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GIS Data sharing lessons from Qatar nationwide GIS
R C S Taragi, Ph. D.
GIS Coordinator, The Planning Council,Doha, Qatar, PO Box:1855
Email: taragi@planning.gov.qa
P Balakrishnan, Ph. D.
Asst. Professor of GIS, University of Qatar, Doha, Qatar, PO Box: 2713
Email: bala@qu.edu.qa
Abstract
GIS users throughout the world realize the enormous benefits of geographic data sharing. They are also aware of the hurdles coming in the way of data sharing and difficulties in overcoming the issues at regional or national level. Some of these include legislation barriers, different types of data models, standards and specifications, networking problems, economic and social aspects, lack of understanding among organizations and authorities etc., Here is one country, namely, Qatar which seems to have overcome most of these hurdles and succeeded in the implementation of a nationwide GIS policy. The GIS has been integrated into the system at different levels of functioning of various agencies in the country which has brought revolutionary changes into the functioning of both government and private sectors.
The policy measures, methods and processes involved in forming Qatar enterprise GIS are discussed here along with its impact in day to day functioning of organizations and the future implications. How far the Qatar GIS model can be seen in the Indian context in an entirely different geographic, political, economic and socio-cultural scenario is the main focus of this discussion. There is a great scope to learn lessons from the success story of Qatar GIS and the policies, methods and techniques which can be followed to a great extent with little modifications.
Introduction
Spatial (geographic) information is becoming vital day by day in making sound decisions at the local, regional, state or national level planning, in infrastructure development, disaster management, natural resource management, business development, implementation of action plans etc. and many more fields incorporating the spatial data in their analysis. Geographic Information System (GIS) has emerged as a great technology dealing with spatial data. The advancement in computer hardware and software technology with lowering costs and availability of more and more hard disks space and memory available to the users at a very nominal cost has led to the increased production of the spatial information and making it digitally available and compatible with other databases. It has further tempted the organizations to generate their own spatial databases to satisfy their often very specific needs.
This effort of organizations however leads to duplication of efforts. The cost of creating and maintaining digital data is high therefore, it is important for organizations to share the data and technology with each other and avoid duplication and at the same time ensure the full utilization of data. The spatial data in most of the countries is controlled by government sector, therefore the federal laws concerning data sharing and interagency cooperation are most important. Further, the organizations concerned need to be made available with required funds. The data sharing can be viewed in terms of organizational and technological data sharing. The organization data sharing is seen as the free use of another entity's data sets, in manual or automated form. As in " we are happy to let you have access to and use the data created in our agency".
The technological data sharing is the capability to have one agency's data used by another entity's automated system. As in " our system is capable of reading and manipulating data from any other system in any other format". The present day need for a shared spatial database policy is well established and justified. Certainly, there are hurdles in developing a nationwide policy and system to follow a shared database policy. The situation becomes more complicated and difficult in a geographical and political scenario that existed in a big country like India. But with the growing realization of the benefits of the shared database policy authorities and organizations in India have started paying more and more attention in this direction. Formation of National Spatial Database Infrastructure (NSDI) for the country is an effort in this direction.
There are very few countries in the world actively working on this direction owing to their own limitations. There is certainly one country named Qatar, which has set an exemplary nationwide GIS in the country. Qatar is the first country in the world to adopt a nationwide GIS policy which has become a working model for many enterprise GIS in the world. Indian effort towards developing NSDI can get some direction from the methodology that Qatar Nationwide GIS followed and lessons learned from its successful implementation. Of course, there is no match between India and Qatar in terms of geographic extension and diversity, population size, prevailing socio-economic conditions and political scenario, yet, the steps involved and methodology to be followed could be identical to a significant level.
Before evaluating and seeing Qatar GIS development in the Indian context it would be appropriate to discuss briefly about the Qatar nationwide GIS, its development, present status and future prospects. The experience gained from Qatar nationwide GIS and lessons learned can be put forth for further discussions besides submitting certain recommendations towards adopting a nationwide Shared spatial data and GIS policy in India.
