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A Route to Societal GIS ? - Geospatial Web Services
Mapping the Truth about SARS From March 2003 for a period of at least three months a SARS epidemic originating in Southern China spread around the world and caused fear and widespread disruption. The epidemic claimed thousands of lives and resulted in the isolation and quarantine of thousands many more with severe economic implications for countries in Asia and leading cities around the world. As in all such emergencies fear, confusion and lack of access to reliable information compounded an already difficult situation. One of the major initiatives of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in helping governments tackle the situation was to encourage release of daily, reliable infection statistics and information.  Figure 4: Sample screen shots from SARS Mapping Portal The SARS GIS portal (http://www.esrichina-hk.com/SARS/Eng/sars_eng_main.htm) was established by ESRI China (Hong Kong) Limited to visualize the geographic distribution and spread of the disease based on statistics from WHO and the Hong Kong Government. As such it helped cut through the fear and confusion and provided a reliable source of information about the distribution and development of the disease. It became a centre of information for both the public and press in the region and around the world, mapping information as it was received from the health organisations and enabling the location and spread of the disease to be mapping. Throughout the crisis the site produced over quarter or a million maps and at the high of the pandemic was producing maps at a rate of 12,250 per day. The core system was up and running in less than two days. This feat can be attributed to the fact that it was based on existing Web service functionality. GIS web services provided access to a robust, ready and deployable set of functionality that could be easily modified to create the necessary functionality for the system. An existing Web service provided local, regional and world map services and related navigation and print tools. A series of small routines were developed to automatically geocode daily updates of official suspect, infected and recovered SARS cases. Existing Spatial search, Query and Identify Web services were used to complete the initial portal. As the epidemic progressed and was controlled additional Web functions were added to provide historical trend analysis and snap shot capabilities. What is important to take from this example is the speed with which the system was deployed in the event of very unusual circumstances. It combined data being produced from a number of different organisations and existing Web services which could be easily evolved to meet the rapidly developing situation. Accessing the Environment –Serving the UNEP’s data archive The United Nations Environmental Programme is a vast organisation with hundreds of different offices, programmes and groups. Individual programmes and projects hold and maintain very large quantities of environmental, social and economic data. Making this available in an accessible form is an enormous undertaking, particularly as much of the data is core fundamental data and statistics which may be used by different researchers (within and outside the UNEP) in hundreds of different ways.  Figure 5: Examples of Multi-Agency Participation through UNEP.Net In 2001, the UNEP launched a Web services based UNEP.net initiative (www.unep.net) designed to help its own staff and those outside the organisation access, locate and work with its datasets. Many data sets are very rich, providing statistics in tabular or spreadsheet format as well as maps, graphs, charts and summary reports. Data is organized around a number of thematic (climate change, freshwater, mountains, socio-economic) or regional (Arctic, Africa, Europe) portals as well as a GeoPortal which provides access to map and tabular data. The Web service based portal works by providing a standard point of entry to access existing databases and web services developed and managed by different parts of the organisation. This is fundamental as it means that investment in the platforms undertaken by different programmes and projects is maintained, as there is no need to redesign these sites. The UNEP.net portal provides a classic example of the multi-participation that can be encouraged by Web Services. It not only supports better communication and usage of resources by parts of the large and global UN organisation, it supports how these are used by countless other users – Governments, researchers, pressure groups and individuals of which the staff developing each of the individual systems that together make up the UNEP.net are entirely unaware of. Increasing participation also increases the potential for interoperability as groups separated by distance or organisational boundaries realise common applications and aims. Caution and Conclusions With the development of the Web services architecture there is a clear trend towards GIS becoming more open, robust and interoperable. Retaining its unique ability to integrate diverse data through shared location, GIS Web services offer real potential for meeting the demands of a more encompassing, wider Societal GIS vision that will bring significant and lasting benefits to the way information flows through society. Some words of caution are however relevant at this stage. Firstly as more and more information is made available through what remains relatively complex technology care should be taken that parts of society are not inadvertently being excluded or disadvantaged. Certainly the Web provides a mechanism for universal, rapid access to information at a scale that has never been seen before. It is also undeniable that the Web, GIS and computing technology in general has become easier to use and more accessible. There are however still large segments of society that, for one reason or another, cannot take advantage of this. Reasons for this vary - limitations of technology available, lack of bandwidth, poverty or lack of training, even age (degree of confidence and proficiency with Web and computer applications even in countries with high computer literacy remains highly stratified by age). Web services technology certainly offer scope for Societal GIS, but technology itself needs to be accompanied with strenuous effort to address the technological divides that still exist in society in whatever form and wherever they appear. In addition, Web services are new and rapidly developing and some may say that they are not yet ready to be implemented in the scale of systems that Societal GIS would necessarily require. Much of the discussion focuses on two issues: Internet Security, and Web services business model. On security, progress is certainly being made as the Web services model is increasingly incorporated in mainstream computing products such as Microsoft’s .NET and Sun Microsystems’s J2EE. What is perhaps more of an undertaking is the shift required in corporate and organisational thinking that will permit expansion of the sharing, interdependent methodology on which Web services is based. This is new and goes against much of traditional organisational practice. It will take time to develop. Web services offer a viable solution in which sharing and interdependence can be promoted and one in which the benefits of such an approach can be clearly demonstrated. It is also important to ensure that Web services remains open and not dominated by vendor specific rivalries. The architecture is entirely dependent on standards. Standards are difficult and time-consuming to work out, particularly in the diverse and complex world that Societal GIS addresses. This requires collaborative effort and vision on the part of many companies. Perhaps most importantly in all of these areas, and for the success of Societal GIS as well as the Web services architecture, there is a need for participation. One of the reasons why GIS Web services form such a useful model for Societal GIS is the fact that it is dependent on multi-participation. This breaks down traditional roles of provider and user – user can also become provider and visa versa. Web services and Societal GIS cannot succeed if only a few isolated organisations adopt this approach –they are multi-participatory systems – they will thrive on a willingness to participate. The Web services model is perhaps the best chance for fulfilling the promise of GIS and developing truly Societal GIS. Issues remain, but GIS Web services provide a useful architecture and real demonstrations of successful working Societal GIS based on it are beginning to emerge. Sustaining this development and bringing potential to fruition now rests on widespread and committed participation.
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