AUSTRALIA’S DEVELOPING GIS INFRASTRUCTURE -
`
`ACHIEVEMENTS AND CHALLENGES FROM A FEDERAL
`
`PERSPECTIVE.
`
`A lister D Nairn
`
`Program Manager, Spatial Data .ll’i_}ll‘a.S'lFZtCl?tf€
`
`Artstralian Surveying and Land ityformation Group
`
`Department oflndttstty, Science and Resources
`
`PO Box 2, Belconnen, Canberra, ACT 2616, Australia
`Iel:
`E 61-2-6201 4201 Fax.’ % 61-2-6201 4368
`
`Internet email: alisternairnr.’a)aiislig. gov.at:
`
`Presented at the 5"‘ International Seminar on GIS
`
`Seoul, Korea, on 28-29 September 2000
`
`A BST RA CT
`
`Australia has a relatively advanced GIS infrastructure with well developed policies, data and
`
`technology. Over recent years this infrastructure has been defined as the Australian Spatial Data
`
`Infrastructure (ASDI) which conforms to a large degree to other National Spatial Data
`
`Infrastructures. The Australia New Zealand Land Information Council
`
`(ANZLIC) released its
`
`discussion paper on the ASDI in 1996. Since then, there has been considerable discussion of the
`
`nature of the ASDI and how it should be implemented. There has also been a substantial amount of
`
`work done to implement various components of the ASDI.
`
`Australia’s federal system of govemment places a large responsibility for land management issues on
`
`state levels of govemment. Local government, the third tier of govemment in Australia also has some
`
`responsibility in this area, especially in relation to planning of land use and provision of local services.
`
`The federal government
`
`is a large producer and user of geographic information for national
`
`applications and plays a leading role in the coordination of the national activities of the various
`
`govemments through established coordinating bodies such as ANZLIC. Also there are a number of
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`national projects undertaken by the federal government that rely on being able to access, integrate
`
`and analyse data from numerous data custodians at the federal, state and local government levels.
`
`The ASDI initiative has delivered significant achievements in areas that will improve the ability of
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`users to access and integrate geographic information from numerous agencies that produce it. This
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`paper will cover these initiatives and also look at the challenges that remain in fiilly realising the vision
`
`of the ASDI “I '0 provide better accessfor all Australians to essential spatial data’.
`
`Keywords: Australian Spatial Data Infrastructure, GIS, ANZLIC, AUSLIG
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`Page 1 of 15
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`CORELOGIC EXHIBIT 1014
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`

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`1. DITRODUCTION
`
`1.1 Drivers for GIS Development
`
`GIS information products have traditionally been used by decision makers to improve economic,
`
`social and environmental conditions in the real world. Increasingly G1 is being incorporated into
`
`business systems and used within industry to improve efficiency and competitiveness.
`
`Technology development is now providing tools to enable GIS to be brought into the mainstream of
`
`information management. High powered computers, better graphics,
`
`improved bandwidth and
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`communications, ease of use and of course the Internet and interoperability are all
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`factors
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`contributing towards this trend. As economies rely more on knowledge management
`
`to be
`
`competitive this is becoming increasingly important. There is a growing use of geographic information
`
`and GIS amongst government departments and businesses that are increasingly incorporating GI into
`
`their corporate databases.
`
`This improved technology and greater penetration of GIS into government and business is also
`
`driving the need for access to reliable and accurate geographic information.
`
`Experience is showing us that it is no longer the technology that is the impediment for GIS industry
`
`growth but the availability of standards compliant, accurate data that meets user requirements. In
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`Australia, where there are a large number of government agencies across the different jurisdictions
`
`controlling much of the geographic information, the issue of access arrangements, including pricing
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`and licensing to this data is currently an obstacle.
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`From this it follows that, while the technological framework can be upgraded or replaced with new
`
`developments,
`
`the investment in developing standards compliant data and associated whole of
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`government policies for ensuring access to these data is vitally important. The improving availability
`
`of GIS data is providing opportunities for industry to value add these data and become more
`involved with GIS.
