implementing an organisational spatial data infrastructure: what works and what doesnt
DESCRIPTION
Implementing an organisational SDI: what works and what doesn’tKeith Wishart*, Mike Brown** and Peter Vodden****Esri (UK), Aylesbury, UK, * NERC, Lancaster, UK, *** CEH, Lancaster, UKThe Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) is the UK's Centre of Excellence for integrated research in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems and their interaction with the atmosphere. As part of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), they provide National Capability based on innovative, independent and interdisciplinary science and long-term environmental monitoring, forming an integral part of NERC's vision and strategy. CEH are a major custodian of environmental data, including 20 million records of 12,000 species occurring across Britain and Ireland, as well as records of over 50,000 station years of daily and monthly river flow data, derived from over 1,300 gauging stations throughout the UK.In 2009, CEH launched its Information Gateway. The Information Gateway is the tool for finding, viewing and accessing data resources held by the Environmental Information Data Centre (EIDC) and other data providers in the UK and beyond. The CEH Information Gateway is a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) consisting of a rich Data Catalogue that describes the nature and scope of CEH data resources. Users of the Information Gateway can discover CEH data resources, view details about each resource, view spatial data using a map viewer, create a personal account and download data. The Information Gateway is implemented using SDI technology from Esri and its partners.In this paper we will describe the implementation and ongoing plans for the Information Gateway addressing not just the technology and standards adopted but also outlining the broader organisational, cultural and economic (benefits case) aspects. Specifically, our focus will be on what worked and what didn’t work in practice for CEH with the objective of helping other organisations plan and implement their SDI’s, create governance models, raise awareness amongst users and stakeholders and realise true economic benefits.Key to the Information Gateway's success was a series of awareness-raising events with users although these also highlighted cultural barriers to data sharing amongst the scientific community. We will discuss approaches to changing the mind-set of data users to promote wider data sharing.We will also discuss the design and functionality of the Information Gateway and how initial approaches to a rich, ‘value-added’ interface proved to be more than required in the first instance but have paved the way for long-term development of the Gateway.We will highlight the organisational benefits derived from this work which go far beyond the Gateway itself. The Gateway has been an integral part of developing a robust data and information management culture throughout the organisation.Finally, we will discuss future plans for extending the Gateway beyond traditional forms of digital dataTRANSCRIPT
2011 INSPIRE Conference
Implementing an Organisational SDI: What Works and What Doesn’t
Keith Wishart, Esri (UK), Mike Brown, NERC and Peter Vodden, CEH
Overview
2
The Authors
Keith WishartPublic Sector Strategist, Esri (UK)
Mike BrownProgramme Manager, NERC
Peter VoddenCentre for Ecology & Hydrology
Our Presentation:
• Raise awareness of the real organisational issues in delivering SDI• Present a leading UK SDI• Offer a framework for evaluating SDI
Our message: “Go Beyond INSPIRE”
The Team
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology The UK’s centre of excellence for integrated research in terrestrial and
freshwater ecosystems and their interaction with the atmosphere Major custodian of Environmental Data. 20 million records covering:
12,000 species across Britain and Ireland 50,000 station years of river flow from 1,300 gauging stations
Esri (UK), part of the global Esri network providing market leading GIS and SDI solutions
con terra, Esri (UK) Business Partner providing solutions for building SDIs with a strong focus on spatial standards
3
The Countryside Survey
Challenge To reduce the time required for the publication of its field-based survey
results by 50%
Benefits of GIS solution Digitally mapped 591 separate
1km2 plots Reduced data capture time
from months to days Efficiency savings of over £700,000
on this survey alone Case Study available
4
The Challenge Make CEH’s data more accessible to the public and easier to share
within the scientific community INSPIRE and NERC Science Strategy
More joined up working Cross-discipline access to data
5
Technology & Information
Business Case & Benefits
Organisation & Culture
The Information Gateway
6
7
8
9
Technology & Information
Prototyping & Options Appraisal Workshops Assess full level of support for
each option SDI Technology from Esri (UK)
and con terra Partnering Approach
Multiple search methods Automated metadata
management Metadata Extensions
Focus on Services (rather than the portal itself)
Metadata limitations Users weren’t ready for some of
the features
10
Technology & Information
Business Case & Benefits
Organisation & Culture
Organisation & Culture
Addressing the scientific data sharing culture Different levels of data sharing throughout the community “My data” Gain buy-in through workshops Data sharing linked to citations
Data Management Plan Projects now have to have a Data Management Plan CEH is learning future data management requirements
11
Technology & Information
Business Case & Benefits
Organisation & Culture
Benefits
Better view of CEH’s data for external stakeholders and internal management
Automated approach to metadata and data management Developing a Data Curation Approach across NERC Reducing ingestion and curation costs (currently 37% of Data Centre
costs) Seamless integration with data.gov.uk UK GEMINI 2.1 compliance Going beyond INSPIRE compliance
12
http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/sites/data/documents/nerc-sis.pdf
Technology & Information
Business Case & Benefits
Organisation & Culture
Potential Cost BenefitCosts Benefits
Delivering ROI or Cost:Benefit ratio of 1:4 is reasonable,
achievable and defensible
http://inspire.jrc.ec.europa.eu/reports/Study_reports/catalonia_impact_study_report.pdf
Lessons Learnt
INSPIRE is not a spectator sport Success is measured by how you deal with organisational and cultural
issues Technology and standards are always going to be moving Go beyond INSPIRE – its more than a compliance exercise
14
A Framework for evaluating SDI
15
Technology & Information
Business Case & Benefits
Organisation & Culture
Architecture
Standards
Data
Metadata
Services Search
Silos
Buy-in
Stakeholders
Barriers
Costs
Compliance
ROI
Take-up
Value
Further Information
Esri Stand in Cromdale Hall CEH Case Studies available
Spatial Gateway Countryside Survey
Video demo of Information Gateway
[email protected] Twitter: @keith_wishart
16
Thank you