Development and Implementation of NSDI in Thailand Dr.Chaowalit Silapathong Head of Data Standards Section, Geo-informatics Center Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (Public Organization) Bangkok, Thailand 1. Introduction Nowadays Geographic Information System (GIS) plays a very important role in natural resources and environmental management as well as economic and social development. GIS has been used in Thailand for more than a decade. However, a clear framework and overall policy for GIS application have not been well established in the country. Several agencies, mostly in public sector, have individually developed their own GIS. By consequence, the following problems occur; duplication of data collection and production, lack of data sharing and coordination, data incompleteness, non-standardized or poor quality data and more importantly, inefficient expenditure of the budget. Therefore, a concrete National Plan for GIS is urgently needed to resolve the problems and to improve the efficiency and productivity in applying this technology. Thailand is now moving towards e-Government policy aiming to make use of ICT to support administration and public services. Emergence of the e-Government affects directly the development of GIS as a source of geo-spatial data and information. Hence, development of National GIS is a major issue for the Thai GIS community. This paper presents the current situation of GIS activities in Thailand, Thailand IT vision towards the e-Government, major trusts on development of NSDI in the country as well as a key issue on establishment of National GIS. 2. Current Situation of GIS in Thailand From Past to Present Activities in Remote Sensing, GIS and satellite-based positioning in Thailand, have been coordinated by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (MOSTE), now the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), under which two national committees, namely the National Remote Sensing Coordinating Committee (NRSCC) and the National GIS Coordinating Committee (NGISCC), were set up in 1971 and 1993, respectively, so that the activities in these areas could be properly directed and coordinated. Thailand has been involved in space technology for more than two decades. Earth observation satellite data have been applied in various fields including agriculture, forestry, meteorology, urban planning, mapping, environment, and disaster monitoring and damage assessment. Thailand ground receiving station was established since 1981 being the first of its kind in Southeast Asia. At present, the station is routinely receiving and processing satellite data from LANDSAT 5, IRS, RADARSAT and high resolution IKONOS satellites. The station provides the data not only for domestic utilization but also for the regional and worldwide applications. Through the establishment of the National GIS Coordinating Committee in 1993, some important related issues including the legal aspects of GIS operation and standardization of GIS data and metadata were reviewed. Work accomplished includes development of a GIS data index for the whole country with regular updating; establishment of GIS training and education plan and policy, as well as curricula for short, medium and long-term programs; and incorporation of GIS policy and planning in the eighth national economic and social development plan. Although a lot of progress has been made in the area of Geo-Informatics, there are still certain aspects that need to be further enhanced and strengthened. These include closer coordination and cooperation amongst relevant agencies, national capacity building and human resource development. Another area that needs to be promoted is the participation of the private sector at all levels of activities, including research and development, production and services. GIS: one technology, many stakeholders GIS plays an important role in decision making and planning of a multidisciplinary nature. Most Thai government agencies dealing with natural resources and environmental management have been using GIS for their work. At present, more than 100 government agencies apply GIS to support their daily operations. A sizable budgets have been invested annually in producing geospatial data. Many of these data collection activities are redundant–data already exist but are hard to find, frequently undocumented, and in incompatible formats. In terms of “Institutional Framework”, the following problems have been encountered : many actors work by their own only to meet with their own specific needs; duplication of data production and poor data sharing, unnecessary expenditure for the same products, overlapping activities with low degree of coordination, and, most important of all, unclear policy at all levels. Regarding “Technical Standards”, comprehensive national standards for GIS have not yet been established and implemented. This could be due to the lack of awareness on the importance of standards. Like other countries, in developing a national GIS, “Fundamental Geographic Data Set: FGDS” is one of the major components. It is true to say that there is no complete set of up-to-date FGDS available in Thailand. It is still unclear what FGDS layers should be for Thailand and who should be the data producer and custodian for what layer. Geo-information does exist but it is scattered here and there in various agencies. Most of them are not easily accessible. More often it is not known who has what and how to access? This leads to the concept of “Spatial Data Clearinghouse” which is an important tool for data discovery and usage. 