[OSGeo-Discuss] Geospatial LoB RFI

Thu May 11 11:51:13 PDT 2006

In case anyone is interested, URISA has posted their response to the RFI:
http://www.urisa.org/URISA%20Response%20to%20Federal%20Geospatial%20Line%20of%20Business%20RFI.pdf

-Mike


On 5/2/06, Mike Davis <mike.and.kerry at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>  Good additions... have to admit that some of the questions fly a little
> over my head (change management??) but I think we should be able to come up
> with some consensus pretty easily.
>
> -Mike
>
>  On 5/2/06, Ned Horning <nedh at lightlink.com> wrote:
> >
> > Hello again,
> >
> > I made a few changes to the RFI wiki. I probably won't be able to spend
> > time
> > on this tomorrow (Wednesday) but may be able to look at it again on
> > Thursday. It has to be turned in by e-mail by 5:00 PM EDT this Friday so
> > there isn't a lot of time to wrap this up. Comments and edits are
> > needed. As
> > I mentioned yesterday this is not my area of expertise and I'm hoping
> > some
> > other folks will be able to help craft this into a decent document.
> >
> > At this point it's probably best to write in full sentences unless there
> > is
> > someone willing to convert some of the (excellent) bullets into a
> > paragraph
> > format Thursday or Friday.
> >
> > Here is what I added today in case you can't access the Wiki. There is
> > some
> > other good text on the Wiki page from other contributors so I encourage
> > you
> > to check it out if you can.
> >
> > --
> > 2.2.2 What are the critical change management issues and best practices
> > for
> > successful transition to and full implementation of common solutions?
> >
> > A fundamental change management issue is to promote and adapt open
> > standards
> > for the collection (protocols), storage (file formats, media, and
> > metadata),
> > access, and processing of geographic data. A recently released report by
> > the
> > Digital Connections Council of the Committee for Economic Development,
> > "Open
> > Standards, Open Source, and Open Innovation: Harnessing the Benefits of
> > Openness" (http://www.ced.org/projects/ecom.shtml#open) highlights the
> > benefits from adapting open standards. This report found that openness
> > can
> > be used effectively to build standards that in turn can be used to
> > enhance
> > interoperability.
> >
> >
> > 2.2.3 What cultural impediments and training issues are paramount at
> > which
> > stages of the transition? What are the solutions to them?
> >
> > Although the United States is a global leader in providing public access
> > to
> > data the process of collecting/creating, storing and processing these
> > data
> > are less open largely because vendors providing these services use
> > secret
> > and proprietary methods with the intent of gaining a competitive edge
> > over
> > their competition. This approach is rooted in traditional intellectual
> > property protection ideals and can result in incompatibly and high costs
> > to
> > the government. This mindset is a significant cultural impediment to
> > achieving common solutions for working with geospatial data and can be
> > overcome by developing open data and software standards and promoting
> > the
> > benefits of this approach to the business community and government
> > organizations.
> >
> >
> > 2.2.8 How do you retain the advantages of competition while reaping the
> > benefits of geospatial coordination and optimization?
> >
> > Advantages of competition are perceived to be improved innovation
> > (producing
> > a better product) and reduced cost to the consumer. By developing and
> > using
> > open standards innovation is improved because of the size and diversity
> > of
> > the community developing the standards. Cost is also reduced because
> > once
> > the standards and clearly defined metrics of success are in place the
> > cost
> > of entry to begin developing products is reduced. Competition is
> > important
> > but to strengthen competition it helps if companies can compete on a
> > level
> > playing field that is promoted through the use of open standards.
> >
> >
> > 2.2.9 How do you ensure and manage ongoing innovation in geospatial
> > coordination and optimization?
> >
> > The most effective way to ensure continued innovation with regard to
> > geospatial coordination and optimization is to promote and adopt open
> > standards for the creation/collection, storage, access, and processing
> > of
> > geospatial data. This includes contributing to the development of open
> > source geospatial software. It is in the data users' and producers'
> > interest
> > to have interoperable solutions and the most effective way to accomplish
> >
> > this is to include them in the process of developing standards and
> > software.
> > The benefits of using open methods are becoming well publicized (could
> > use a
> > citation here). To further benefit from current open approaches it is
> > necessary to fund research to further develop open geospatial-focused
> > standards for improved interoperability and access. Research should also