`
`1.2 The National Development Strategy for GIS in Australia
`
`The overall objective of developing a national geographic data infrastructure is to achieve better
`
`outcomes for the nation through better economic, social and environmental decision-making. The
`
`availability of standards compliant fundamental geographic datasets is essential if the firll potential of
`
`GIS technology is to be realised in supporting those decision making processes. Recognising that the
`
`cost, quality and longevity of geographic data are critical in the application of the technology, the
`
`specific objectives in developing a national geographic data infrastructure should be to:
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`0
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`0
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`0
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`0
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`produce standardised firndamental geographic datasets;
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`avoid unnecessary duplication of cost in developing and maintaining those data;
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`facilitate access to and application of those data;
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`enable integration of other application-specific data by all users (value-adding).
`
`The underlying philosophy to this approach is that fundamental geographic data are a national
`
`resource, which must be managed in the national interest.
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`Page 2 of 15
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`1.3 The Importance of Coordination of Activities
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`The division of responsibilities between the 3 levels of government in Australia, Federal, State and
`
`Local makes it important to coordinate geographic information activities to avoid duplication and to
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`facilitate sharing of data across the jurisdictions. The peak coordinating council for geographic
`
`information in Australia is The Australia New Zealand Land Information Council, which has
`
`representatives from all
`
`levels of government. Industry is also represented through a standing
`
`committee on industry development.
`
`Broadly speaking the responsibilities of the different levels of government are given in Table 1.
`
`Federal Government
`
`State Government
`
`Local Government
`
`Taxation
`
`Defence
`
`Law Enforcement
`
`Town Planning
`
`Education
`
`Local Roads
`
`Trade and Foreign
`
`Transport
`
`Rates
`
`Affairs including
`International Treaties
`
`Social Security
`
`Health Services
`
`Local Environment
`
`Astronomical
`Observations and
`
`Navigation
`
`Land Management
`
`Essential local
`infrastructure
`
`Statistics
`
`Agriculture
`
`Table 1 A broad overview of the responsibilities of the various levels of government in
`Australia
`
`The level of autonomy of state and territory governments in Australia can sometimes cause difficulties
`
`at arriving at consistent national approaches to issues, however this autonomy has resulted in
`
`effective land management infrastructures in each jurisdiction. It is in effect a distributed as opposed
`
`to a centralised model. Also the relatively small number of state level governments (6 states and 2
`
`territory governments) makes coordination achievable in Australia. This contrasts with the United
`
`States of America where the number of states makes meeting and agreeing on issues far more
`difficult.
`
`The model for the Australian Spatial Data Infrastructure (ASDI) is in essence a combination of the
`
`jurisdictional level spatial data infrastructures whereby the ASDI provides the “glue” to enable these
`
`jurisdictional SDIs to interoperate. The national challenge is to ensure standards are developed and
`
`applied at both the technical and policy levels so that national datasets can be derived from
`
`jurisdictional data, although there will always remain reasons for federal agencies to produce
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`Page 3 of 15
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`

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`nationally consistent datasets where it is not feasible to simply “sew together” data available from
`states and territories.
`
`The federal government coordinates its geographic information activities through the Commonwealth
`
`Spatial Data Committee (CSDC). This Committee consists of the major federal government spatial
`
`data users and producers. The Chair of CSDC represents the federal government on ANZLIC.
`
`2. PROGRESS TOWARDS IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AUSTRALIAN SPATIAL
`
`DATA INFRASTRUCTURE
`
`2.1 The Development of a Policy for Access and Pricing of Geographic Information
`
`This is one of the most difiicult areas for all governments to agree on.
`
`ANZLIC convened a workshop in May 2000 to develop a common approach for access to
`
`fundamental geographic information. This workshop identified and prioritised a number of issues
`
`requiring fiirther action. The top 8 issues are summarised below:
`
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`
`Institutional arrangements
`Access to data
`
`Custodianship
`
`Engagement of the private sector
`
`The need for a national information office to facilitate access to government data
`Standards
`
`Metadata
`
`A common clearinghouse technology framework
`
`Access to data and the administrative and licensing conditions, including the price of data charged by
`
`data custodians emerged as the main issue from the workshop. Private sector participants were
`
`particularly focussed on this area.
