating, too, the identification of custodians and lead agencies for the various categories of Commonwealth fundamental spatial data, to support the ASDI framework.

Australia's national mapping organisation, the Australian Surveying and Land Information Group (AUSLIG), is located in the Federal Department of Industry, Science and Tourism.

AUSLIG represents the Federal Government on the ANZLIC Advisory Committee and on ICSM. It also provides secretariats for ANZLIC, ICSM and CSDC. Support for international spatial data initiatives is also provided by AUSLIG, including a secretariat for the PCGIAP.

The agency is a custodian of major framework datasets of the ASDI, including small scale topographic data, maritime boundaries and the geodetic framework.

AUSLIG has been identified, by the Federal Government, as the agency responsible for leading the Federal Government's participation in the ASDI. This includes liaison with Federal, State and Territory agencies, and the implementation of the ASDD in collaboration with the National Resource Information Centre (NRIC) and the Environmental Resources Information Network (ERIN).

AUSLIG programs and major outputs are as follows:

ANZLIC views land and geographic information as an infrastructure, with the same rationale and characteristics as roads, communications and other infrastructure.

The data required for a national spatial data infrastructure includes topography, transportation infrastructure, utility infrastructure, flora, fauna, hydrology, climate, land use, administrative boundaries, and much more. In the past, this data has generally been stored, managed and analysed in analogue map form but there is an increasing amount of data that is being collected in digital form. The flexibility of digital data has created new opportunities for the integration of separate jurisdiction datasets, in the national interest. But this capacity to integrate datasets from a wide range of sources has also increased the need for co-ordination and standardisation.

ANZLIC's model for a spatial data infrastructure comprises four key components. They are briefly described as follows:

INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK
which defines the policy and administrative arrangements for
building, maintaining, accessing and applying the standards and datasets

TECHNICAL STANDARDS
which define the technical characteristics of the fundamental datasets

FUNDAMENTAL DATASETS
which are produced within the institutional framework and
fully comply with the technical standards

DISTRIBUTION NETWORK
which is the means by which the fundamental datasets are made
accessible to the community, in accordance with policy determined
within the institutional framework, and to the technical standards agreed

The primary objective of the ASDI is to ensure that spatial-data users will be able to acquire consistent datasets to meet their requirements, even though the data is collected and maintained by different agencies. The national infrastructure will help maximise the government investment in collecting and maintaining data.

ANZLIC's vision for a national spatial data infrastructure, the ASDI, is for a distributed array of databases, each maintained by a recognised custodian and linked by administrative arrangements, standards and a distribution network so that nationally consistent datasets and new data products can be readily assembled. That array of databases is supported by a comprehensive national directory of spatial data, the ASDD, which is itself a distributed array of directories maintained by individual jurisdictions and interrogated through a common gateway.

Work has progressed well on the implementation of the ASDD. Metadata Guidelines have been developed and implemented in many jurisdictions and agencies. Prototype directory nodes have been implemented to promote the collection of metadata according to ANZLIC guidelines and to test the technology for a distributed directory system. Individual jurisdictions are well advanced in the development of their own directories, which comply with the ANZLIC Metadata Guidelines and will become components of the ASDD.

All ANZLIC jurisdictions have made commitments to the implementation of the ASDI. Several jurisdictions have already made good progress in the definition and development of their own spatial data infrastructures which will become major components of the ASDI.

There has also been extensive work done on developing a spatial data infrastructure for Australia's marine environment and this, too, will form a part of the ASDI. Development of nationally consistent datasets has been stimulated by specific projects such as the PSMA dataset to support the 1996 and 2001 National Census of Population and Housing, and the National Land and Water Audit.

Although the ASDI is a joint initiative of all governments in Australia, the Federal Government has a special role to play, both as a major user and custodian of national datasets. Some specific areas where the Federal Government is contributing to the development of the ASDI are outlined below:

1. Providing support and national leadership in policy development and national co-ordination activities.

Mention has already been made of the Commonwealth's role in supporting the CSDC, ANZLIC and ICSM. The Commonwealth also co-ordinates its marine activities through the Heads of Marine Agencies (HOMA) and through HOMA and CSDC the Commonwealth Marine Data Group co-ordinates marine data management in Australia.

The Commonwealth is an active participant in other relevant Ministerial councils with an interest in geographic information management issues such as Australian and New Zealand Minerals and Energy Council, the Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council, the Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand, and the Online Council.

2. Providing a Commonwealth focal point for ASDI implementation initiatives.

It is important that a single agency is identified with ASDI responsibility in order to ensure Ministerial responsibility and to enable proposals to be brought forward to government through Cabinet. Announcements in the 1996 Federal Budget gave AUSLIG this responsibility.