The State of Qatar
Qatar lies in the Middle East in the Asian continent. It sits on the East Coast of Saudi Arabia, on the Arabian Gulf. Qatar is a small country falling between the latitudes 24° 27' and 26° 10' North and the longitudes 50° 45' and 51° 40' East covering approximately an area of 11521 sq. km, little bigger than Tripura state in size. The peninsula is approximately 165 km. in length and 75 km. in width. The territorial waters of Qatar extend approximately 95 nautical miles east and around 51 nautical miles north into the Arabian Gulf. It has a population of 522 thousands as per the 1997 Census, about half of them are expatriates. The State of Qatar is a sovereign and independent Arab state. The State of Qatar accepts the United Nations Charter, which supports the right of all peoples and nations to self-determination.
Qatar Nationwide GIS
Qatar is the first country to implement a comprehensive and integrated nationwide GIS, internationally recognized as one of the finest GIS implementations in the World. All agencies using GIS in Qatar are linked with GISnet, which is a dedicated 100 megabits-per-second FDDI fibre optic network. Today there are 19 government and semi-government agencies using fully integrated GIS in their day-to-day activities. This is a remarkable achievement considering that not even street names and addresses, which are central blocks for any geo-referenced information, were in place prior to GIS implementation. The foundation stone for this remarkable success was laid down, in 1989, by a then top government official Sheik Ahmed bin Hamad Al Thani, referred to as the champion of GIS in Qatar.
In a top-to-bottom approach Qatar followed a nationwide GIS policy, and
1. A National GIS Steering Committee consisting of top government executives from different government agencies and
2. A Centre for GIS (CGIS) were created by a Cabinet decision in 1990.
Figure- 1: Qatar Nationwide GIS- Administrative Setup
The National GIS Steering committee oversees the development of GIS in Qatar, ensuring that all GIS standards are compatible and in harmony. The committee reports to National Committee for Coordination of Government Services which in turn reports to the Cabinet chaired by HH the Emir. Furthermore, this committee has fostered cooperation between government departments and serves as a forum for discussing any GIS policy. The GIS network in the country is coordinated through Qatar's Centre for GIS (CGIS), which is responsible for establishing and maintaining national standards and procedures for GIS implementations in the country. The Centre is also the National mapping agency and thus responsible for development and maintenance of the country's on-line base map consisting of topographic data.
The Steering committee has the policy and technical responsibility to organize and formulate a GIS implementation strategy whereas the Centre for GIS has responsibility for data administration, application programming plus training and support of the satellite GIS Units in each of the Ministry/Government/Semi- Government department in the Qatar GISnet.
Figure- 2: Qatar GISnet (CGIS & Agencies)
The agencies connected to Qatar GISnet share over hundred gigabytes of spatial and non-spatial data on-line for its varied applications. The data consists of the digital base map of vector topographic data and raster ortho and satellite images maintained by the CGIS besides the agencies GIS data mainly on land parcels, addresses, utilities and services and statistical data on many socioeconomic issues.
GIS Implementation Process in Qatar
The development of GIS in Qatar can be seen through four widely recognized phases of GIS implementation.
Phase 0 - Pilot Project
Towards implementation of a nationwide GIS policy in Qatar the concerned agencies were asked to execute a pilot project to identify the entire project component in a smaller scale. One municipality, namely, Al Khor (The whole of Qatar is divided into ten municipalities for administrative purpose) was selected as the pilot area. The business functions of the agencies pertaining to that area were identified and data model was created. Eventually this model was tested on real life situations to make sure the feasibility of implementing GIS in entire business activity of the agencies.
Phase 1 - User Needs Study & Data Dictionary
This phase is considered as most crucial in GIS implementation life cycle. GIS User Needs Study is important in providing the information about, Data requirements (resources), Applications and their priorities (products), Database design, Implementation methods and Education and Training requirements of the agency.
GIS User Needs Study involves conducting interviews with numerous staff, and evaluations of where and how GIS could make valuable contributions. It describes how geographic data are currently accessed, and what potential applications would benefit users. A set of Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs), that depict the current flows of Geographic and Non-Geographic data within and around the agency are generated.
Data Dictionary is prepared by each agency to clearly define the kind of data that is included in its database, what each data item is called, how the data is assembled and structured, how accurate it is, and so on. Such information is important in electronically exchanging the agency data with each other. And since all agencies have to develop their data dictionaries in consultation with each other, and under the supervision of The Centre for GIS, the process ensured that every data item used by each agency is identified and that only one agency is made responsible for collecting, maintaining and sharing with others, a specific data item. This ensured order and discipline in the collection, naming, coding and storing of data. The process is standardized and streamlines data collection, data entry, data management, and other procedures. Also it minimized the data redundancy, improved quality assurance, communication, field service, inventory maintenance, programming and a variety of other associated activities.
