Abstract
Australia has a relatively advanced geographical information system (GIS) infrastructure with well-developed policies, data and technology. Over recent years this infrastructure has been defined as the Australian Spatial Data Infrastructure (ASDI) which conforms to a large degree to other National Geo-spatial Data Infrastructures (NGDI). The Australia New Zealand Land Information Council1 (ANZLIC) released its discussion paper on the ASDI2 in 1996. Since then, there has been considerable discussion of the nature of the ASDI and how it should be implemented. There has also been a substantial amount of work done to implement various components of the ASDI.

Australia’s federal system of government places a large responsibility for land management issues on state levels of government. Local government, the third tier of government in Australia, also has some responsibility in this area, especially in relation to planning of land use and provision of local services. The federal government is a large producer and user of geographic information for national applications. It plays a leading role in the co-ordination of the national activities of the various governments through established co-ordinating bodies such as ANZLIC. There are also a number of national projects undertaken by the federal government that rely on being able to access, integrate and analyse data from numerous custodians at the federal, state and local government levels.

The ASDI initiative has delivered significant achievements in areas that will improve the ability of users to access and integrate geographic information from numerous agencies that produce it. This paper will cover these initiatives and also look at the challenges that remain in fully realising the vision of the ASDI “To provide better access for all Australian to essential spatial data”.

Introduction
Background
This paper was originally written and presented by Alister Nairn at a GIS conference in Korea (Nairn, 2000). It is being re-presented by Peter Holland at the “Workshop on NGDI – Towards a Road Map for India”3 held on 5-6 February 2001 in New Delhi, India in Technical Session 2 “NGDI: International Experiences”.

Drivers for GIS Development
GIS information products have traditionally been used by decision-makers to improve economic, social and environmental conditions in the real world. Increasingly geographic information is being incorporated into business systems and used within industry to improve efficiency and competitiveness.

Technology development is now providing tools to enable GIS to be brought into the mainstream of information management. High powered computers, better graphics, improved bandwidth and communications, ease of use and of course the Internet and interoperability are all factors contributing towards this trend. As economies rely more on knowledge management to be competitive this is becoming increasingly important. There is a growing use of geographic information and GIS amongst government departments and businesses that are increasingly incorporating geographic information into their corporate databases.

This improved technology and greater penetration of GIS into government and business is also driving the need for access to reliable and accurate geographic information.

Experience is showing us that it is no longer the technology that is the impediment for GIS industry growth but the availability of standards compliant, accurate data that meets user requirements. In Australia, where there are a large number of government agencies across the different jurisdictions controlling much of the geographic information, the issue of access arrangements, including pricing and licensing to this data is currently an obstacle.

From this it follows that, while the technological framework can be upgraded or replaced with new developments, the investment in developing standards compliant data and associated whole of government policies for ensuring access to these data is vitally important. The improving availability of GIS data is providing opportunities for industry to add value to these data and become more involved with GIS.

The National Development Strategy for GIS in Australia
The overall objective of developing a NGDI is to achieve better outcomes for the nation through better economic, social and environmental decision-making. The availability of standards compliant fundamental geographic datasets is essential if the full potential of GIS technology is to be realised in supporting those decision-making processes. Recognising that the cost, quality and longevity of geographic data are critical in the application of the technology, the specific objectives in developing a national geographic data infrastructure should be to

• Produce standardised fundamental geographic datasets;
• Avoid unnecessary duplication of cost in developing and maintaining those data;
• Facilitate access to and application of those data; and
• Enable integration of other application-specific data by all users (value adding).

The underlying philosophy to this approach is that fundamental geographic information is a national resource that must be managed in the national interest.

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