`
`A comparison of the access and pricing policies in each jurisdiction reveals significant variations in
`
`both the prices and access conditions. In some jurisdictions, whole of government pricing and access
`
`policies apply while in other jurisdictions this is left up to individual agencies.
`
`The New Zealand policy of access to government data is currently the least restrictive with low
`
`prices set for access and no royalty payments required for users wishing to value add and on sell the
`
`data. At the other end of the spectrum are agencies that charge a high price for data and require
`
`licences and royalties for users. Some jurisdictions have policies to provide data at minimal cost to
`
`other government agencies for internal use. An example of the variation in prices of the state/tenitory
`
`cadastral database across Australian jurisdictions is given in table 2.
`
`Australian Capital Tenitory
`
`South Australia
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`Page 4 of 15
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`

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`
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`$87,500
`$ 189,000
`$200,000
`$4,725,000
`
`New South Wales
`
`Table 2. The price for cadastral database in Australia in November 1999
`
`(These prices are possibly not current as jurisdictions continue to review prices)
`
`In recognition of the importance for a consistent whole of government approach to access and
`
`pricing of geographic information, the federal government of Australia is currently developing a new
`
`policy that will apply to fiindamental geographic information nominated in a schedule. This policy will
`
`be available towards the end of this year.
`
`2.2 Development of Fundamental Data
`
`The Commonwealth Spatial Data Committee has developed a list of fiindamental and framework
`
`data that are considered important for national applications. Framework datasets describe those
`
`primary fundamental datasets that provide essential base information for multiple national
`
`requirements. They are the priority subset of fundamental datasets and provide the foundation on
`
`which organisations can create other datasets by overlaying their own thematic detail.
`
`Requirements for Framework Datasets Information Needs
`
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`Major national responsibilities
`which require accurate spatial
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`
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`
`Defence, National Security, Disaster
`Management
`
`Environmental Protection and
`
`Management, Sustainable Land
`Management.
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`Primary Industry‘, Natural
`Resources Management‘,
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`Land Management Policy, incl.
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`National Statistical Service,
`Community Services Policy (incl.
`health & education),
`Regional Infrastructure
`Development
`
`Communications Infrastructure,
`Transport Infrastructure, Navigation
`Weather Forecasting, Climate
`
`Page 5 of 15
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`Modelling
`
`Commonwealth Asset
`
`Management/Utilisation
`
`Conventions, Offshore Territories Electoral Boundary Determination
`
`International Treaties &
`
`Table 3 Framework datasets required for national responsibilities
`
`2.2.1 Ensuring the Quality of Data
`
`The CSDC has embraced a process of “Compliance Auditing” of fiindamental geographic
`
`information. This process is aimed at ensuring that fiindamental geographic information meets a
`
`number of agreed compliance criteria that have been agreed. These criteria are given below.
`
`Content/extent
`
`The data are nationally consistent.
`
`The data are nationally significant (A small geographic coverage could still be nationally significant).
`
`Sponsorship
`
`A sponsor has been identified for the data.
`
`The sponsor complies with ANZLIC guidelines:
`
`0 Liaises and cooperates with ANZLIC and other sponsors to ensure that data are assembled,
`
`maintained and delivered in a nationally consistent way
`Consults with users to disseminate information about the data
`
`Fosters efficient use of the data
`
`Coordinates data collection to minimise duplication
`
`0
`
`Provides leadership in developing standards for content, quality and transfer
`
`Custodianship
`
`Data custodians have been identified. For each ASDI data layer,
`custodians.
`
`there may be many data
`
`Custodians comply with ANZLIC custodianship guidelines:
`
`0 Ensures the spatial information under their custodianship is accessible.
`
`0 Consults with the national sponsor and user community to determine data needs and
`
`priorities before developing or defining collection or maintenance programs.
`
`0 Avoids duplication of capture, by ensuring, in conjunction with the national sponsor, that data
`
`to be captured is not already held.
`
`0 Develops, with the national sponsor and users, appropriate standards for the management
`and use of the fiindamental data in their care.
`
`0 Ensures that the data under their custodianship conform to appropriate national, international
`
`or agreed standards.