In Qatar, it was made mandatory that all specifications and data dictionaries are approved and administered by the National GIS Steering Committee in order to ensure that the compatibility necessary for data sharing is never put in danger. Thus a multi-volume set of "Information Resource Catalogues" of Qatar National Geographic Information Systems Database Specifications & Data Dictionary was created. It identifies what kinds of information are available, how they're packaged, and how one package of information fits with another.
Phase 2 - GIS Data (Spatial & Non-Spatial) Automation
The development of geographic data, both spatial and non-spatial, is very important for the success of any GIS implementation cycle. According to estimates, spatial data capturing and updating techniques that are used to make data digitally available constitutes about 80% of the total resources required for GIS implementation. The data digitization and preparation requires high initial investment and time. There is normally a substantial time lag before the real benefits start reaching the user. This may often lead to frustration. The Al Khor pilot project results have helped the agencies at this stage.
The GIS implementation warrants that the departments and personnel change from traditional approach and adapt to the new tools and methodology so as to take the best advantage of the technology. The paper maps are eventually phased out from the racks and a map less office should be created towards the end of this. Depending upon the availability of resources and manpower the agencies carried out the data automation work and thus the status varies from one agency to other.
Phase 3 - GIS Implementation
Once the process of GIS data automation is reached to a certain extent by the agencies involved, the task of national level GIS implementation started. Most of the government agencies in Qatar were not keeping up-to-date records of the rapid and large-scale development the country experienced after the eighties. Government agencies involved in specialized tasks produced and maintained their own paper base maps at different scales. In addition to the cost of each surveying and mapping exercise, there was the added expense of coping with inconsistent results from one agency to the next. Also, there existed lack of co-ordination between government agencies involved in physical and utilities planning.
The following points were mainly taken into account by the authorities to implement a nationwide GIS policy.
Qatar GIS has passed through all these four phases of GIS implementation. The present status of this nationwide GIS implementation can be summarized as follows: The GIS User needs study conducted in 1989 for the entire country has resulted into three key recommendations.
Towards nationwide GIS implementation, CGIS also supports in the following areas:
As noted, both spatial (geographic) and non-spatial (attribute) data are key to the GIS implementation. The agencies in Qatar GISnet are constantly in the process of automating and building their data bases on the guidelines and standards set by the CGIS. The data is made available online to the agencies connected with each other through Qatar GISnet. Majority of the agencies have completed more than three fourth of their databases. The dynamic updating, however, is not yet in place in some of the agencies.
The large resources requirement for the data development often made many of the utility agencies far behind in the GIS implementation. Also, in the absence of proper mechanism for dynamic or regular updating the existing data of many agencies is becoming obsolete day by day. The dynamic updating process is the vital part of GIS implementation and for the optimum use of the technology. There are some agencies lagging far behind in the process of spatial data automation mainly for the want of resources and man power.
Qatar Nationwide GIS Benefits
The benefits of Qatar nationwide GIS policy can be seen in making available geographic information in the desired format for effective planning and better coordination and cooperation between government agencies. It can be seen bringing awareness among the user agencies and educating them about the technology. The policy has resulted into the availability of-
Qatar Nationwide GIS- Governing Forces & Challenges
In one of her articles, 'Data Revelations in Qatar', published in GeoInfo Systems Magazine, (Nancy Tosta,1997) Director of Forecasting and Growth Strategy PSRC, Seattle, Washington has asserted that the following factors made nationwide GIS coordination possible in Qatar: governing?
A Comparison between Qatar and India
There can be no comparison between Qatar and India in terms of geographic extent, political and administrative diversity, population size and prevailing socio-economic conditions. Therefore, fitting the Qatar model into country like India is far from reality. However, the methodology and phases involved towards achieving the goal of a nationwide GIS policy is very much the same. The priorities may vary with little modification in techniques and methodology.
