Transcript Slide 1

Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Association (GSDI)
Why are spatial data and services important?
Access to spatial or geographic data is critical to the well being of society. These data and affiliated services are vital to making sound decisions whether for
long-term planning by high level government officials or day-to-day decision-making by individuals and local businesses. Local to global decision-makers
benefit from ready access to spatial data and services in planning for, actively managing, and responding to challenges in such areas as health, energy,
transportation, disasters, environmental sustainability, housing, agriculture, and all other major domains of human endeavor.
What are Spatial Data Infrastructures?
A spatial data infrastructure (SDI) is the framework of fundamental spatial datasets, metadata, and interoperability standards that enable integration, the
distribution networks and technologies that provide access and services, the policies and administrative principles that ensure compatibility, and the people
including users, providers, and value adders, at each level; local through to state, national, regional and global, that use and maintain the infrastructure to
support decision-making.
1
GSDI Association
The Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Association (GSDI) is an inclusive
organization of organizations, agencies, firms, and individuals from around the
world promoting international cooperation and collaboration in support of local,
national and international spatial data infrastructure developments that will allow
nations and their citizens to better address social, economic, and environmental
issues of pressing importance.
• support interdisciplinary research and education activities that advance
spatial data infrastructure concepts, theories and methods.
• enable better public policy and scientific decision-making through spatial data
infrastructure advancements.
• promote the ethical use of and access to geographic information.
Mission of the GSDI Association
The mission of the GSDI Association is to
• Serve as a point of contact and effective voice for those in the global
community involved in developing, implementing and advancing spatial
data infrastructure concepts.
• Foster spatial data infrastructures that support sustainable social,
economic, and environmental systems integrated from local to global
scales.
• Promote the informed and responsible use of geographic information and
spatial technologies for the benefit of society.
Goals of the GSDI Association
The primary activities of the GSDI Association
• support the establishment and expansion of local, national, and regional
(multi-nation) spatial data infrastructures that are globally compatible.
• foster spatial data infrastructure developments in support of important
worldwide needs such as improving local to national economic
competitiveness, addressing local to global environmental quality and
change, increasing efficiency, effectiveness, and equity in all levels of
government, and advancing the health, safety and social wellbeing of
humankind in all nations.
The Scientific and Technical Program of the GSDI Association
Much of the work of the GSDI Association is planned and accomplished through
standing committees whose memberships are made up from individuals from
full member organizations and members of the International Geospatial
Society. The standing committees include:
• Technical Committee
• Legal and Socioeconomic Committee
• Outreach and Membership Committee
• Societal Impacts Committee.
• provide an organization to foster international communication and
collaborative efforts for advancing spatial data infrastructure innovations.
2
GSDI Aspirations
Organizational Structure
The GSDI Association by concentrating on specific
strategic tasks aspires to:
The GSDI Association consists of a Council comprises of the delegates from the Full Member institutions;
The Board of Directors which is the main administrative body of the Council and Standing Committees
which much of the work of the GSDI Association is planned and accomplished through these committees.
GSDI Board of Directors
(Art VI)
Eleven Elected members
Plus President, President-Elect and Past Pres
plus appointments from regional bodies, industry
advisory council and Pres of IGS
• achieve visible and measurable outcomes in
furtherance of the core missions and goals of the
organization.
Additionally, the GSDI Association through the
provisioning of significantly expanded services and
products aspires to be the global organization of choice
for:
• local to global agencies, private companies,
academic institutions and non-profit organizations
engaged in advancing the uses of SDIs and
improving decision-making through the use of
SDIs
Standing Committees
(Art IX)
•Technical Committee
•Legal and Socio Economic Committee
•Outreach and Membership Committee
•Societal Impacts Committee
appoints
• provide more effective communication
mechanisms to better enable its members to work
collaboratively
The GSDI Association has two classes of membership: full members and individual members. Full members
include organizations such as government agencies and organizations, private companies, industry
organizations, academic institutions, not-for-profit organizations, and similar organizations that influence
the development of spatial data infrastructures at national, regional, and international levels. Individual
members are those individuals that are members of the International Geospatial Society (IGS).
