Establishing the UK National Geospatial Data Framework
Strategic Plan - 1998
Contents
National Geospatial Data Framework (NGDF)
The National Geospatial Data Framework (NGDF) is the name given to the UK Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI). This Initiative will improve awareness and access to Geospatial Information and generally encourage its wider use.
NGDF will not create a physical framework or deliver datasets, applications or products, but its use will help to facilitate value added services by enabling the combination of data from multiple sources.
The Strategic Plan
The Strategic Plan represents the Board’s direction for the future. It provides guidance on how the NGDF concept will be realised
Geospatial Information (GI)
Geospatial Information (GI) is any information or data that is spatially referenced to the Earth's surface. This reference can either be direct, for example latitude/longitude and National Grid, or indirect, such as an address or administrative area.
Management of the NGDF Initiative
The NGDF Management Board is responsible for approving and resourcing the work needed to establish and maintain the Framework.
In support of the NGDF are mechanisms and processes for:
The Audience
Geospatial information is often embedded within services and taken for granted. Therefore there is a potentially significant audience who will often be unaware of the benefits that NGDF could bring. This audience will include:
The communications approach in support of NGDF will concentrate resources initially on specific audiences, broadening out as success is achieved.
There is a significant requirement for the NGDF Initiative nationally, by government, business and citizens to:
Many government initiatives are currently underway which are in sympathy with the aims of NGDF. Examples are; government.direct, joined up government, Freedom of Information, better government etc. All of these initiatives require information to be unlocked and improved.
In order to address these requirements NGDF has four key drivers:
Knowledge about what information exists
Many data providers do not advertise the fact that they hold GI often because they have no distribution mechanisms in place and data supply would cause disruption from current activities with little perceived benefits. This therefore results in poor knowledge about what actually exists within UK and, even when GI is advertised, the metadata for it is often of variable quality.
Access to information
Many data providers do not provide access to their GI either because they do not perceive a market for the information, or again, it would cause disruption from current activities with little perceived benefits. Even those data providers who do see a market and are keen to sell their information, do not use the most effective methods of provision.
Integration of information
GI is of variable and often unknown quality, based on a variety of different spatial referencing systems. This results in serious problems when information from different sources are integrated. It is only through easier integration of these different sources of information that many queries relating to geospatial information can be resolved.
Widespread use of information
Geospatial information is currently not used to its full potential in UK. This results in widespread duplication of effort and makeshift solutions to answer everyday problems.
In order to address the issues behind the drivers to NGDF, the Management Board will:
Mission
The Management Board's mission is to:
enable the unlocking and improvement of geospatial information for the benefit of the citizen, business growth and good government
Strategic Objectives
The NGDF Management Board have five objectives which will enable them to achieve the Mission and resolve the key issues facing the GI industry.
Objective 1
To improve knowledge about what GI currently exists and encourage easier access to it, we will:
Objective 2
To enable easier integration of GI through the use of standards we will:
Objective 3
To encourage more widespread use of geospatial information we will:
Objective 4
To provide users with assurance that the information is consistent and of defined quality, we will:
Objective 5
To provide advice to government on geospatial information, we will:
The Strategic Plan is being broken into 2 phases. Phase 1, between now and 2001, will concentrate on early tangible deliverables, where the benefits can be realised by as wide an audience as possible. Phase 2 will then build on those early deliverables and concentrate on longer term activities which will broaden the use of information and start to improve the quality of that information.
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Phase 1 (present - 2001) |
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Phase 2 (2001 and beyond) |
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| To improve knowledge about what GI currently exists and encourage easier access to it |
Produce detailed metadata implementation guidelines Develop best practice guidelines giving practical advice on maintenance and use of metadata Develop metadata infrastructure model (operational, technical, systems, information model) Identify, catalogue and evaluate information sources Obtain commitment from existing service providers and data producers for the metadata infrastructure Establish a preliminary metadata services Promote the metadata service to the existing and potential GI community Target information providers and encourage and advise on how they can make their metadata available |
Detailed metadata guidelines Best practice guidelines Infrastructure model Catalogue of information sources Preliminary metadata services Broad set of metadata within the metadata service |
Refine and modify metadata infrastructure Continue to promote the metadata service Target information providers and encourage and advise on how they can make their geospatial information available |
Refined metadata services Broad base of easily accessible geospatial information |
| To enable easier integration of GI through the use of standards |
Establish a framework of NGDF supported standards Develop best practice guidelines providing advice on the application of standards Develop a model for standards services (operational, technical, systems, information model) Facilitate the creation of preliminary standards services to help users understand and apply standards Promote the benefits of using the NGDF supported standards Develop a framework of NGDF recognised core datasets and promote their use |
NGDF recommended standards Best practice guidelines Standards services model Preliminary standards services Framework of core datasets |
Refine and modify the standards services Continue to promote the use of NGDF supported standards |
Refined standards services |
| To encourage more widespread use of geospatial information |
Define and evaluate the key issues surrounding the use/lack of use of GI Identify existing applications of NGDF compliant information and promote Identify parallel initiatives to NGDF and integrate with them where beneficial Market and promote the use of geospatial information |
Summary of key GI issues Summary of existing applications |
Enable the resolution of issues surrounding poor use of GI as appropriate Identify potential applications that could benefit from NGDF compliant information and encourage integration Continue to market and promote the use of geospatial information |
Summary of potential applications |
| To provide users with assurance that the information is consistent and of defined quality |
Develop conformance and testing clauses for metadata Investigate and establish appropriate conformance mechanisms for the metadata |
Metadata conformance and testing clauses Metadata assurance mechanism |
Develop conformance and testing clauses for geospatial information Investigate and establish appropriate conformance mechanisms for geospatial information |
GI conformance and testing clauses GI assurance mechanism |
| To provide advice on geospatial information | Identify what advisory services are required | Summary of advisory services | Facilitate the creation of appropriate advisory services | Advisory services |
Success factors
Successful realisation of the Strategy depends on a number of factors:
Ministerial support
The main sources of GI for the UK belong to government agencies. Their ability to make information more widely available, to collaborate with each other and to interact flexibly with the private sector is constrained by rules imposed by the government of the day. The NGDF Management Board will investigate ways of obtaining support from Ministers and obtain that support where possible, such that barriers such as these can be broken down.
Successful organisation
The NGDF Management Board must be recognised as being credible and authoritative by the whole GI community. It is with these characteristics that the concept of NGDF will be achieved.
Suitable funding and resources
This strategy is ambitious and cannot be achieved without suitable funding and resources. A strong business case is required to encourage supporters to commit resources.
Measurement of success
It is important that The NGDF Management Board is able to measure the success of NGDF. Criteria for measurement include whether:
THE NGDF Management Board will review progress at key check points, to ensure that success is being achieved.