The significance of a shared digital spatial (geographic) database is widely recognized through out the world to day and active work in this direction is the need of the hour. Towards nationwide GIS implementation, there are certain areas of priorities to be set and steps followed accordingly. Qatar GIS experiences reveal that creation of a National Spatial Database Infrastructure (NSDI) is the most important step towards achieving the goal of a nationwide GIS implementation. This is the most crucial aspect in terms of its technical, methodological, organizational and resources required. Experts in this field estimate 80 percent of the resources required for this in a complete life cycle of GIS implementation. The Government of India has already initiated in this direction by creating a National Spatial Database Infrastructure (NSDI) task force consisting of experts from major government and non-government agencies dealing with the spatial data.
Towards creation of NSDI for the country following the shared database policy will go a long way helping many areas of research, administration and planning. It will eventually lead towards development of a nationwide GIS in the country. The Qatar model developed to automate and share spatial data of all concerned agencies can help and recommend certain technical issues and methods to be followed by the authorities in India towards developing NSDI. The factors that have contributed significantly in the development of Qatar nationwide GIS can be evaluated in the Indian context and subsequent recommendations can be made. Digital data availability
Agencies or members should focus on the following goals.
GIS users throughout the world realize the enormous benefits of geographic data sharing. They are also aware of the hurdles coming in the way of data sharing and difficulties in overcoming the issues at regional or national level. Some of these include legislation barriers, different types of data models, standards and specifications, networking problems, economic and social aspects, lack of understanding among organizations and authorities etc., Here is one country, namely, Qatar which seems to have overcome most of these hurdles and succeeded in the implementation of a nationwide GIS policy. The GIS has been integrated into the system at different levels of functioning of various agencies in the country which has brought revolutionary changes into the functioning of both government and private sectors.
The policy measures, methods and processes involved in forming Qatar enterprise GIS are discussed here along with its impact in day to day functioning of organizations and the future implications. How far the Qatar GIS model can be seen in the Indian context in an entirely different geographic, political, economic and socio-cultural scenario is the main focus of this discussion. There is a great scope to learn lessons from the success story of Qatar GIS and the policies, methods and techniques which can be followed to a great extent with little modifications.
Introduction
Spatial (geographic) information is becoming vital day by day in making sound decisions at the local, regional, state or national level planning, in infrastructure development, disaster management, natural resource management, business development, implementation of action plans etc. and many more fields incorporating the spatial data in their analysis. Geographic Information System (GIS) has emerged as a great technology dealing with spatial data. The advancement in computer hardware and software technology with lowering costs and availability of more and more hard disks space and memory available to the users at a very nominal cost has led to the increased production of the spatial information and making it digitally available and compatible with other databases. It has further tempted the organizations to generate their own spatial databases to satisfy their often very specific needs.
This effort of organizations however leads to duplication of efforts. The cost of creating and maintaining digital data is high therefore, it is important for organizations to share the data and technology with each other and avoid duplication and at the same time ensure the full utilization of data. The spatial data in most of the countries is controlled by government sector, therefore the federal laws concerning data sharing and interagency cooperation are most important. Further, the organizations concerned need to be made available with required funds. The data sharing can be viewed in terms of organizational and technological data sharing. The organization data sharing is seen as the free use of another entity's data sets, in manual or automated form. As in " we are happy to let you have access to and use the data created in our agency".
The technological data sharing is the capability to have one agency's data used by another entity's automated system. As in " our system is capable of reading and manipulating data from any other system in any other format". The present day need for a shared spatial database policy is well established and justified. Certainly, there are hurdles in developing a nationwide policy and system to follow a shared database policy. The situation becomes more complicated and difficult in a geographical and political scenario that existed in a big country like India. But with the growing realization of the benefits of the shared database policy authorities and organizations in India have started paying more and more attention in this direction. Formation of National Spatial Database Infrastructure (NSDI) for the country is an effort in this direction.
There are very few countries in the world actively working on this direction owing to their own limitations. There is certainly one country named Qatar, which has set an exemplary nationwide GIS in the country. Qatar is the first country in the world to adopt a nationwide GIS policy which has become a working model for many enterprise GIS in the world. Indian effort towards developing NSDI can get some direction from the methodology that Qatar Nationwide GIS followed and lessons learned from its successful implementation. Of course, there is no match between India and Qatar in terms of geographic extension and diversity, population size, prevailing socio-economic conditions and political scenario, yet, the steps involved and methodology to be followed could be identical to a significant level.
