UNIT 71 - DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL GIS POLICY
- GIS is a coalescence of many interests and fields:
- automation in the surveying and mapping industry
- automation of facilities management (AM/FM)
- demand for analysis and modeling to support resource management and planning
- interest in use of digital databases in marketing, transportation
- interest in applying the products of remote sensing
- need for automation of land records, and interest in
multipurpose cadaster (MPC)
- each of these fields have their own societies and
institutions, regulatory agencies in government, academic
disciplines etc.
- coalescence leads to pressure for new institutional
structures
- new series of conferences, e.g. GIS/LIS (San Antonio, 1988; Orlando, 1989) - jointly sponsored by surveyors and mappers (ACSM), urban managers and planners (URISA), geographers (AAG), private and public facility companies (AM/FM International)
- new structures in government - e.g. interdepartmental committees in some states, federal government
- new magazines, journals, textbooks, courses
- a clear national strategy could:
- speed the process of coalescence, e.g. by reorganization of government departments
- avoid duplication, mistakes, false starts
- provide much needed support for research and development
- promote training and education programs
- compare US attempts to develop national policy for MPC
(see Unit 54 references)
- this unit looks at one country's efforts to develop
national policy
- the United Kingdom
- particularly, the role of the "Chorley Report" (DOE,
1987)
- Ordnance Survey Review Committee
- reported in 1979
- covered role of digital technology within premier
mapping agency
- House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology
- reported in 1984
- first recognition of potential role of GIS technology in integrating all forms of geographically referenced data
- raised awareness of obvious potential for duplication, inconsistency and incompatibility between different forms of geographical data
- led to formation of Committee of Enquiry (Chorley
Committee)
- "to advise the Secretary of State for the Environment
within two years on the future handling of geographic
information in the UK, taking account of modern
developments in information technology and market needs"
- similar to Congress's 1989 charge to Department of
the Interior in Public Law 100-409 (see references
at end of Unit 53) with reference to land
information (more narrowly defined than geographic
information)
- similar to Congress's 1989 charge to Department of
the Interior in Public Law 100-409 (see references
at end of Unit 53) with reference to land
information (more narrowly defined than geographic
information)
- problems with interpretation of term "geographic
information" in the charge
- thus, the committee included all information which can be
related to specific locations on the Earth
- this is very broad - includes indirect as well as
direct spatial referencing
- this is very broad - includes indirect as well as
direct spatial referencing
- in fact, committee included:
- land and property data
- resource data - land use, ecological, environmental, etc.
- infrastructure data - utilities, facilities
- socioeconomic data - census statistics, health, etc.
- 11 members
- 65% from the private sector - vendors, utilities, market
research companies, etc.
- chair (Lord Chorley) is a member of the House of Lords,
accountant with major international management
consultancy, familiar with subject, in part from work on
previous House of Lords committee
- many systems were in process of rapid development in UK
in all these areas
- many were dependent on government agencies as
sources of data, standards, policy
- many were dependent on government agencies as
sources of data, standards, policy
- committee's charge required it to define the role of
government in fostering, coordinating, supporting system
development
- identified the factors which are important in determining
the way the technology is adopted and developed:
- the costs of adoption, particularly in staffing, training, equipment
- variations in the availability of data
- need for development of faster, more flexible, easier to use tools
- variation in awareness among managers of the benefits of GIS technology
- shortage of skilled personnel
- needed to define what role government, national policy
can play in controlling these factors
- evidence presented to the Committee indicated that the UK
lagged behind North America in many of these areas
- lack of training and awareness was more critical
- much of the technology had been developed in North
America
- these problems are likely even more severe in other
countries, e.g. Eastern Europe
- GIS is a comparatively small market segment
- many key technical developments originated in other areas
- e.g. peripherals developed for larger CAD markets
- other technologies may be less affected by non-technical
factors
- lack of training less of a problem in more mature markets like CAD
- other technologies may be less innovative, require
less reorganization, e.g. word processing
- in UK, Ordnance Survey has copyright over its products,
virtual monopoly over large-scale mapping
- government policy requires OS to stress cost recovery
- increasing demand from utilities for digital versions of
basemaps
- accuracy levels required by utilities were substantially below those of OS
- private sector can produce digital data to
utilities' specifications at substantially lower
cost than OS
- OS's monopoly and copyright are under pressure from
private sector
- committee encouraged OS to seek joint agreements with the
private sector to relieve pressure
- first comprehensive list of geographically related data
holdings in government was prepared for committee
- evident that data were not sufficiently accessible to
users outside government
- because of real or imagined concerns for privacy and confidentiality
- because government rules prevented departments from
repackaging data and receiving financial benefit
from sale
- difficult because of e.g. incompatible reporting units
for social statistics
- committee recommended maximizing use of common
geographical referencing systems
- extend postal codes from limited application in mail
to general role as reporting units for statistics of
all kinds
- extend postal codes from limited application in mail
to general role as reporting units for statistics of
all kinds
- need for further development of data transfer standards
- recommended setting up demonstration projects
- need for expanded training courses, new teaching
packages, greater role in Business education
- generally, the report stressed the non-technical
impediments to GIS adoption
- need for R&D in both fundamental and applied areas
- particular stress on the development of intelligent Knowledge Based Systems which incorporate rules derived from human experience
- development of better tools for estimating
reliability of information from GIS
- government is one of the biggest users of GIS, also the
biggest supplier of geographical data
- its level of commitment is critical to the
development of the field
- its level of commitment is critical to the
development of the field
- potential roles of government in:
- development and implementation of standards
- legislation on relevant issues, e.g. copyright
- funding education programs
- carrying out or funding R&D
- increasing accessibility of data
- many submissions to committee urged establishment of a
government organization to coordinate GIS
- committee recommended a Centre for Geographic Information
(CGI) as:
- promoter of technology
- advisor on national GIS policy
- focus for users
- emergence of a discipline through coalescence of common
interests
- usefulness of maps is increased enormously by digitizing,
but digital systems allow access to vast stores of non-
map data as well
- geographical data for small areas is very useful in
social planning, but government must play an important
role in handling such data to prevent invasions of
privacy
- it is impractical to assemble all geographical data in
one national archive - the role of government should be
to increase access to geographical data through
directories, compatibility etc.