3. Capturing (and providing funding as necessary) national fundamental datasets required in the national interest.

There are various Commonwealth programs contributing to creation of fundamental datasets. Many of these programs are undertaken in partnership with State and Territory programs. Some of the current programs include:

• AUSLIG's contribution towards the creation of national fundamental data sets in topography (National Topographic Map Series and GEODATA), geodetic framework, Australia's International Maritime Boundaries and an archive of remotely sensed data collected through ACRES;
• the development of national geoscience and resource information datasets by the Australian Geological Survey Organisation;
• the development and funding, by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, of base mapping for national statistical census activities as well as collecting and distributing other spatially related socio economic data;
• the development and funding, by the Department of Primary Industries and Energy, of Landcare activities and other elements of the Natural Heritage Trust such as the National Land and Water Resources Audit;
• the development and funding, by Environment Australia, of the Australian Coastal Atlas project and elements of the Natural Heritage Trust;
• the development of a database of native title interests over Australia by the National Native Title Tribunal; and
• the development of various spatial datasets by the Department of Defence through organisations such as the Army Topographic Support Establishment, the Aeronautical Information Service, the Hydrographic Service and Australian Oceanographic Data Centre.
4. Implementation and on going management of the ASDD

The ANZLIC Metadata Working Group has recommended a technical solution based on Internet technology and distributed databases. The Federal Government has accepted the role of national co-ordinator for the implementation of the ASDD. This will be undertaken as a joint project between AUSLIG, ERIN and NRIC. A central node and user interface will be established which links the individual jurisdictional nodes to form the ASDD.

ERIN, Land Victoria, and the Western Australian Land Information System (WALIS) have developed a Prototype Distributed Data Directory to demonstrate technology which could be used for the ASDD and which has assisted the ANZLIC Working Group in identifying implementation issues. The prototype is available at http://www.erin.gov.au/net/directory.html. The ASDD will gradually be extended to include nodes in all jurisdictions.

NRIC has taken on the responsibility of providing the Federal Government node of the ASDD and is also hosting directories for some other jurisdictions until they are in a position to provide their own.

5. Contribution to the development of national standards.

National standards are developed as required by the user community. It is in the Commonwealth interest to promote the development of national standards for spatial data where they are not available. This is particularly the case where the Commonwealth is a significant user of the national data. The Commonwealth Government provides funding to support Standards Australia's work in co-ordinating standards development in Australia. The Commonwealth is also well represented on the numerous technical committees established by Standards Australia which has responsibility for the development of standards for geospatial data.

6. Research and development

The Federal Government funds a number of research and development programs that could, potentially, provide funding for ASDI related activities, including the provision of funds for Australian Research Council grants. Other funding programs are available for industry.

At the agency level AUSLIG, for example, is sponsoring ASDI related projects at several universities and will be expanding this activity in 1998-1999.

7. Promotion and education in relation to the ASDI.

A number of industry forums have been held in conjunction with ANZLIC, CSDC, the Institution of Surveyors Australia, the Mapping Sciences Institute Australia and the Australasian Urban and Regional Information Systems Association to gain input for the development of the Federal Government ASDI policy. AUSLIG has established an ASDI page on its web site at http://www.auslig.gov.au which will be kept up to date with ASDI developments.

AUSLIG has also been actively promoting the ASDI internationally through the PCGIAP and, on behalf of the PCGIAP, at the GSDI Conference.

At the 13^th UNRCC-AP, held in Beijing in May 1994, it was resolved that "...directorates of national survey and mapping organisations in the region form a permanent committee to discuss and agree on, inter alia, geographical information system standards, geographical information system infrastructure and institutional development, and linkage of the prospective committee with related bodies in the world. As a result of that Resolution, the PCGIAP was formally established at its inaugural meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in July 1995. The organisation structure of the PCGIAP is shown in figure 2.

The aims of the PCGIAP are "to maximise the economic, social and environmental benefits of geographic information in accordance with Agenda 21 by providing a forum for nations from Asia and the Pacific to:

The PCGIAP is working towards the implementation of an Asia Pacific Spatial Data Infrastructure (APSDI). The APSDI has much in common with the Australian model for a national spatial data infrastructure.

The 14^th UNRCC-AP was held in Bangkok in 1997, and made the following Resolutions:

Resolution 1: Recommends that the UN, through the Permanent Committee,

1. Identify options for new and innovative ways to finance spatial data infrastructure programmes;
2. Make funding agencies aware of the economic impact of spatial data infrastructure and urge those agencies to give greater attention to funding the spatial data infrastructure components of project proposals.

