Antony Cooper (right), CSIR delegate to the Committee for Spatial Information (CSI), with Dr Corné Eloff of the Satellite Applications Centre as alternate CSIR delegate |
South Africa needs a spatial data infrastructure (SDI) to make masses of spatial data readily available in an integrated format.
The Committee for Spatial Information (CSI) will be the main driver in establishing the South African Spatial Data Infrastructure (SASDI). Antony Cooper, CSIR Built Environment Fellow and the CSIR delegate on the CSI, recently explained the aims of this committee and its implications.
Cooper noted: “The CSI is a statutory body, currently with 30 member organisations, set up by the Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) Act. An SDI is more than just the technology of an online geographical information system - it also comprises core data sets, the relevant custodian organisations of such data sets, policies (such as for pricing), etc. With the custodians in place, the committee will coordinate the infrastructure for the core or fundamental data sets only.” The CSIR is currently a member of CSI as a public entity, not as a data custodian.
The formation of SASDI will have a big impact on the CSIR Satellite Application Centre (SAC) as a major supplier of fundamental spatial data sets. SAC will be joining other groupings to become the new South African National Space Agency in April this year. The centre is currently represented on the CSI by Dr Corné Eloff, Manager for the Earth Observation Service Centre, as the CSIR’s alternate delegate.
The formation of the national SDI will impact users and producers of spatial data, with the field of SDIs being a research field in itself. Such base data sets and services will typically be used by different users for diverse applications, e.g. topographical data, time series data for analyses, administrative boundaries and population statistics. “The CSI was formed to ensure that geospatial data are shared and organised across different disciplines and organisations,” Cooper noted.
At its meeting on 15 March 2011, the CSI established the following sub-committees:
- Data, which will deal with metadata and identify and prioritise the core data sets, assign unique IDs, liaise with the custodians, etc.
- Policy and legislation, which will update the SDI Act, draft its regulations and develop policies.
- Standards, which will identify the standards needed for the SASDI to succeed, identify candidate standards and develop and maintain standards, in collaboration with organisations such as the South African Bureau of Standards.
- Systems, which will develop the framework architecture for SASDI and its links to the geoportals of the data custodians.
- Education and training, which will aim at educating the members of the CSI and the CSI sub-committees, ensuring geospatial data literacy amongst all stakeholders, promote life-long learning, develop relevant terminology in all of South Africa’s official languages, and promote research.
- Marketing and communications, which will raise awareness about the CSI and SASDI, and develop promotional material concerning the SDI Act, SASDI, and the outputs of the CSI.
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