`
`0
`
`Provides
`
`filll
`
`and frank quality statements
`
`regarding source,
`
`reliability,
`
`accuracy,
`
`completeness and currency.
`
`0 Maintains the quality of the data.
`
`0 Ensures appropriate storage, maintenance, security and archival procedures for their spatial
`information.
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`Page 6 of 15
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`0
`
`Safeguards the Government's interest
`
`in the use of its information through licensing
`
`agreements or
`
`letters of understanding to protect privacy and confidentiality and
`
`interpretation of the information.
`
`0
`
`Provides a single point of contact for inquiries about the filndamental data under their care.
`
`Access Arrangements
`
`Data are available "off the shelf‘ - accessible and readily available.
`
`Conditions of use are documented and pricing/licensing arrangements are available.
`Format
`
`Data are available in well recognised / supported digital format suitable for interchange of the data.
`
`Metadata (data documentation)
`
`Metadata meet ANZLIC guidelines, are complete & meaningful for all ANZLIC essential metadata
`elements.
`
`Information about scale/resolution, georeferencing information (datum, map projection type and
`
`parameters) are supplied with the data.
`
`Metadata are available on the Australian Spatial Data Directory.
`
`Metadata are always supplied with the data.
`Standards
`
`The data meets relevant international / national standards or guidelines.
`The data model is documented and available.
`
`Data dictionary describing the data is up-to-date and available.
`
`The data are GDA94 compliant (ie available on the Geodetic Datum of Australia).
`
`Quality Assurance
`
`Satisfactory quality assurance procedures are in place to ensure that the data quality is correct as
`
`documented in metadata. In particular, mechanisms are in place to evaluate spatial accuracy,
`
`attribute accuracy, and logical consistency.
`
`Quality assurance procedures are documented and available.
`
`The status of audits undertaken to date is given below.
`
`LANDSAT
`
`AUSLIG
`
`17 Sept 98
`
`AUSLIG
`
`Yes
`
`17 Sept 98
`
`Thematic Mapper
`
`LANDSAT
`
`Multi Spectral
`Scanner
`
`Geology of Australia
`
`Aust Statistical
`
`Boundaries
`
`es
`
`9 Oct 98
`24 Jan 2000
`
`11 Nov 98
`
`1 1 Nov 98
`
`Register of the
`
`Environment
`
`Not yet
`
`National Estate
`
`Australia
`
`Digital Atlas of Aust. BRS
`
`Soils
`
`(more info on
`standards used
`
`required)
`
`Not yet
`
`(Metadata and
`
`QA)
`
`Page 7 of 15
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`National Vegetation NLWRA
`
`Not yet
`
`Information System Aust Land Use
`
`1 June 2000
`
`6June2000
`
`Table 4. Status of CSDC compliance audits.
`
`This audit process is continuing to be refined and will extend to all framework datasets.
`
`2.2.2 The Creation of a National Topographic Data Base from Multi Jurisdictional Data
`
`In 1993 the public sector mapping agencies in Australia formed a consortium to supply topographic
`
`and cadastral data to the Australian Bureau of Statistics for the purposes of the provision of mapping
`
`for the 1996 census of population and housing. The data set is a multi-resolution data set sourced
`
`from the Federal government, the States and the Tenitories, with extremely detailed topographic
`
`feature representation in cities and urban areas, augmented by a national spatial representation of
`
`legal land parcels (the cadastral framework) provided by the States and Tenitories.
`
`This data set has been updated and improved and is licensed to a number of value added resellers
`
`that have incorporated it into their products. It forms one of the most widely used GIS base data sets
`
`currently in use in Australia.
`
`2.2.3 Important Private Sector GIS Datasets.
`
`The most widely used digital data sets produced by the private sector relevant to the Australian
`
`Spatial Data Infrastructure are the digital versions of street directories. This is large scale data used
`
`increasingly by businesses over the Internet. The market in Australia is dominated by one or two
`
`large companies. One of these Companies, Telstra, provides an Internet based mapping service to
`
`other companies wanting to use maps on their own web sites. For example a company selling real
`
`estate over the Internet may want to show the location of the property on a street directory type of
`
`map. Telstra provide this service based on an annual fee plus a usage figure. The digital maps are
`
`also provided to the invehicle navigation market.