Before evaluating and seeing Qatar GIS development in the Indian context it would be appropriate to discuss briefly about the Qatar nationwide GIS, its development, present status and future prospects. The experience gained from Qatar nationwide GIS and lessons learned can be put forth for further discussions besides submitting certain recommendations towards adopting a nationwide Shared spatial data and GIS policy in India.
The State of Qatar
Qatar lies in the Middle East in the Asian continent. It sits on the East Coast of Saudi Arabia, on the Arabian Gulf. Qatar is a small country falling between the latitudes 24° 27' and 26° 10' North and the longitudes 50° 45' and 51° 40' East covering approximately an area of 11521 sq. km, little bigger than Tripura state in size. The peninsula is approximately 165 km. in length and 75 km. in width. The territorial waters of Qatar extend approximately 95 nautical miles east and around 51 nautical miles north into the Arabian Gulf. It has a population of 522 thousands as per the 1997 Census, about half of them are expatriates. The State of Qatar is a sovereign and independent Arab state. The State of Qatar accepts the United Nations Charter, which supports the right of all peoples and nations to self-determination.
Qatar Nationwide GIS
Qatar is the first country to implement a comprehensive and integrated nationwide GIS, internationally recognized as one of the finest GIS implementations in the World. All agencies using GIS in Qatar are linked with GISnet, which is a dedicated 100 megabits-per-second FDDI fibre optic network. Today there are 19 government and semi-government agencies using fully integrated GIS in their day-to-day activities. This is a remarkable achievement considering that not even street names and addresses, which are central blocks for any geo-referenced information, were in place prior to GIS implementation. The foundation stone for this remarkable success was laid down, in 1989, by a then top government official Sheik Ahmed bin Hamad Al Thani, referred to as the champion of GIS in Qatar.
In a top-to-bottom approach Qatar followed a nationwide GIS policy, and
1. A National GIS Steering Committee consisting of top government executives from different government agencies and
2. A Centre for GIS (CGIS) were created by a Cabinet decision in 1990.
Figure- 1: Qatar Nationwide GIS- Administrative Setup
The National GIS Steering committee oversees the development of GIS in Qatar, ensuring that all GIS standards are compatible and in harmony. The committee reports to National Committee for Coordination of Government Services which in turn reports to the Cabinet chaired by HH the Emir. Furthermore, this committee has fostered cooperation between government departments and serves as a forum for discussing any GIS policy. The GIS network in the country is coordinated through Qatar's Centre for GIS (CGIS), which is responsible for establishing and maintaining national standards and procedures for GIS implementations in the country. The Centre is also the National mapping agency and thus responsible for development and maintenance of the country's on-line base map consisting of topographic data.
The Steering committee has the policy and technical responsibility to organize and formulate a GIS implementation strategy whereas the Centre for GIS has responsibility for data administration, application programming plus training and support of the satellite GIS Units in each of the Ministry/Government/Semi- Government department in the Qatar GISnet.
Figure- 2: Qatar GISnet (CGIS & Agencies)
The agencies connected to Qatar GISnet share over hundred gigabytes of spatial and non-spatial data on-line for its varied applications. The data consists of the digital base map of vector topographic data and raster ortho and satellite images maintained by the CGIS besides the agencies GIS data mainly on land parcels, addresses, utilities and services and statistical data on many socioeconomic issues.
GIS Implementation Process in Qatar
The development of GIS in Qatar can be seen through four widely recognized phases of GIS implementation.
Phase 0 - Pilot Project
Towards implementation of a nationwide GIS policy in Qatar the concerned agencies were asked to execute a pilot project to identify the entire project component in a smaller scale. One municipality, namely, Al Khor (The whole of Qatar is divided into ten municipalities for administrative purpose) was selected as the pilot area. The business functions of the agencies pertaining to that area were identified and data model was created. Eventually this model was tested on real life situations to make sure the feasibility of implementing GIS in entire business activity of the agencies.
Phase 1 - User Needs Study & Data Dictionary
This phase is considered as most crucial in GIS implementation life cycle. GIS User Needs Study is important in providing the information about, Data requirements (resources), Applications and their priorities (products), Database design, Implementation methods and Education and Training requirements of the agency.
GIS User Needs Study involves conducting interviews with numerous staff, and evaluations of where and how GIS could make valuable contributions. It describes how geographic data are currently accessed, and what potential applications would benefit users. A set of Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs), that depict the current flows of Geographic and Non-Geographic data within and around the agency are generated.