- the commercial opportunities of GIS technology will
continue to expand rapidly and internationally
- change in UK government policy since 1979 has had a
profound effect on data collecting agencies because of
pressure for cost recovery
- the key technical recommendations - role of postcodes,
production of digital basemaps - were rejected in the
official government response
- government also rejected the recommendation for a Centre
for Geographic Information (in effect, rejected the
recommendation that it take the lead in organizing and
funding the Centre)
- with no new organizational structure, there is doubt about whether the more far-reaching recommendations can be implemented
- efforts are under way to form an organization
outside government to play at least part of the role
intended for the Centre
- many non-technical recommendations were accepted and many
are being implemented by relevant departments
- e.g. restructuring of legislation to make it easier
to share and access data
- e.g. restructuring of legislation to make it easier
to share and access data
- the impact of the committee's meetings, background work
for submissions, publicity given to the report may have
had more impact than the recommendations
- possibility of similar exercises in other countries, e.g.
BLM report under PL 100-409
- different countries have focused interest in the
development of GIS in different ways (the following based
on information in Shepherd et al, 1989)
- several aspects vary from country to country:
- perception of priorities in GIS
- scale of funding
- governmental/institutional context
- extent of involvement of the private sector
- emphasis upon applied as opposed to fundamental
research
- other national initiatives include:
- established before the completion of the Chorley Report
by the UK Economic and Social Research Council
- objectives include carrying out basic and applied GIS
research, training, providing data services and promotion
of the use of GIS in general
- funded by the National Science Foundation
- created to promote basic research in GIS and to improve
the education of GIS professionals
- research consortium funded by the Netherlands Science
Research Council for four years
- at the University of Utrecht, the Technical University of
Delft, the Agricultural University of Wageningen and the
International Training Center at Enschede
- creation of the Maison de la Geographie in Montpelier
providing a network linking 49 research teams in France
Department of Environment, 1987. Handling Geographic Information. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London. The full Chorley Report.
Lord Chorley, 1988. "Some reflections on the handling of geographical information," International Journal of Geographical Information Systems 2:3-10. Views from the chair, including a summary of the report's conclusions.
Rhind, D. and H. Mounsey, 1988. "The Chorley Committee and "handling geographic information"," Proceedings, Third International Symposium on Spatial Data Handling. International Geographical Union, Columbus, Ohio, 407-21. Excellent summary of the Chorley Committee and its report.
Shepherd, et al, 1989, "The ESRC's Regional Research Laboratories: An Alternative Approach to the NCGIA?," AutoCarto 9, Sydney, Australia.
Tomlinson, R.F., 1987. "Current and potential uses of geographical information systems: the North American experience," International Journal of Geographical Information Systems 1:203-18. Based on a background paper for the Chorley Committee which appears in the report's appendices.
Ventura, S.J., 1990. "Federal land and geographic information system activities," Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 56(5):631-4. A useful review of the need for coordination and standardization in the federal government.
Several aspects of the actual report are suitable topics for discussion, particularly if the report is available locally, including:
- committee membership - what groups were represented, who
was left out
- evidence - much of it summarized in the appendices
- arguments - how many of these are unique to the UK?
- conclusions - for a summary of the outcome following the
report see Rhind and Mounsey (1988)
Other topics:
1. Blakemore's review of the report (Blakemore, M., 1988. "Review of "Handling Geographic Information," Transactions, Institute of British Geographers NS 13:118-9) includes the comment: "a supremely useful teaching source for any course concerning geographic information". Why do you think Blakemore made this comment, and do you agree?
2. What would you expect to see in a Chorley Report of 1997?
3. Compare the proposed CGI with the NCGIA established in the US (the story of the NCGIA's establishment can be found in Abler, R.F., 1987. "The National Science Foundation National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis," International Journal of Geographical Information Systems 1:303).
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Last Updated: August 30, 1997.