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.