Data Dictionary is prepared by each agency to clearly define the kind of data that is included in its database, what each data item is called, how the data is assembled and structured, how accurate it is, and so on. Such information is important in electronically exchanging the agency data with each other. And since all agencies have to develop their data dictionaries in consultation with each other, and under the supervision of The Centre for GIS, the process ensured that every data item used by each agency is identified and that only one agency is made responsible for collecting, maintaining and sharing with others, a specific data item. This ensured order and discipline in the collection, naming, coding and storing of data. The process is standardized and streamlines data collection, data entry, data management, and other procedures. Also it minimized the data redundancy, improved quality assurance, communication, field service, inventory maintenance, programming and a variety of other associated activities.
In Qatar, it was made mandatory that all specifications and data dictionaries are approved and administered by the National GIS Steering Committee in order to ensure that the compatibility necessary for data sharing is never put in danger. Thus a multi-volume set of "Information Resource Catalogues" of Qatar National Geographic Information Systems Database Specifications & Data Dictionary was created. It identifies what kinds of information are available, how they're packaged, and how one package of information fits with another.
Phase 2 - GIS Data (Spatial & Non-Spatial) Automation
The development of geographic data, both spatial and non-spatial, is very important for the success of any GIS implementation cycle. According to estimates, spatial data capturing and updating techniques that are used to make data digitally available constitutes about 80% of the total resources required for GIS implementation. The data digitization and preparation requires high initial investment and time. There is normally a substantial time lag before the real benefits start reaching the user. This may often lead to frustration. The Al Khor pilot project results have helped the agencies at this stage.
The GIS implementation warrants that the departments and personnel change from traditional approach and adapt to the new tools and methodology so as to take the best advantage of the technology. The paper maps are eventually phased out from the racks and a map less office should be created towards the end of this. Depending upon the availability of resources and manpower the agencies carried out the data automation work and thus the status varies from one agency to other.
Phase 3 - GIS Implementation
Once the process of GIS data automation is reached to a certain extent by the agencies involved, the task of national level GIS implementation started. Most of the government agencies in Qatar were not keeping up-to-date records of the rapid and large-scale development the country experienced after the eighties. Government agencies involved in specialized tasks produced and maintained their own paper base maps at different scales. In addition to the cost of each surveying and mapping exercise, there was the added expense of coping with inconsistent results from one agency to the next. Also, there existed lack of co-ordination between government agencies involved in physical and utilities planning.
The following points were mainly taken into account by the authorities to implement a nationwide GIS policy.
- Eliminate duplication of efforts causing wastage of resources by avoiding data redundancy and by enhancing inter-agency co-ordination.
- Make right information available at the right time to the decision-makers for efficient planning and management.
- Foster teamwork among government agencies, especially those involved in physical and infrastructure planning, environment protection and local government authorities so that they all work towards common goals.
- Achieve consistency in and uniformity in policies, standards and regulations for whole of Qatar.
- Enable preparation of physical plans that are dynamic, flexible, easy to update, monitor and implement.
Qatar GIS has passed through all these four phases of GIS implementation. The present status of this nationwide GIS implementation can be summarized as follows: The GIS User needs study conducted in 1989 for the entire country has resulted into three key recommendations.
- Need for a digital mapping database to be implemented for the entire country;
- A comprehensive and fully integrated nationwide GIS to be created; and
- A high level National GIS steering committee to be established to set standards and oversee the implementation of GIS in Qatar.
- A National GIS Steering Committee and
- The Centre for Geographic Information System (CGIS) with a mandate of implementing GIS across the country in an organized and systematic fashion.
Towards nationwide GIS implementation, CGIS also supports in the following areas:
- It convenes GIS Coordinators Group meeting on a regular basis (every three-week), with a representative from every agency that encourages cooperation, sharing and coordination of GIS activities among user agencies besides ensuring adherence to and compatibility of all GIS standards.
- It maintains a high-speed fiber optic network called GISnet, linking respective agencies in Qatar GISnet and ensures it is secure and operational at all times.
- It also maintains precise horizontal and Vertical geodetic networks and an active GPS Base Station.
- The Centre also supports and assists government agencies in setting up their GIS units and training their personnel.
- It develops applications that are of value to GIS users in the country.
- The Centre also provides technical information and support to the National GIS Steering Committee of Qatar.