`
`A geocoded street address database marketed by MapInfo is another private sector dataset gaining
`
`increased use within business. This particular dataset is a value added product derived from the base
`
`topographic data described in Section 2.2.2.
`
`2.3 Access to Data
`
`2.3.1 The Australian Spatial Data Directory
`
`The Australian Spatial Data Directory is a national initiative supported by all governments under the
`
`auspices of ANZLIC. The Directory is a tool to improve data discovery for spatial data for industry,
`
`government, education and the general community through effective documentation, advertisement
`
`and distribution. The directory links government and commercial nodes in each State/Tenitory and
`
`spatial data agencies within the Federal Government.
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`Page 8 of 15
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`

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`The Directory is an essential component of the ASDI and incorporates information about datasets
`
`(metadata) from all jurisdictions.
`
`The Directory was launched in 1998 and has since steadily grown in content to become the key
`
`source of spatial
`
`information in Australia Currently there are 19 separate nodes, or individual
`
`databases connected to the directory with over 40,000 individual metadata entri es.
`
`The technology being used for the ASDD is the Z3950 search and retrieval protocol which when
`
`combined with the World Wide Web provides a simple method of searching, discovery and retrieval
`
`of spatial data. The Directory is also compatible with the US Clearinghouse Network and notes are
`
`searchable through this network.
`
`The Directory is maintained and developed by the Federal Government on behalf of ANZLIC
`
`through a National Coordination Group. This group is comprised of a consortium of Federal
`
`Government agencies, namely the Australian Surveying and Land Infonnation Group (AUSLIG), the
`
`Environmental Resources Information Network (ERIN) within Environment Australia and the Bureau
`
`of Rural Sciences (BRS).
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`Figure 1. Architecture of the Directory
`
`2.3.2 On Line Atlases
`
`On line atlases are becoming a more accepted way of presenting and distributing geographical
`
`information. The Federal Government has initiated two significant on line atlas projects for specific
`
`purposes. The first initiative is known as the Coastal Atlas and is an initiative of the Environment
`
`Department. The other atlas product is a product to display the results of a national audit of land and
`
`water resources currently being finalised. It is known as the Australian Natural Resources Atlas.
`
`Page 9 of 15
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`The Australian Coastal Atlas
`
`In May 1995 the Commonwealth Coastal Policy defined a need to establish an Australian Coastal
`
`Atlas (ACA) to help increase knowledge about Australia's coastal zone, and thus provide a sound
`
`information base to support decision making for coastal zone management.
`
`The ACA project involves:
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`developing partnerships with marine and coastal agencies and working together to
`
`provide information to the wider public;
`
`improving management of marine and coastal data;
`
`filling some gaps in fimdamental marine and coastal data;
`
`development of protocols and software to help make data available over the Intemet;
`
`The Australian Coastal Atlas (ACA) is a national network of marine and coastal agencies all working
`
`together to provide information to the public over the WWW. The ACA is made up of a network of
`
`agencies around Australia called "Nodes". All Nodes have now either been installed with the
`
`Australian Atlas software or have developed their own web mapping software. The use of Intemet
`
`technology allows data from each node to be accessed both nationally and internationally by a broad
`
`base of users interested in coastal information. The primary objective of the ACA is to improve
`
`coastal management.
`
`The development of an Australian Coastal Atlas was considered to be a pa11ial solution to better
`coastal management by providing a foundation for:
`
`0
`
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`
`integrated decision making and the development of long term strategic responses to
`
`coastal problems; and
`
`improved data management and information exchange to enable managers to make
`
`infonned decisions about the use and development of the coast.
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`
`10
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`Page 10 of 15
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`The Australian Natural Resources Atlas
`
`The Australian Natural Resources Atlas is a vehicle for presenting the information products of the
`National Land and Water Resources Audit.
`
`The information is organised by subject and by geography
`
`by subject:
`
`0
`
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`
`area of interest eg water, soil, vegetation and
`
`topic of interest eg surface water, soil quality
`
`by geography:
`
`0 whole of Australia
`
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`
`State / Tenitory eg Victoria
`
`0
`
`regionalisation eg surface water basins, interim biogeographical regions
`
`The information presented may take the form of maps, photographs, text descriptions, numerical
`
`information, charts, graphs which are managed in a database. Additionally, some of the maps are
`
`linked to an interactive map which allows the user to explore the information using state-of-the-art
`
`web mapping techniques.