> > be
> > conducted on innovative open approaches for creating and maintaining
> > geospatial data layers in an open environment. The potential of openness
> > in
> > the geospatial sector is great but funded research is needed to expedite
> > the
> > realization of these benefits.
> >
> >
> > 2.2.12 What governance model do you use or would you recommend for
> > coordinating the use of geographic information or optimizing related
> > spatial
> > data activities?
> >
> > A refined and clear cut governance model for coordinating the use of
> > geographic information and related activities does not exist but as with
> >
> > developing standards this should be developed using an open process.
> > There
> > is a wealth of information related to governance models that can be
> > drawn
> > from the open source software community. The open source software
> > community
> > is thriving by leveraging the expertise and interests from a diverse
> > group
> > of individuals and a similar model can be used to benefit from and
> > better
> > coordinate the use of geographic information and to optimize related
> > spatial
> > data activities.
> >
> >
> > 2.2.13 What is the best approach for assembling and using multiple data
> > sets
> > from diverse fields where scale, units of analysis and data types
> > differ?
> >
> > The key to working with diverse data is interoperability and this can be
> >
> > best achieved through the use of open standards for data and software.
> > Open
> > source geospatial software offerings have a proven track record for
> > often
> > being the first to implement geospatial standards developed by the Open
> > Geospatial Consortium (OGC).
> >
> > The inability to read a particular file format is often the factor
> > preventing access to a particular data set. This can occur for several
> > reasons but two common problems are an insufficient capability of a
> > software
> > program to read a particular file format or the inability to read a
> > proprietary file format using incompatible software. Adopting open
> > standards
> > and open source software can alleviate both of these problems. Having a
> > community of individuals and organizations build on open source software
> > libraries can help strengthen the ability of software packages to handle
> > a
> > wide variety of format. A good example of this is the open source
> > Geospatial
> > Data Abstraction Library (GDAL) and OGR which are raster (GDAL) and
> > vector
> > (OGR) translator libraries. Building on open source libraries provides
> > excellent resources for open source and proprietary software developers
> > alike.
> > --
> >
> > All the best,
> >
> > Ned
> >
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Ned Horning [mailto:nedh at lightlink.com]
> > > Sent: Monday, May 01, 2006 4:34 PM
> > > To: discuss at mail.osgeo.org
> > > Subject: [OSGeo-Discuss] Geospatial LoB RFI
> > >
> > > All,
> > >
> > > I'm going to have to run for the day but wanted to let you know what I
> >
> > plan
> > > to do with this document tomorrow and maybe later in the week. I would
> > also
> > > like to put out a couple requests for help. Again, here is the URL to
> > the
> > > document:
> > > http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Response_to_RFI_for_US_Gov_GeoSpatial
> > >
> > > It is probably best to focus on a few sections of this RFI that are in
> > line
> > > with the OSGeo ideals and that we can put together a worthy response.
> > This
> > > RFI does not focus on software but I think OSGeo can make a
> > significant
> > > contribution. I may take a shot at the following sections:
> > > 2.2.2
> > > 2.2.3
> > > 2.2.8
> > > 2.2.9
> > > 2.2.12
> > > 2.2.13
> > > Scenario 2
> > >
> > > If someone wants to start any of the above sections please do. I'm
> > just
> > > letting folks know where I think I can contribute something. I'm not
> > the
> > > most qualified person to be writing these sections but I do think this
> > is
> > a
> > > good opportunity to discuss some of these issues and hopefully begin
> > to
> > make
> > > our presence known within the US Government. Please feel free to shred
> > > whatever I write and let me know if sections or the entire document
> > are
> > not
> > > worth submitting.
> > >
> > > We need to supply contact information (point of contact, phone number,
> > > e-mail address). Any idea on how we should approach this?
> > >
> > > Someone should write a paragraph or more for section 2.4 which is
> > > "additional information beyond the questions". This would be a good
> > place
> > to
> > > promote the ideals of OSGeo although we do have to be careful not to
> > market
> > > OSGeo (this is explicitly frowned upon). Can anyone volunteer? We can
> > > probably get a lot of reuse out of this section.
> > >
> > > In haste,
> > >
> > > Ned
> > >
> > >
> > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
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> >
> >
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> >
> >
>
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