As noted, both spatial (geographic) and non-spatial (attribute) data are key to the GIS implementation. The agencies in Qatar GISnet are constantly in the process of automating and building their data bases on the guidelines and standards set by the CGIS. The data is made available online to the agencies connected with each other through Qatar GISnet. Majority of the agencies have completed more than three fourth of their databases. The dynamic updating, however, is not yet in place in some of the agencies.
The large resources requirement for the data development often made many of the utility agencies far behind in the GIS implementation. Also, in the absence of proper mechanism for dynamic or regular updating the existing data of many agencies is becoming obsolete day by day. The dynamic updating process is the vital part of GIS implementation and for the optimum use of the technology. There are some agencies lagging far behind in the process of spatial data automation mainly for the want of resources and man power.
Qatar Nationwide GIS Benefits
The benefits of Qatar nationwide GIS policy can be seen in making available geographic information in the desired format for effective planning and better coordination and cooperation between government agencies. It can be seen bringing awareness among the user agencies and educating them about the technology. The policy has resulted into the availability of-
- On-line Around the Clock Common Spatial Reference,
- Identified Core Agency for Mapping
- Fibre Optic Network physically connecting the agencies
- Quick Delivery of Services
- Preserving National Heritage
- Global Outreach through World Wide Web
- Effective Planning and better coordination of Government agencies
- Resource Saving by many departments e.g., in developing digital database of Qatar
Qatar Nationwide GIS- Governing Forces & Challenges
In one of her articles, 'Data Revelations in Qatar', published in GeoInfo Systems Magazine, (Nancy Tosta,1997) Director of Forecasting and Growth Strategy PSRC, Seattle, Washington has asserted that the following factors made nationwide GIS coordination possible in Qatar: governing?
- Highest-level political support
- Political will and authority to mandate and enforce standards
- Outstanding technical leadership
- Small and relatively uncomplicated geography
- Few institutions
- Adequate funding and
- Little existing GIS activity.
A Comparison between Qatar and India
There can be no comparison between Qatar and India in terms of geographic extent, political and administrative diversity, population size and prevailing socio-economic conditions. Therefore, fitting the Qatar model into country like India is far from reality. However, the methodology and phases involved towards achieving the goal of a nationwide GIS policy is very much the same. The priorities may vary with little modification in techniques and methodology.
The significance of a shared digital spatial (geographic) database is widely recognized through out the world to day and active work in this direction is the need of the hour. Towards nationwide GIS implementation, there are certain areas of priorities to be set and steps followed accordingly. Qatar GIS experiences reveal that creation of a National Spatial Database Infrastructure (NSDI) is the most important step towards achieving the goal of a nationwide GIS implementation. This is the most crucial aspect in terms of its technical, methodological, organizational and resources required. Experts in this field estimate 80 percent of the resources required for this in a complete life cycle of GIS implementation. The Government of India has already initiated in this direction by creating a National Spatial Database Infrastructure (NSDI) task force consisting of experts from major government and non-government agencies dealing with the spatial data.
Towards creation of NSDI for the country following the shared database policy will go a long way helping many areas of research, administration and planning. It will eventually lead towards development of a nationwide GIS in the country. The Qatar model developed to automate and share spatial data of all concerned agencies can help and recommend certain technical issues and methods to be followed by the authorities in India towards developing NSDI. The factors that have contributed significantly in the development of Qatar nationwide GIS can be evaluated in the Indian context and subsequent recommendations can be made. Digital data availability
- In India digitization of maps can be done only by some of the government agencies and NGO working in this field. Commercialization of digital data is not allowed.
- In Qatar, digital data is now available with all the ministries. Each ministry shares its data with other ministries and government agencies. Public domain data sets
- In India, huge amounts of valuable data sets have the potential to go to public domain (Gupta 1999). But at present only few data are available in public domain. Some of the data may be available at price but in general data are not available in public domain (Survey of India, SOI).
- In Qatar all the topographic and physical data for planning, roads, drainage, water network, telephone network is available in public domain. National Geographic information infrastructure
- In India, it is understood that SOI is planning to evolve a centralized digital geographic information for the whole country. Given the enormity of the work involved, probably it should involve other players in developing geographic information infrastructure as it may not be possible for a single agency to complete the task in the near future. Also, the related infrastructure is yet to be established.