Officers
elects
• more closely align its organizational activities by
addressing member needs and societal needs
identified and prioritized by its organizational and
individual members
(Art. VI)
•President
•President-Elect
•Executive Director
•Secretary (appointed)
•Treasurer (appointed)
GSDI Association Council
Delegates from Member Organizations [Art IV(2)&(3)]
• individual geospatial specialists interested in
solving local to global societal problems.
Delegates
International
Geospatial Society
Individuals qualifying under Art IV(4)
Government, private, and not-for-profit
organizations
Pres and V. Pres
Full Members
Government, industry, academic, and notfor-profit agencies, organizations and
institutions qualifying as members under
Art IV(1)
GSDI Association
Business Office
3
Example Activities of the GSDI Association in Support of Pressing Global Needs: The Case of Disaster Management
Emergency Response and Recovery
Readiness
Even in large wealthy nations, local communities
are told that they should not expect substantial
direct delivery of goods and services from national
or international relief agencies for at least 72 hours
after a major widespread disaster. Thus local
communities must be prepared to rely on their own
public and private emergency response and
management systems in that most critical of time
periods immediately after a disaster occurs.
If the components of a spatial data infrastructure
are in place and are in use on a daily basis by local
users for accomplishing mapping, vehicle routing,
asset management, service delivery and similar
tasks, then the information infrastructure is much
more likely to be available and useful for
accomplishing similar tasks during a calamity.
Learning how to use geospatial and affiliated
communication technologies doesn’t occur
overnight. Nor will data needed to respond to
emergencies appear out of thin air. For these
reasons, the GSDI Association encourages the
building of long-term SDI from local to global scales
within and among all nations of the world.
GSDI Conferences
One of the principal activities of the association is to
provide a GSDI Conference for SDI-related professionals,
scientists, and applications, on a regular basis to share
and exchange ideas. Since 1996, experts in SDI and
spatial data management matters have come together
to share their experiences in advancing SDI platforms
from local to international levels. The selected theme of
GSDI 12 is realizing spatially enabled society. The
pressing needs of societies are a particular emphasis of
the conference and include a focus on disaster
prevention, warning, management, response, and
recovery.
Small Grants Program
Nations with the few economic resources are the
hardest hit in the event of a natural or human made
disaster. Many more lives may be lost and recovery will
typically take much longer. The GSDI Association
supports an annual small grants program to support
national or sub-national activities that foster
partnerships, develop in-country technical capacity,
improve data compatibility and access, and increase
political support for spatial data infrastructure and earth
observations application development. Priority is given
to projects in developing nations and countries with
economies in transition.
Developing Partnerships and Spreading Knowledge
GSDI provides a global venue for networking, communicating
and learning among its members. The organization is highly
inclusive providing contacts and communication avenues to
diverse parties from across the world. Through Geographic
Information knowledge networks (GIK Network) GSDI
enhances communications and sharing among geospatial
specialists and organizations from all nations and to serve the
global geographic information community at large
(http://giknetwork.org).
Open Access to Data, Tools and Learning Materials
The GSDI Association and its members promote open access
to the greatest extent possible to spatial data as well as to
educational materials in how to use geospatial technologies
and establish SDI. If those affected by a disaster can’t gain
access to the detailed geospatial data and technologies they
need when they need it, the data and technologies have no
value and might as well not exist. In order to support learning,
all past books developed by the GSDI Association have been
published using open access licenses, the articles in all the
proceedings from the past world conferences are openly
published on the web and its web pages are all posted using
creative commons licenses. Thus, legal and economic barriers
to sharing among those interested in pursuing knowledge on
topics such as emergency response and recovery are reduced
greatly.
4