|
|
|
National Geospatial Data Framework (NGDF) – The UK Model
Clare Hadley
International Manager, Ordnance Survey, UK
chadley@ordsvy.gov.uk
Lionel Elliott
NGDF Programme Manager, Ordnance Survey, UK
The National Geospatial Data Framework (NGDF) is the UK’s spatial data infrastructure. The emphasis is on a framework of standards, metadata, and access, rather than the more centralised approach in other countries involving base datasets. It has evolved in a rather different way from those in other countries, notably the USA and Australia, due principally to the government, legal, and business environment in the UK. In recent years, the emphasis has been on practical projects and delivery of services. Two services have now been launched – the Data Locator and the Data Integrator, through the delivery mechanism of ‘askGIraffe’, a website gateway to the services and data. Further information on the NGDF in the UK, including many of the references used in this paper, is available on www.ngdf.org.uk
The UK situation
In the UK today, over 40 government departments and other organisations produce geospatial data for their own needs, spending approximately £400 million annually on data collection and assembly. Despite relatively centralised government there are serious inconsistencies between different regions of the country, and different data collectors. Much of the data is not available for re-use or is collected in ways that make it difficult to use with other datasets and most datasets remain poorly documented. In addition, there are still inconsistencies in the ways different computer systems treat sophisticated geospatial data and the geospatial information that is available is often embedded within services and is taken for granted. Many data holders, particularly those in the public sector, do not advertise the fact that they hold geospatial information. This is often because the information
- is collected for a specific purpose (e.g. research);
- is considered redundant and retained only for evidence after a report has been published; or
- is not seen as being of interest outside the department.
Furthermore, delivery of the underlying data would require an infrastructure and supporting documentation that does not exist in such organisations.
Four main obstacles could be identified which prevented better use of geospatial information. These were
- A lack of knowledge about what data exists. Metadata was poor or non-existent. Where it did exist it was collected to varying standards and so could not be easily collated.
- Poor access to information. Many data collectors do not have a remit to provide access to data. As a result there was a lack of publicity, infrastructure and documentation. Additional obstacles included legal restrictions, and pricing policies.
- Inability to integrate information due to inconsistencies. The UK has a myriad of spatial referencing systems, all developed for different applications. Integration is difficult or impossible. As a result questions asked of the data cannot be answered.
- Low levels of use of geographic information. As a result of the situation outlined above, there were low levels of use of GI, leading to duplication of effort and makeshift solutions to problems.
These problems were recognised in 1995, and it was these that the NGDF initiative sought to address.
Formation of NGDF
The NGDF was launched as an initiative at the Association of Geographic Information (AGI) conference in 1995 (Nansen, Smith & Davey, 1995). See also Rhind’s paper to this Workshop. From the outset, the participants were from government, academia and the private sector. Following an encouraging reception, work began to further refine NGDF and suggest a practical and effective method of implementation. A well attended seminar was held in June 1996 at which key players discussed and agreed a way forward and a progress report was presented at the AGI conference in 1996, which outlined the recommended way forward and raised some key issues to be addressed by NGDF. The first NGDF meetings were held in the autumn of 1996. The general approach was to move forward by involving all the major players. There was no explicit government directive as there had been in the USA, but there were some enabling government policies such as the Modernising Government and Joined Up Government policy initiatives.
Initially progress was slow, both due to differences in opinion over the strategic direction for NGDF, and a lack of funds and resources to carry out the work. A workshop was held in April 1998 to try to resolve these issues and as a result, the NGDF Strategic Plan was developed. This enabled funds to be sought from the National Interest Mapping Service Agreement (NIMSA) and the Invest to Save Programme. Funds were secured from these two in late 1998/ early 1999.
|
|
|