`
`The presentation of the information is dynamically generated by retrieval of appropriate information
`
`from the database and insertion of the retrieved information into layout templates. The Atlas is
`
`therefore a growing system which is intended to serve the needs of the resource management
`
`community well into the fiiture.
`
`Further extensions to the atlases are planned to provide data download capabilities, subject to the
`
`licensing requirements of the data custodians.
`
`2.3.3 Federal Government Interoperability Trial
`
`The Australian Surveying and Land Information Group led a consortium of government, industry and
`
`research agencies, known as the Australian Web Mapping Consortium to participate in the
`
`OpenGIS Consortium Web Mapping Testbed project. This consortium developed an Australian
`testbed that was demonstrated in the USA in December 1999.
`
`Internet based on line delivery of services is a rapidly developing area. Many services delivered by
`
`government agencies rely on sharing information maintained by other custodian agencies at the
`
`federal and state levels. The demand for interoperable solutions is clear and standards are emerging
`
`that will improve the ability to achieve this.
`
`The Commonwealth Spatial Data Committee is conducting a trial amongst 6 federal agencies to test
`
`the interoperability standards being developed. The trial will build on the work done by the
`
`Australian Web Mapping Consortium to allow agencies to gain first hand experience in the emerging
`
`technologies and enable them to make fiiture decisions to improve their service delivery.
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`The trial will involve developing some applications that integrate data being served from the various
`
`participant agencies using different hardware and software into a single web interface.
`
`Many of the theories and policies that have been developed by bodies such as ANZLIC and CSDC
`
`will be able to be tested through this process and shortcomings identified for fiiture action.
`
`2.4 Standards and Guidelines
`
`The importance of standards for using and transfening geographic information as part of the
`
`Australian Spatial Data Infrastructure are well recognised. These standards are particularly important
`
`to achieve a degree of interoperability across jurisdictional borders.
`
`A list of the standards being used and developed in Australia is provided below:
`
`Standard
`ANZLIC Metadata
`
`Guidelines
`
`Consistent description of metadata
`
`Consistent with US FGDC
`
`for geographic datasets. Forms
`foundataion for the Australian
`
`Spatial Data Directory
`
`Content Standard for Digital
`
`Geospatial
`
`Used extensively.
`
`ANZLIC Custodianship
`
`The guidelines provide advice on the
`
`These principles are accepted
`
`guidelines
`
`principles of custodianship, the
`
`and followed to a large degree
`
`responsibilities of custodians and
`
`by custodians.
`
`users and on the management of
`
`information products.
`
`AS 2482-1989
`
`This Standard specifies the format
`
`This standard has been used
`
`Geographic information
`
`and coding of unstructured digital
`
`extensively in the past but will
`
`systems - Geographic data
`
`- Interchange of feature-
`
`point and vector geographic data to
`be used when the information is
`
`coded digital mapping data
`
`being prepared for exchange
`
`be superseded soon by the ISO
`
`19100 series on Geographic
`inforrnation/Geomatics.
`
`purposes
`
`AS/NZS 4270.l:l995
`
`Part of a series of
`
`standards for geographic
`
`This standard specifies a structure
`
`This standard has not been
`
`and content for spatially referenced
`data in order to facilitate data
`
`widely used in Australia. Users
`view this standard as too
`
`information systems -
`
`transfer between dissimilar spatial
`
`complex.
`
`Spatial data transfer
`
`data base systems.
`
`standard - Logical
`
`specifications
`
`AS/NZS 4584(Int):l999
`
`The provides a hierarchical code for
`
`Geographic information -
`Australian and New
`
`Zealand land use codes
`
`land usage in order to bring
`
`uniformity to the structure and
`
`categories under which the
`
`Being progressively applied in
`Australia
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`AS/NZS 4724:2000
`
`This Standard establishes
`
`Being progressively applied in
`
`Geographic information -
`
`requirements and provides guidelines Australia
`
`Rural addressing
`
`for a comprehensive rural addressing
`
`system. It identifies the elements of
`
`the system and provides guidelines
`
`for the application of those elements
`
`to various road patterns and road
`classifications found in rural areas.
