Dr.

Muhammad Imran
  Infrastructure is a collection of certian pieces to deliver
some service to society, e.g. transportation
infrastructure, oil and gas infrastructure

© 2009 Punjab University College of Information Technology (PUCIT) September 8, 2009 Spatial data infrastructures
Slide 2
  The concept of Information Infrastructures is not
something which developed in the very recent history.
Already in 1982 Anne Branscomb wrote (Branscomb
1982):
"information infrastructure’ to refer collectively to the
various media, carriers, and even physical infrastructure
used for information delivery “

© 2009 Punjab University College of Information Technology (PUCIT) September 8, 2009 Spatial data infrastructures
Slide 3
  One can achieve added value from the collective use of
different technologies as compared to the use of a
different technologies in a separate
 Technologies are collective once they are connected in
an ’infrastructure’.
 Data collection is based on different technologies, this
allowing data collectors to use their own type of
technology which fits with their daily work processes.
 The connectivity of technologies is obviously only
possible if conversions from products generated by one
technology to another is possible.

Distance Education Course on

Spatial Decision Support
© 2009 Punjab University College of Information Technology (PUCIT) September 8, 2009 4 Systems
Slide 4
  ‘information infrastructure’ should possess the
following three important characteristics:1.
Content (data);2. networking of major sources and
users; 3. Customization of the network for easy
third-party access.

© 2009 Punjab University College of Information Technology (PUCIT) September 8, 2009 5 Spatial data infrastructures
Slide 5
  Information ‘content’ Vs information ‘users’
 The characteristic elements of ‘use’ and ‘user’ are
therefore crucial elements within infrastructures.
 The contents are only useful if they are customized to a
user
 This user is a ‘third-party’ because there may not be a
direct relation between the user and the producer.

© 2009 Punjab University College of Information Technology (PUCIT) September 8, 2009 6 Spatial data infrastructures
Slide 6
  If the information content is of spatial nature, the
producers are dealing with spatial information, and the
users/third parties are interested in spatial applications,
than the associated infrastructures become ‘spatial data
infrastructures’ - SDIs (alternative acronyms: geospatial
data infrastructures – GDIs; spatial information
infrastructures -SIIs) .

© 2009 Punjab University College of Information Technology (PUCIT) September 8, 2009 7 Spatial data infrastructures
Slide 7
  "Spatial Data Infrastructure' means the technology,
policies, standards, and human resources necessary to
acquire, process, store, distribute, and improve
utilization of geospatial data.
 a relevant base collection of technologies, policies and
institutional arrangements that facilitate the availability
and access to spatial data (Nebert 2004) – SDI cookbook.
 metadata, spatial data sets and spatial data services;
network services and technologies; agreements on
sharing, access and use; and coordination and
monitoring mechanisms, processes and procedures
(European Parliament and the Council of the European
Union 2007) – INSPIRE Directive Article 3.

© 2009 Punjab University College of Information Technology (PUCIT) September 8, 2009 8 Spatial data infrastructures
Slide 8
  "Spatial Data Infrastructure' means the technology,
policies, standards, and human resources necessary to
acquire, process, store, distribute, and improve
utilization of geospatial data.
 a relevant base collection of technologies, policies and
institutional arrangements that facilitate the availability
and access to spatial data (Nebert 2004) – SDI cookbook.
 metadata, spatial data sets and spatial data services;
network services and technologies; agreements on
sharing, access and use; and coordination and
monitoring mechanisms, processes and procedures
(European Parliament and the Council of the European
Union 2007) – INSPIRE Directive Article 3.
Distance Education Course on
Spatial Decision Support
© 2009 Punjab University College of Information Technology (PUCIT) September 8, 2009 9 Systems
Slide 9
  Technical: are the syntactical problems related to
differences in the formats in which users expect data to
be provided and the formats in which the chosen
candidate datasets are originally produced by produces
of data
 Conceptual: are the structural and semantic problems
related to differences in the conceptual schemas (e.g.
concepts, terminologies, and meaning) of datasets
(producers) and the concepts conceived by users.
 Institutional: are the barriers in data sharing posed by
organizations, researchers, and surveyors through legal
regulations of privacy, ownership and copyrights.
Distance Education Course on
Spatial Decision Support
© 2009 Punjab University College of Information Technology (PUCIT) September 8, 2009 10 Systems
Slide 10
 Interoperability. The focus is on designing technical
systems which allow connection of one system to
another.
Integration. Various systems and different databases can
be linked through uunambiguous standard spatial data
definition / schema. Data sharing leads to integration of
technical systems
Redundancy. Having interlinkages between systems
allows for reduction of heterogeneity and minimalization
of redundancies.
Services. The SDI is becoming a service infrastructure
over time. Services are assumed to be developed all over
the infrastructure, and by all possible users.

