Policy/Research Forum - GI Policy


Valéria Araújo
Institutional Relations / Executive Secretary
IBGE / CP-IDEA
Brazil / Américas



BIO
Valéria Oliveira Henrique de Araújo holds a BSc in Cartographic Engineering (1990) and the Executive MBA in Public Administration (2012). She has been working during the past 10 years for the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics - IBGE, in Brazil, now in the Institutional Relations Management. She is also Executive Secretary of the Permanent Committee for Geospatial Data Infrastrucuture of the Americas (PC-IDEA) and teacher at State University of Rio de Janeiro.

ABSTRACT
Nowadays the high demand for geospatial data and information is unquestionable. In the fast changing environment of our planet, as the high cost of geospatial data production is still an issue, governmental data providers have been struggling to meet the demand in a timely fashion, especially in continental-size countries or regions of the globe, like Brazil and the Americas. At the same time, the development of new geotechnologies has largely contributed to massive data collection applications.
The awareness of the importance of Geospatial Policy as well as all the related subjects such as planning, development, adoption, implementation and its monitoring are a important issue in the America’s countries. Hence, the Permanent Committee for Geospatial Data Infrastructure of the Americas (PC-IDEA) has been working hard on this topic through its Working Group on Planning (GTplan) in order to make available documents for all countries that are part of the committee and indirectly for the entire community. Since 2010, GTplan has been developing a manual that deals, among others topics, with the Geospatial Policy in the Americas, especially regarding SDI. The “Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) Manual for the Americas” will provide an overview of basic spatial data infrastructure (SDI) concepts. Despite the fact that there are many relevant manuals about the subject containing valuable guidelines, GTplan decided that a manual covering a broader range of SDI planning and implementation aspects was required to meet the needs of PC-IDEA member countries. In addition, unlike other guides, this manual is available in four languages (English, Spanish, Portuguese and French). It highlights examples within the Americas and is expected to fit the needs of the member countries.
The manual addresses, in particular, others subjects such as: Policy Environment, Policy Development Initiatives in the Americas, Data Production, Data Sharing and Integration, Privacy, Confidential / Sensitive Information and Security, Intellectual Property, Licensing, Volunteered Geographic Information, Data Archiving and Preservation, Cloud Computing, Location-Based Services, among others. The purpose of this presentation is to share some of these aspects and the work that PC-IDEA is doing on this subject throughout the years, especially during the 2009-2013 term.
The presentation also emphasizes the partnership with others entities that work in the Americas on fields related to geospatial information, which is also bringing benefits to all countries in the region.

Prof Robert Barr OBE CGeog
FRGS, FRSA
Pear Trees
UK





ABSTRACT
Delivering Public Sector Core Reference Information as Sustainable Open Data - The UK Experience
From the mid-1980s until 2010 much core reference data in the United Kingdom has been locked behind the pay walls erected under the 1980’s Tradable Information Initiative. The Crown Copyright Review of 1998 led to the opening up of National Statistical data, particularly the census. However many other data sets, including those essential to take a good census and to make use of census data have been locked behind pay walls. Rather than releasing such data at marginal cost, organizations tasked to recover their costs through trading appear to have chosen to exploit such data to cross subsidise other activities, behind a cloak of commercial confidentiality. This situation is now changing because of the Government’s Transparency and Open Data initiatives and the Public Sector Mapping Agreement. However unfunded open data can soon cease to exist. For this reason sustainable and transparent business models are required to deliver properly funded data which remains free at the point of use. This paper will examine some options for such business models and will suggest transition mechanisms to make the switch from current practice possible.
Dr. Márta Nagy-Rothengass
Head of Unit "Data Value
Chain", EC DG CONNECT European Commission
Belgium



ABSTRACT
Commission's Strategy Towards Geographic Data
Commission's Open Data Strategy includes legislative measures as well as funding for innovation and research activities. The strategy is designed to increase the supply of raw data produced by public sector bodies for re-use, to encourage the creation of applications based on 'open' geographic information and to help remove barriers to wider uptake of data by the economy. Economic benefits from easier availability of PSI could reach 40 billion euros annually for EU27. This positive economic impact includes GI re-use, as it is one of the most interesting and sought-after sub-sets of PSI. The value of GI resides in the fact that it can be used in combination with other types of data, to build applications and services of considerable added value. To increase the positive impact of data on the economy, the Commission's DG CNECT (Data Value Chain' Unit) actively supports R&D projects focusing on the application of 'big data' processing technologies to huge and heterogeneous sets of data. Geographic information falls perfectly within the definition of big data. In parallel, an Open Data service infrastructure (pan-European data portal) is being developed to facilitate EU-wide access to open data and to induce the creation of information products and services based on the re-use and combination of public sector data, including spatial information. This 'data-friendly' approach will be continued and deepened in the years 2014-2020, through the application of two new funding programmes – Connecting Europe Facility and Horizon 2020.
Dirk van Barneveld
Senior Policy Advisor
Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment
The Netherlands



ABSTRACT
Dutch Open Data Policy
The Netherlands have to do some catch-up when it comes to open data, but the country has made some nice progress over the last few years. After a brief outlining of the Dutch open data policy Dirk will zoom in on the everyday problems he runs into while advocating openness and actually opening data within his ministry. While the Dutch policy is very nice and clean, the implementation of open data can get very messy and entangled in a myriad of questions. Luckily, he also has some answers (but not all!) which he likes to share with you. He is also looking forward to your ideas and good practices.
Ray Clore
Senior Advisor for GNSS Issues
Office of Space and Advanced Technology
U.S. Department of State




ABSTRACT
U.S. Global Positioning System
The U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) is reliable, increasingly accurate and has met its performance commitments since 1993. The 2010 U.S. Space Policy calls for GPS to remain free of direct user charges, compatible and interoperable with other Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and seeks international cooperation in detecting and mitigating harmful interference to GNSS. The availability of multiple, emerging GNSS argues for interoperability and transparency in the provision of civil signal and services for the benefit of the widest number of civil users. Benefits of GPS include greater agricultural production, swifter search and rescue operations, and accurate timing for such applications as financial transactions and electric grid management. Space debris is an increasing concern that could impact GNSS if the issue is not soon addressed. GPS constellation performance continues to improve with the latest generation of satellites averaging .38 meter RMS accuracy. The U.S. Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) known as the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) continues to provide highly accurate and reliable service to airlines to enable them to increase safety, reduce flight times, and save fuel and money. Use of multiple GNSS and combined receivers can leverage the increasing number of GNSS satellites for greater safety and economic benefits.