Resolution 14:

1. Recommends that the United Nations urge all Governments in Asia and the Pacific to consider establishing a national spatial data infrastructure;
2. Also recommends that the United Nations urge all Governments in Asia and the Pacific to consider participating in the work of the Permanent Committee in establishing the APSDI;
3. Further recommends that the United Nations urge the PCGIAP to endeavour to link the APSDI into the GSDI.

The PCGIAP held its 4^th and most recent meeting in Tehran Iran at the beginning of March 1998.

Amongst the main items covered in Tehran were the PCGIAP project plans, the Committee$BCT(B relationship with other similar regional and global coordination bodies, and its objectives in contributing to a global spatial data infrastructure.

The Committee critically analysed the future directions of the PCGIAP and its relationship with the UNRCC-AP; the main outcome being a move to more of a production focus supported by a restructure of working groups. There are now four inter-related operational areas as follows.

• Implementation of a regional precise geodetic network;
• Regional geodetic observation campaigns;
• Definition of a regional horizontal geodetic datum; and
• Investigation of a regional vertical geodetic datum.

• establish regional fundamental datasets and mechanisms for sharing these data; and
• foster an understanding of the benefits in using regional fundamental data.

• Develop a policy for sharing regional fundamental data;
• Define and facilitate development and integration of regional fundamental datasets;
• Establish a regional network of APSDI data nodes (directories); and
• Promote applications of spatial data for example through regional GIS application demonstrations.

Australia has played a major role since the inception of PCGIAP. The second meeting of the Committee was hosted in Sydney in October 1996 and the secretariat is provided by AUSLIG. In addition, the PCGIAP has requested Australia to represent it and present papers at a number of international events, and the third GSDI conference is being arranged by AUSLIG in Canberra for 17-19 November 1998, on behalf of the host organisation, the PCGIAP.

Just as ANZLIC perceives the ASDI as a network of jurisdictional spatial data infrastructures, so the PCGIAP considers the APSDI as a network of national spatial data infrastructures. It is believed that it is essential for jurisdictions to retain responsibility and control over the data for their areas of responsibility if they are to participate and contribute to the development, maintenance and co-ordination of the APSDI. Thus, the ASDI will provide Australia's contribution to the APSDI.

The Asia-Pacific concept of a linked array of SDI's translates well to the global level. The PCGIAP considers that the best model for the GSDI is to consider it a network of regional and national spatial data infrastructures, linked by standards and administrative arrangements in such a way as to allow global datasets to be assembled whilst respecting a nation's sovereignty over its own data and the conditions under which it is used. The relationship between national, regional and global SDI's is shown in figure 3.

At the previously mentioned 14^th UNRCC-AP a further Resolution was passed as follows:

Resolution 11:

1. Urges all the Governments of Asia and the Pacific to consider participating in the development of the Global Map, with the assistance of the International Steering Committee for Global Mapping and the close co-operation of the United Nations;
2. Recommends the creation of a Global Mapping forum of data providers and users to facilitate the development of the Global Map and a virtual forum of users via the Internet or other means of communication and interaction;
3. Also recommends establishing and maintaining points of contact within national mapping organisations as the initial step in facilitating the creation of such a forum;
4. Further recommends the strengthening of collaborative and co-operative efforts between Global Mapping and those of various regional spatial data infrastructures, especially the APSDI of the Permanent Committee.

The UNRCC-AP brings together heads of national mapping agencies to co-ordinate, at the high level, the inter-related disciplines of survey and mapping, geodesy, and hydrography and is one of several such regional conferences.

The work of the UNRCC-AP is encapsulated in the resolutions adopted at each triennial conference. The 14th UNRCC-AP tasked the PCGIAP with

The United Nations proposed that a Special Working Group Meeting (SWGM) of the UNRCC be held in Mexico, 25-27 March 1998. The aim of the SWGM was to review:

• the status of the UNRCC;
• the role of the United Nations;
• co-ordination between UNRCC;
• technological co-operation; and
• relations with other fields and other issues.