3. Towards e-Government: ICT for a Better Governance Thailand ICT Vision The government of Thailand realizes the importance of IT as a key element to support administration and public services in view of sustainable socio-economic development to ensure the quality of life of Thai citizens. With the government administrative restructuring taking place in October 2002, Ministry of Information and Communication Technology or MICT was established with a mandate to develop IT and communication of the country. MICT is responsible for formulating implementation strategies and action plan on ICT in accordance with IT policy (IT 2010) and ICT Master Plan (2002 – 2006). The vision of Thai ICT is to use ICT for economic and social development and to improve quality of life of Thai people under the concept “Knowledge-Based Society”. In doing this, ICT will be key to the development of “e-Thailand” which comprises e-Government, e-Industry, e-Commerce, e-Education, and e-Society. The focus will be on e-Government which is the core mechanism to mobilize the rest of the e-Thailand components. E-Government Milestones The goal of e-Government is to utilize ICT for serving government administration and providing public services with an ultimate goal of achieving a healthy nation. Several initiatives on e-Government implementation have been launched. A web portal, for instance, has been established to accelerate the development of e-Government, and used as a tool for information exchange and service transaction amongst government agencies as a “Government One Stop Service Gateway”. To fulfill the services of this web portal, all government agencies, at ministerial and departmental levels, need to develop the so called MOC: Ministerial Operation Center and DOC: Departmental Operation Center respectively, on the web to provide data and information both spatial and non-spatial to the national web portal (National Operation Center: NOC). The data/ information can then be integrated to provide information for decision making and public services accordingly. This initiative is targeted to be completed by 2004. 4. Development and Implementation of NSDI: a Key to Restructure GIS and to Support e-Government GIS is being considered as one of the major components of e-Government in providing geo-spatial data and information for decision making. It can be integrated with MIS to enhance effectiveness of the overall information system. An important element to effectively integrate GIS with e-Government is to establish National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). Major Driving Forces: government programs on GIS applications At present, the Government is keen in applying GIS to support decision making process. Programs such as Disaster Mitigation and Management Program, Crop Monitoring and Yield Prediction Program, Conversion of Assets to Capital Program have been initiated. These programs can not be solely conducted by a single agency. They require cooperation among agencies in the integration of various data sets at different scales. Hence, development and establishment of NSDI is really an urgent task for Thailand. Development of NSDI : restructuring of GIS to achieve sustainable development NSDI is seen as the combination of technology, policies, and people necessary to promote geospatial data sharing throughout all levels of government, the private and non-profit sectors, and academic community. The immediate target of the NSDI establishment is to share geospatial data among all users or stakeholders which will result in significant savings for data collection, enhanced use of data, and better decision making. For long term approach, a Geo-spatial Web Portal, a network of interoperable GIS, would be a successive step. The development of NSDI in Thailand also adopts the same standard algorithm commonly used worldwide comprising 4 major elements: institutional frame work, technical standards, fundamental geographic data set, and spatial data clearing house. The goals of “Institutional Framework” development are to establish GIS national policies and to promote coordination/cooperation amongst stakeholders. Currently, GIS policies in Thailand are directed by the National Committee on Geo-informatics which is chaired by a Deputy Prime Minister. Members of the Committee consist of CEOs of relevant agencies dealing with GIS, experts, and representatives from academic institutes. GISTDA, as the secretariat to the committee, plays a pivotal function on realization of NSDI. As for GIS national policies, a GIS master plan is being developed and is expected to be completed by 2004. In addition, in view of enhancing capability on dynamic data acquisition, Thailand has decided to have its own Earth Observation Satellite System. In terms of “Technical Standards”, the focus is to establish common standards to ensure data quality, data sharing and transfer, and data interoperability. Currently, Thailand is a P (participating) - member of ISO/TC211: Geographic data / Geomatics. Coordination amongst concerning agencies on development of geo-informatics (GI) common standards is on-going. The priorities for common standards development include those for metadata, identification and classification system, base map scaling and production, data quality and data transfer format. The first version of Thai Metadata, has been released to the public since May 2002. Regarding “FGDS”, the goals are to define and produce main common data sets. National or common FGDS will be defined, among others, in terms of scale and contents. Designation of data producers and custodians for each data set will be made accordingly. The National Committee on Geo-Informatics has appointed five Subcommittees to set up guidelines for related GI activities as follows:
