What is the NGDF?

NGDF is a national forum of data providers and data users seeking to facilitate and encourage widespread use of geospatial data which is ‘fit for purpose’. Its objectives are:

To facilitate and encourage collaboration in the collection, provision and use of geospatial data.
To facilitate and encourage the use of standards and best practice in the collection, provision and use of geospatial data.
To facilitate and widen access to geospatial data

The Challenges

Information about data sets is difficult to obtain;
Information about available data sets varies in quality among different organisations;
Valuable data sets are held, but are not currently available for many reasons;
There are many data sets, but collected to different specifications;
Data is not always easy to access; nor is it easy to integrate data from multiple sources; and
Few services are based on data combination, so users must shop around for individual data sets.

The Benefits

An expanding and liberalised market for geospatial data, based on widely accepted standards;
Improved data quality as the market expands and becomes more competitive;
New derived data sets created by combining data from two or more sources;
Lower data costs as competition increases and data collection and processing costs fall;
Less duplication of effort and more one-stop shops for would-be data users.

NGDF Deliverables

Fully linked metadata (descriptions of data) services;
NGDF - compliant data sets which can be easily linked and integrated;
Commercially driven, compliant services focusing on user needs;

Supported by:

New and pragmatic best practice guidelines
An NGDF accreditation service
NGDF education programme and web site
A coherent framework for core geospatial data initiatives

Forging a Global Framework

NGDF is exchanging information with those responsible for similar initiatives in other parts of the world. These include:

The National Geospatial Data Framework mission is ‘To develop an over-arching framework to facilitate and encourage efficient linking, combining and widespread use of geospatial data which is fit for purpose.’
United States National Spatial Data Infrastructure
Australian National Spatial Data Infrastructure
European Geographic Information Infrastructure