© 2009 Punjab University College of Information Technology (PUCIT) September 8, 2009 11 Spatial data infrastructures
Slide 11
 Interoperability. The focus is on designing technical
systems which allow connection of one system to
another.
Integration. Various systems and different databases can
be linked through uunambiguous standard spatial data
definition / schema. Data sharing leads to integration of
technical systems
Redundancy. Having interlinkages between systems
allows for reduction of heterogeneity and minimalization
of redundancies.
Services. The SDI is becoming a service infrastructure
over time. Services are assumed to be developed all over
the infrastructure, and by all possible users.

© 2009 Punjab University College of Information Technology (PUCIT) September 8, 2009 12 Spatial data infrastructures
Slide 12
 Virtual enterprise. The connection of services allows for
the emergence of virtual enterprises, i.e. businesses
operating entirely through the infrastructure connections.
Metadata. Automated metadata can be generated
through software and semi-automated meta data can be
made available through interaction.
Security (technical). This requires different sorts of
protection mechanisms.

© 2009 Punjab University College of Information Technology (PUCIT) September 8, 2009 13 Spatial data infrastructures
Slide 13
 Virtual enterprise. The connection of services allows for
the emergence of virtual enterprises, i.e. businesses
operating entirely through the infrastructure connections.
Metadata. Automated metadata can be generated
through software and semi-automated meta data can be
made available through interaction.
Security (technical). This requires different sorts of
protection mechanisms.

© 2009 Punjab University College of Information Technology (PUCIT) September 8, 2009 14 Spatial data infrastructures
Slide 14
 Standards change from ‘map production’ to ‘information
production’
Production lines change from the management of
standard product lines (sets of maps) to the service
diversity and data sharing
The environment changes from having fixed customers/
clients of standard maps by mapping agencies to
diversity of map producers with diversity of customers
and clients
The management changes from costly and slow map
revision to continuous spatial data acquisition and
distribution

© 2009 Punjab University College of Information Technology (PUCIT) September 8, 2009 15 Spatial data infrastructures
Slide 15
 SDI is a bigger form of a GIS
Whereas the technical view of SDIs looks at users primarily
as recipients of information products, the social view
emphasizes the users as contributors to the information
infrastructure.
Developing or promoting SDIs require a combination of
‘technologies, policies and institutional arrangements’ and
agreements on ‘sharing, access and use’.
Through connecting technologies one can generate more
types of products, and more types of delivery.
Information infrastructures not only rely on technology but
also on use and users of the technology.

© 2009 Punjab University College of Information Technology (PUCIT) September 8, 2009 16 Spatial data infrastructures
Slide 16
 Dr. Muhammad Imran

Assistant Professor
Institute of Geoinformation & Earth Observation (IGEO)
PMAS Arid Agriculture University
Rawalpindi
Tel: +92-(0)300-4510-500
E-mail: [email protected]

© 2009 Punjab University College of Information Technology (PUCIT) September 8, 2009 Slide 17