[Aust-NZ] Re: Help write Spatial@Gov keynote speach [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[Cameron Shorter]

Pia,
Unfortunately I don't have time to consolidate my thoughts into a decent 
paper before Monday, so you will have to do with a few random scribbles.

I wrote a paper about a year back assessing Australia's investment in 
Geonetwork, the Open Source Metadata tool, and by providing 
recommendations in how to move forward.
The full paper is here:
http://cameronshorter.blogspot.com/2009/05/strategic-geonetwork-investment.html

I think you will find it an interesting read, but the key message you 
will probably be looking for is in the section: "Open Source Spatial 
Data Infrastructure":

/“… a key funding challenge faced by Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) 
programs is that while sharing data in a distributed SDI reduces the 
overall cost for everyone, not everyone is equally better off”./

/ For data custodians, publishing data is a cost centre and doesn’t 
provide a substantial business benefit. /

/ Many, including Ben Searle from the Australian Government Office of 
Spatial Data Management, realize that:/

/“… an effective way to increase access to other agencies’ data is to 
sponsor free, *Open Source tools which will reduce the cost barrier to 
sharing data.*”/

---
Basically, Government investment in Open Source tools is an incredibly 
effective funding vehicle for developing a SDI.

The excellent news is that robust Open Source tools already for the 
publishing and sharing of geospatial data (geoserver, mapserver, 
tilecache) and metadata (geonetwork), and these tools are widely 
supported by an international community.
---
There is also an excellent study, well known in the Australian SDI 
industry stating the value of Australia investing in Spatial Data 
Infrastructure:
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Case_Studies#Predicted_ROI_for_Australian_Government_to_investment_in_a_SDI
---

I've added some further comments below:

Ben.Searle at ga.gov.au wrote:
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>
> Cameron
>
> Those areas sound good. An important message is that metadata should be used to describe both data and web based services. The move by governments in to the Web2.0 space is dependent on metadata.
>
> Likewise, the ANZLIC concept of the Spatial Marketplace can only work with metadata covering both data and services. Machine to machine interactions in the Web2.0 world will rely on metadata.
>
> Finally, in terms of the Australian Government, the ANZMet Lite tool we have developed for ANZLIC has a development plan where we include capabilities to integrate AGLS with the ISO spatial standard. We need to ensure that standards are complied with. We have a situation in the emergency management space where an un named department is merging two metadata standards to create a 'new' standard. This will be Australian only 'standard' that will not be supported by any software vendor.
>
> A strong coordination and compliance directive from the Aust Govt is required and perhaps the Senator may wish to comment on the need for a strong leading agency.
>
> I hope this helps and I would be keen to talk to Pia at more length on this and related issues.
>
> Regards
>
>
>
> This email has been sent from a BlackBerry device provided by Geoscience Australia.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Cameron Shorter <cameron.shorter at gmail.com>
> To: Pia Waugh <greebo at pipka.org>; Aust-NZ OSGeo <Aust-NZ at lists.osgeo.org>; Searle Ben; Bruce Bannerman <B.Bannerman at bom.gov.au>; Abbas Rajabifard <abbas.r at unimelb.edu.au>
> Cc: Jim Groffen <jim.groffen at lisasoft.com>; Roald de Wit <roald.dewit at lisasoft.com>
> Sent: Fri Jun 12 19:59:43 2009
> Subject: Help write Spatial at Gov keynote speach
>
> OSGeo Aust/NZ chapter,
>
> Pia Waugh, who is helping write Senator Kate Lundy's keynote speech at
> the Spatial at Gov conference Monday/Tuesday next week has asked if we can
> provide information about spatial metadata that should be incorporated
> into Kate's speech.
>
> What we need to do is provide Pia with ideas before Saturday evening if
> we want to get the messages aired.
> Off the top of my head, I think we should cover:
>
> History of Australian Geospatial Metadata & initiatives
> * ...
> * ANZLIC backing of Geonetwork
>   
Melbourne university did a review of Metadata tools on behalf of the 
Australian and Land Information Council (ANZLIC) a couple of years back, 
and recommended that Geonetwork be selected as the tool of choice.
Geonetwork is standards compliant (implementing on the OGC Catalog 
specification) and provides both a catalog server and browser based client.
The client is very powerful, but is not very user friendly yet. (This is 
an area where targeted government investment would be very effective in 
bringing more metadata online).
> * ANZLIC announcing the release of ANZ Met Lite at Spatial at Gov
> * Melbourne Uni project in this space
>
> What is the world perspective on Metadata
> * OGC standards
> * INSPIRE initiatives?
>
> The value of metadata
> *
>   
Ben mentioned that there is some figure that knowledge workers spend XX% 
of their time searching for data.
Collecting, and publishing effective metadata will have huge ROI. (Not 
sure where to get the figures to back this up)
> The difficulty in collecting quality metadata
> *
>   
Collecting good meta data is much harder than it should be, which is why 
there is so little metadata around.
The problems are:
1. There is very little automated collection of metadata from current 
tools. Eg: If I'm using a map, the extent of the map, the projection, 
the resolution, etc should all automatically be populated into metadata 
for the user.
2. Metadata when collected is not always collected in a standard format. 
Hence the data is not findable by other organisations.
3. Minimal domain specific metadata profiles exist.
Eg: If I'm collection metadata about marine maps, I may want to include 
water temperature in a certain field, as well as the map specific data 
mentioned above.

> What can government do
> * Require researchers to collect metadata with their research in an
> appropriate format
>   
* Coordinate the development of tools.
* Structure sponsorship similar to the Geoconnections program in Canada. 
Geoconnections was a multi million dollar program which tied funding to 
globally beneficial goals like the promotion of Open Standards.
Matching funding was provided to government agencies and private 
enterprise to achieve these goals.
> Please reply with any ideas you have on any of these topics. I plan to
> collate comments on Saturday evening.
>
> --
> Cameron Shorter
> Geospatial Systems Architect
> Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
> Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254
>
> Think Globally, Fix Locally
> Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
> http://www.lisasoft.com
>
>   


-- 
Cameron Shorter
Geospatial Systems Architect
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254

Think Globally, Fix Locally
Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
http://www.lisasoft.com