`
`IC SM
`
`This draft standard is an attempt to
`
`Comments sought.
`
`Draft Australian and New determine the best way to
`
`Zealand Rural and Urban
`
`incorporate geocoding and complex
`
`Addressing Standard
`
`addressing into a standard
`
`[version 1.10 (28 Aug
`
`2000)]
`
`Geodetic Datum of
`
`A new geocentric geodetic datum of Being progressively
`
`Australia
`
`Australia has been implemented
`
`implemented. Now is the
`
`based on 1994 epoch
`
`olficial datum for Australia.
`
`IC SM
`
`This data model has been designed
`
`Not in use yet.
`
`Draft National
`
`to arnalgarnate the ideas of the
`
`Topographic Data Model
`- Version 0.3
`
`jurisdictions which have separately
`contributed their own data models
`
`for topographic information.
`
`IC SM
`
`This National Cadastral Data Model Not in use yet
`
`National Cadastral Data
`
`has been developed from a review
`
`Model
`
`of cadastral data models supplied by
`
`Version 1.1 June 1999
`
`jurisdictions in Australia and New
`Zealand.
`
`3. DIDUSTRY PARTICIPATION AND DEVELOPMENT
`
`A study undertaken by Price Waterhouse in 1995 of the economic benefits arising from investment in
`
`spatial data infrastructure revealed that for every dollar invested in producing spatial data, $4 of
`
`benefit was generated in the economy. In 1989 — 1994 these benefits were in the order of $4.5
`
`billion distributed across the broad spectrum of economic activities.
`
`An ANZLIC discussion paper on industry development in Australia has recently been released. This
`
`paper defines the spatial information industry as that section of the economy engaged directly or
`
`indirectly in supplying spatial attributes information of all types. Currently, the public sector dominates
`
`the supply and demand aspects of this marketplace and accounts for a majority of expenditure in
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`products, services and data. The commercial industry consists of the participants in the various
`
`product supply chains that are formed in servicing this spatial information marketplace.
`
`The paper also suggests that the spatial
`
`information industry appears to be emerging from a
`
`developmental phase and moving towards exploitation. Additionally some significant spatial
`
`databases are being developed in the private sector particularly in the remote sensing area. Some
`
`key indicators of the shift in industry dynamics are:
`
`o
`
`supply side participants beginning to reach the end of long standing data acquisition programs;
`
`- maturation and commercialisation of spatial
`
`information technology,
`
`in both hardware and
`
`software areas;
`
`-
`
`-
`
`convergence of spatial and main stream information management technologies and; perhaps more
`
`importantly;
`
`realisation of business benefits in traditional
`
`spatial
`
`information areas (land titles; natural
`
`resources; etc) has led to consideration and growing acceptance of low margin; high volume
`
`spatial information licencing; in direct contrast to the conventional very high margin/very low
`voltune model.
`
`The Federal Department of Industry Science and Resources has recognised the Spatial Information
`
`Industry as an industry with growth potential that is important in an information based economy. An
`
`Action Agenda has been established which will provide a mechanism for the Government and
`
`industry to work together to overcome baniers to growth and to ensure a whole-of government
`
`approach to the development of the industry. It will enable the industry to build on its existing
`
`strengths; generate new domestic and export marketing opportunities, enhance the development of
`
`Australia as a regional centre of excellence and encourage the creation of new technologies and
`
`products. The Action Agenda will also promote the capabilities of the industry; facilitate access to
`
`infrastructure; streamline technology dlffi,1SlOI1 between public institutions and the private sector, and
`
`encourage clustering to ensure effective competition for global market opportunities.
`
`4. CONCLUSIONS
`
`The increasing recognition of the importance of GIS data by government and industry is driving the
`
`development of a national GIS infrastructure known in Australia as the Australian Spatial Data
`
`Infrastructure. The focus has changed recent times from discussion on the theory and organisation of
`
`the ASDI to imple