- In Qatar, already centralized digital geography information is available with the Center for GIS which handles the country's geographical data in vector and raster data sets. This is an ongoing process with a well functioning infrastructure. Metadata
- In India, there is no such effort so far.
- In Qatar, initiative has already been taken for creating metadata nationwide relating to GIS database of all the government agencies. Core data accessibility
- In India, these data are available with Institutes traditionally involved with collection and maintenance of geographical data (eg: National Remote Sensing Agency, SOI, National Thematic Mapping Organisation, Geological survey of India etc). People are not aware of them and at times the custodians of these data themselves are unaware about their existence.
- In Qatar, all the agencies can access the core database through an established network maintained by CGIS.
- In India, government practices data secrecy policy (Masser, 1999). In fact, the fundamental issue that needs to be addressed to deal with the issues related to data accessibility is freedom of fundamental right. In India, such a proposal on freedom of information is in pipeline. Some of the state governments, such as Rajasthan, Goa, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi are in the process of implementing some form of right to information.
- In Qatar general information regarding the public services is accessible. And other spatial and non-spatial data at national level is made available on request. Data pricing policy
- In India, there is no well-defined policy in existence.
- In Qatar, data pricing is there for commercial establishments but the data is available free for other government agencies and academic institutions. Driving force for spatial data infrastructure
- India after liberalization in economic policy is feeling the pressure for spatial data infrastructure development. The Indian Remote Sensing programme and IT Task Force have played a positive role in creating a conducive atmosphere for the development of spatial data infrastructure in India.
- In Qatar GIS is given priority with focussed initiative for the application of GIS in all spheres of national activity and development.
- In India though skilled professionals are available for GIS development, the Government has to invest in the development of infrastructure from the beginning level, which means allocation of huge funds. The Indian Government has initiated this program only recently and the successful outcome depends on the financial ability of the Government to sustain the activity. In India various Universities are training students in GIS education. However, the curricula differ widely. A standard has to be set for the training related to GIS at national level.
- In Qatar there is no dearth of funding for the GIS related activity in all the Government agencies. Regarding education and training GIS curriculum at the University of Qatar is tailor made to meet the requirements of GIS development and maintenance in all the government agencies
Agencies or members should focus on the following goals.
- Specification of technical standards for the NSDI.
- Specification of fundamental National spatial datasets.
- Specification and adoption of National policies for access to NSDI fundamental data.
- Commencement of funded programs to develop (or upgrade existing) fundamental datasets.
- Development of a NSDI clearing house on the Internet.
- Development of a general model for NSDI development.
- Commencement of training programs to support NSDI development in the nation.
- Completion of a study into the economic and social benefits of NSDI development.
- The NSDI should work with its members to develop National data sharing environment that includes all participants as equal numbers, and strive to broaden the use of technology, available data and technological resources through out the nation.
- The NSDI has to take leadership to implement a data sharing agreement among its members that outlines the organizational structures and responsibilities within the planned data sharing environment.
- Borrowing from the experiences of other organizations and available resources, the NSDI should work with its members to implement data and metadata standards for sharing data.
- The NSDI should work with its members to implement a monitoring system that will ensure that all members participate fairly and equally, and that validate processes, technologies and data standards to ensure smooth operations and ongoing access to information.
- The NSDI should pursue grant opportunities for implementing data sharing strategies and technologies. These are to be made available at the central and state level to some private organizations and companies.
- The NSDI should work with its members to build common data layers that are beneficial at both national and state level.
- To increase awareness of the current and potential value of the NSDI and of the plans to develop it among the public, MP's, MLA's, City councils, Village members, professional associations and commercial interests.
- Establish through legislation a national goal to create and maintain a robust NSDI.
- Create a private, nonprofit National Spatial Data Council, modeled on the NSDI charters, with appropriate representation by all levels of government and the private sector.
- Retain a central committee with ties to the National Spatial Data Council to coordinate central Geographic Information under the NSDI.
- Gupta, R., GIS@development, July-August 1999, vol.3.4, pp. 42-45
- ISRO; NSDI Strategy & Action Plan, www.isro.org, Jan 2001
- Masser,I., GIS@development, July-August 1999, vol.3.4,pp.36-37
- Nancy Tosta., Geo Info System vol.7:5, May 1997
- Survey of India's response to GSDI Survey www.unmesve.maine.edu/harlan/gsdi/india.html