Designing a data utility
Bill Findlay
Manager Business Integration
City of Calgary – Engineering Services
PO Box 2100 Station M
Calgary, Alberta, Can.
T2P 2M5
Abstract
Enterprises attempting to deliver the benefits of GIS must deal with data from numerous sources;
databases from asset management and document management systems, spatial data from
landbase and utility maps, imaging data from aerial photographs and mechanical drawings, etc.
In addition, some significant questions about this data need to be asked; what is available, where
is it located, how current is it, how accurate is it? Whatever the source or the quality, success of
GIS depends on using as much relevant data you can get your hands on, it’s all about the data!
These data integration issues can be addressed in a number of ways each having associated costs
and impacts to the enterprise. Some of the solutions are:
- translation programs which regularly replicate data into new formats
- Enterprise Application Integration initiatives which re-engineer processes
- one-time conversion projects which enable new data maintenance environments
Data integration issues can also be mitigated by organizational changes. At the City of Calgary,
the Engineering Services Department has recently been reorganized to improve the service we
are providing to the Corporation. Our new Mission Statement is, “To manage the City of
Calgary’s spatial data and infrastructure information, and to provide innovative and technical and
professional services to our business partners”.
This paper will describe the changes implemented to provide the enterprise with a one-stop-shopping
source for data. Our message to our utility customers is, “It’s your business to build
and operate infrastructure and facilities, it’s our business to maintain data". We don’t try to build
roads or pipelines, don’t you try to be spatial data experts. Think of us as the Corporation’s data
utility”.
Introduction
At the City of Calgary, with twenty-five different Business Units all creating some sort of data,
data integration has the potential of causing significant problems with associated significant
costs.
Data integration issues do exist to a certain extent but have been mitigated by organizational
methods. The Engineering Services Department has been designed with the vision of “being the
partner of choice in spatial data and infrastructure information management”.
We’re designed to be the “one-stop-shopping” source for spatial data expertise. Our customers’
business is to build, operate and maintain utilities; roadways, pipelines and telecommunication
networks. Our business is to build and maintain the spatial data they require to do their business.