At this SWGM a presentation was made on behalf of the PCGIAP which:

• described the respective roles of PCGIAP and UNRCC-AP;
• described the structure of the PCGIAP, including recent resolutions and changes to working group arrangements;
• outlined achievements, and strengths, weaknesses opportunities and threats to the PCGIAP;
• discussed resolutions of recent UNRCC-AP;
• noted the relationship between PCGIAP and UNRCC-AP; and
• described the role of the PCGIAP in GSDI.
• proposed a conceptual model that linked the activities of PCGIAP, UNRCC-AP, other permanent committees and UNRCC, the Global Map project, and the GSDI

The SWGM reached a successful conclusion and resolved:

• To support the creation at the United Nations of a Geographic Information Commission, with the following objectives;

• Fostering the development of geographic information activities, awareness and infrastructure at the world, regional, country and local levels;
• Supporting the work of the UN organs and agencies in particular the resolutions of the World Summits;
• Coordinating the geographic information activities of the UN specialised agencies; and
• Supporting technological development in this area.

• That the Commission should meet every 2 years according to UN regulations with country representatives from all regions of the world, with its first meeting to be held as early in the year 2000 as possible;
• That the UN should provide the necessary infrastructure to support this endeavour; and

• That the UNRCC should be maintained and invigorated

On 4-6 September 1996, in Bonn, Germany, more than 60 representatives from the spatial information community from around the world attended the first Emerging Global Spatial Data Infrastructure conference. There was general consensus about the need to communicate views on the GSDI concept, discuss the major issues and develop a possible implementation plan.

The second GSDI conference was held in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA on 19-21 October 1997. This conference attracted almost 100 participants from more than 20 countries who discussed the opportunity to link local, national, and regional geospatial data infrastructures into a global endeavour. The conference focused on the need for multi-national, multi-lateral co-operation to realise the promise of GIS technology and geospatial data in fostering sustainable development world-wide.

Conference participants set out a number of findings that included:

• demonstration of the problem solving capabilities and social and economic benefits of the GSDI;
• placing the GSDI as a central focus for decision making before the meeting of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development in 2001;
• seeking high level political and business support for the GSDI at the local, national, regional, and international levels;
• building stronger collaboration between existing international programs involved with geospatial data;
• fostering education and research activities.

Participants at this conference endorsed the need for a future meeting to continue activities leading to the development of the GSDI begun in Bonn and carried forward at Chapel Hill. There was consensus that the next meeting should be in the Asia/Pacific rim. The PCGIAP Executive Board has accepted the formal invitation to host the GSDI conference and it will be held in Canberra on 17-19 November 1998.

Australia is making steady progress towards realising its goal of building the ASDI, through the co-operation and co-ordination of the activities of Federal, State and Territory governments.

The Federal Government is a major producer and user of national datasets and, as such, has a key role to play in the definition and implementation of the ASDI. AUSLIG has been identified as the lead agency for the ASDI within the Federal Government.

ANZLIC has made an important contribution to the development of the ASDI by drawing all levels of government together to identify the need for the ASDI, to determine the characteristics of the ASDI, to consult with users and industry on the communities needs and expectations for the ASDI, to develop and support the implementation of national spatial data standards, and to co-ordinate the activities of individual jurisdictions in the implementation of the ASDI.

The ANZLIC model for a national spatial data infrastructure built from jurisdiction-based infrastructures linked by common policies, administrative arrangements and standards, has relevance to the regional and global scales of SDI.

Australia has been active in promoting the concept of a regional spatial data infrastructure for the Asia-Pacific through its support for and participation in the PCGIAP.

The PCGIAP has made significant progress towards defining the APSDI and has promoted its vision for a global spatial data infrastructure in the GSDI forum.

The nations of Asia and the Pacific, and particularly Australia, strongly support moves for the implementation of spatial data infrastructures at all levels of government and the linking of those initiatives to provide the world with a comprehensive resource of quality spatial data to support economic, social and environmental objectives. We look forward to welcoming delegates to the 3^rd GSDI Conference in Canberra in November 1998, where these initiatives can be further pursued.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

ACRES Australian Centre for Remote Sensing
ANZLIC Australia New Zealand Land Information Council
APSDI Asia Pacific Spatial Data Infrastructure
ASDI Australian Spatial Data Infrastructure
ASDD Australian Spatial Data Directory
AUSLIG Australian Surveying and Land Information Group
CSDC Commonwealth Spatial Data Committee
ERIN Environmental Resources Information Network
GDA Geocentric Datum of Australia
GSDI Global Spatial Data Infrastructure
HOMA Heads of Marine Agencies
ICSM Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping
NRIC National Resource Information Network
PCGIAP Permanent Committee on GIS Infrastructure for Asia and the Pacific
PSMA Public Sector Mapping Agencies
SWGM Special Working Group Meeting of the UNRCC
UNRCC-AP United Nations Regional Cartographic Conference for Asia and the Pacific
WALIS Western Australia Land Information System
WWW Internet World Wide Web

REFERENCES

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