Australia 2005

2005 National Report for Australia

 

Summary of Activities Relating to Spatial Data Standards and

Spatial Data Infrastructures in

Australia

For distribution at the 2005 Meeting of the ICA Spatial Data Standards Commission

July 3-8, 2005, Coruna, Spain

 

There are currently several organisations within Australia which are facilitating spatial data standards and the creation of Australia’s SDI. ANZLIC, the spatial information council, is the peak body for spatial data management in Australia and New Zealand and is developing nationally agreed policies and guidelines aimed at achieving “best-practice” in spatial data management. The Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information (CRC-SI) is a joint venture that invests in research and development projects in the area of spatial information and involves a partnership of over 50 organisations from the corporate, government and university sector from around Australia. The Australian Spatial Information Business Association (ASIBA) represents the business community in Australia through the implementation of up-to-date information and services.

Australian SDI

The Australian SDI is a national framework for linking users with providers of spatial information. The ASDI comprises the people, policies and technologies needed to enable the use of spatially reference data through all levels of government, the private sector, non-profit organisations and academia. According to ANZLIC, the key components of the ASDI are the Australian Spatial Data Directory (ASDD) (an online directory that enables people to discover what spatial data is available throughout Australia), Standards and Spatial Metadata. The development of the ASDI is also undertaken within 8 separate jurisdictions as Australia is a federation of states. This has parallels with the development of a European style SDI as each state of Australia has its own parliament with different mechanisms and policies in relation to spatial information.

Standards (Metadata)

  • ANZLIC Metadata Working Group was formed in 1995 to coordinate metadata activites. Established the ANZLIC Metadata Guidelines in 1996 (updated in 2001) and the Australian Spatial Data Directory (ASDD) in 1998. New working group has since been formed (2001), the ANZLIC Technical Working Group.
  • ANZLIC committed to the improvement of data quality information in metadata records lodged with the ASDD and supports implementation of international (ISO) metadata standards as a priority. This is to be done through:
    • Approving a minimum set of ASDI-endorsed standards, especially ISO 19115 and ISO19139 needed in commercial software products;
    • Promulgate the Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping (ICSM) Harmonised Data Model (HDM) and published best practice and the quality statements contained therein;
  • ANZLIC is committed to harmonizing efforts to develop a single metadata profile for Austarlia and New Zealand and has established a project to deliver a metadata profile and entry tool by late-2005. The purpose of the project is to:
    • Develop a single ANZLIC Metadata Profile that is consistent with the new international metadata standard
    • Develop a freely available ISO compliant, open source metadata entry tool based on the new Profile.
  • Concept of web services metadata and catalog services being explored through Metadata Workshops within Australia. Consensus that the specification is important for the future development of the ASDI and it is hoped that greater clarity on the implementation requirements of such would be available by the end of 2005.

 

Related Spatial Data Standards

  • ANZLIC, together with the Australian Local Government Association, are promoting best practice for spatial data management through the development of a Local Government Spatial Management Toolkit. The toolkit can be viewed online or downloaded for personal use.
  • Identify priorities and support development of nationally consistent and integratable spatial data sets that meet demonstrated user needs; promote adoption of common classification systems, spatial referencing and content standards, data models and other common models to facilitate data development, sharing and use of these data sets; encourage data providers to make priority data sets available through the ASDI.
    • Support and promulgate a minimum set of “best practice” data standards (primarily based on ISO 191** series) that facilitate integratability and develop reference implementations to encourage broad uptake;
    • ICSM to take the lead on spatial referencing standards and monitor the uptake nationally of the Harmonised Data Model.

Abbas Rajabifard

Australian Member

ICA Spatial Data Standards Commission

June, 2005