Development of National GIS Master Plan A master plan on National GIS (or Geo-informatics) is being formulated aiming to establish national strategies for GIS development within 3-5 years time frame. The master plan will set out comprehensive strategic and action plans focusing on development of NSDI, human resource development, and technological development to promote application of GIS. Stakeholders and key actors for each action plan will be identified with time frame and funding (where possible). The said Master Plan was conducted by Chulalongkorn University, funded by GISTDA, with an attempt to tackle the roots of the problems on GIS development and applications of the country in a systematic manner. It is also based on the National ICT Master Plan approved by the government in B.E. 2545. In the process of writing this plan, the standard SWOT analysis was used to identify strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat that Thailand has in terms of geo-informatic activities. Then, as a result, appropriate vision, mission, and set of attainable targets and objectives on the development of National GIS that will serve the needs of the nation are drawn, and short and long termed strategic plans are obtained. Ten strategies have been formulated for the (draft) Master Plan , for 3 years framework, including: the development of Fundamental Geographic Data Set (FGDS), the establishment of national geospatial data clearinghouse, the creation of geo-information standards and specifications and the promotion of their use, the amendment and revision of laws and acts concerning with geo-information, the development of nationwide network of GNSS base stations, the development of information from satellite imageries, the development of human resource to support geo-information activities, the research and development in geo-information and related fields and the promotion and support the use of geo-information. The Master Plan is expected to be approved by the Cabinet by 2004. Development of Master Plan on Earth Observation Satellite The objective of the Master Plan on Earth Observation (EO) Satellite for Thailand is to provide a framework for the development of Thai EO Satellite with a view to fulfilling the national needs in launching its own satellite. Such development will facilitate acquisition of data independently for purposes relating to national security specifically in socio-economy and defense. These, for instance, include natural disasters monitoring, narcotic crop detection and national security threats along the border. Moreover, the satellite can be used to monitor cash crops and to estimate yields in the country as well as in the region which help in planning and decision making in the marketing of products as appropriate. The Master Plan covers 5 years implementation framework (2003 – 2007) aiming primarily at developing a Thai EO Satellite through capacity building in satellite technology and its applications. The goal is for Thailand to be able to design, build and launch its own satellite within this decade. In order to achieve the goal as well as to make a sound and sustainable development scheme, relevant work plans are incorporated. These include human resource development, development of satellite technology infrastructure, development of National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), development of data distribution network, and development of appropriate management system. Lately, the Cabinet approved a development program for Thailand EO satellite and the first satellite will be launched in to orbit by 2007-2008. Feasibility Study on NSDI The Thailand NSDI Feasibility Study was initiated by the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) with grant support from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA). The objective of the NSDI Feasibility Study project was to develop a high-level plan for NSDI implementation in Thailand. The goals of the NSDI in Thailand are to provide technology, policies, and human capacity that promote the effective sharing of geospatial information throughout government, and ultimately the private sector and the public. The NSDI will allow the government to build on existing GIS investments from the past ten years and move towards a cooperative environment that will support the knowledge-based society envisioned as part of the Government's 9th Economic and Social Development Plan. The NSDI Feasibility Study for Thailand was conducted by a team of consultants consisting of the Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI, Inc.), ESRI Thailand, and the Geographic Planning Collaborative, Inc. (GPC, Inc.). The Study builds on important foundation work carried out by Chulalongkorn University in the preparation of the "GIS Master Plan Study" for Thailand, the efforts of the National GIS Committee, and has included input from approximately 70 organizations that participated in the Study either as core stakeholders, stakeholders, or end users. The NSDI implementation has been planned in multiple stages for both the 5-year (preferred) and for an 8-year alternative NSDI development scenario. The tasks for the initial implementation of the NSDI have been defined according to several key program component areas including the following: Standards and Policy Framework, Portal Implementation, FGDS Layer Development, NSDI Agency Node Development and Agency Capacity Strengthening. 5. Conclusion GIS activities have been widely conducted by government and private sectors for more than a decade. However, in the application of this technology, various problems particularly on data sharing and data usages have been encountered. Hence NSDI is crucial and needs to be developed along with the establishment of GIS master plan. Development of NSDI fits in very well with the Thai Government’s scheme on a comprehensive utilization of ICT to support administration and public services. The key mechanism is the development of e-Government in which GIS forms a key component with important role in providing dynamic information to support a better governance of the country. | ||
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