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Y O U R G E O S P A T I A L I N D U S T R Y M A G A Z I N E www.geospatialworld.net JULY 2012 ISSN 2277-3134 VOL 02 ISSUE 12 Price: INR 150 / US$ 15 Subscriber’s copy. Not for Sale Ready for Take-off… with Hexagon Geosystems

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24 ARTICLES National Mapping Agencies: 38 Between a rock and a hard location Robin McLaren

Disaster response: 48 User generated data to the rescue Ryan Falor Inside... 52 Standards: Key to VGI success Inside... Mark Reichard

CASE STUDIES VGI: 42 Kuwait Environment Public Agency: Democratisation of geographic information Citizen power to the fore Prof Arup Dasgupta 44 Libya Public Health System: A speedy recovery of health system CHAIRMAN M P Narayanan PUBLISHER Sanjay Kumar Queensland Reconstruction Authority: PUBLICATIONS TEAM 46 Managing Editor Prof. Arup Dasgupta Rising from disaster Editor - Latin America (Honorary) Tania Maria Sausen Sr. Associate Editor (Honorary) Dr. Hrishikesh Samant INTERVIEWS Executive Editor Bhanu Rekha Product Manager Shivani Lal Assistant Editors Deepali Roy, Aditi Bhan, Vaibhav Arora, Anand Kashyap 20 DESIGN TEAM Sr. Creative Designer Deepak Kumar Graphic Designer Manoj Kumar Singh "Content is the next big opportunity" CIRCULATION TEAM Circulation Manager Vijay Kumar Singh Harold Goddijn Founder & CEO, TomTom

DISCLAIMER Geospatial World does not necessarily subscribe to the views expressed in the publi- 34 cation. All views expressed in this issue are those of the contributors. Geospatial "Humans have a permanent World is not responsible for any loss to anyone due to the information provided. emotional relation with space"

OWNER, PUBLISHER & PRINTER Sanjay Kumar PRINTED AT M. P. Printers B - 220, Georg Gartner Phase-II, Noida - 201 301, Gautam Budh Nagar (UP) INDIA PUBLICATION ADDRESS A - 92, President Sector - 52, Gautam Budh Nagar, Noida, India International Cartographic Association

Geospatial World 07 Editorial 08 News Geospatial Media and Communications Pvt. Ltd. (formerly GIS Development Pvt. Ltd.) A - 145, Sector - 63, Noida, India CORRIGENDOM: In the article “The Cadastral Divide: A View from the Bridge” in the July Tel + 91-120-4612500 Fax +91-120-4612555 / 666 PRICE: INR 150/US$ 15 edition of Geospatial World, the source for the figure on Pg 45 is Dr. Rohan Bennett.

Abbas Rajabifard Preetha Pulusani President, Greg Bentley Juergen Dold Chief Strategy Officer, GSDI Association CEO, Benltey Systems President, Hexagon Geosystems Rolta Group

Shailesh Nayak Aida Opoku Mensah Prof Ian Dowman Kamal K Singh Secretary Director - ICT Division First Vice President Chairman and CEO Ministry of Earth Sciences UN Economic Commission for Africa ISPRS Rolta Group Government of India

Bryn Fosburgh Mark Reichardt Vanessa Lawrence CB Vice President Jack Dangermond President and CEO Director General and CEO, Trimble President, Esri Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. Ordnance Survey, UK Derek Clarke Chief Director-Survey and Mapping & National Geospatial Information Josef Strobl Matthew M O'Connell Department of Rural Development & Director, Centre for Geoinformatics, President and CEO University of Salzburg, Austria GeoEye Advisory Board Land Reform, South Africa

Geospatial World I July 2012 5 7/18/2017/18/201 Citizen power to prevail

n July 2004, Steve Coast, a student from the University College of London, decided that

Speak the maps available from the 'authoritative source' viz, the Ordnance Survey were too

r I expensive, difficult to get, not editable and held geolocation information back. He established a website openstreetmap.org and explained his philosophy at the EuroFOO o

t conference in August 2004. In short, the philosophy was to have common citizens collect data

i and share it over a website that would be freely accessible to other citizens. According to Tim Berners Lee, "OpenStreetMap is all about people doing their bit, creating an incredible d resource for everybody else." E

What Steve did was what every student loves to do - challenge the authority, especially one that is unreasonably restrictive. What happened next is something fantastic. The followers of OSM grew from a few thou- sand to hundreds of thousands and the maps grew from just the UK to cover nearly the whole world. Haiti relief efforts used OSM maps and many LBS providers turn to OSM for the latest updates. This is the basis of what is referred to as user generated content, UGC or volunteered geographic information (VGI). Steve joined Microsoft in 2010 as Principal Architect of Bing Mobile and this perhaps indicates that what started as an act of rebellion has turned into a recognised activity and is turning into a commercial reality.

This display of the power of citizens to work together for a geographic cause is something that has upset the staid entities that fall under the rubric of national mapping organisations )NMOs). Strong attempts are being made to include VGI into authoritative information. NMOs are wrestling with accuracy and reliability versus the need for speed in data acquisition and delivery. Standards are evolving to address many of these Prof. Arup Dasgupta issues but regulatory issues remain. Will the data remain free Managing Editor after it is assimilated into authoritative collections in the pub- [email protected] lic and private domains? Will the data be free of unreasonable restrictions of access and use?

We don't know yet but what we do know is that geospatial world is undergoing a revolution - perhaps unintended - where citizens are finding new ways of doing old things as well as new applications using the technology that has become accessible to them. This revolution is shaking the foundation of geospatial data acquisition, applications and dissemination of information. Business opportunities abound for established firms as well as for new start-ups. Governments need to harness this power for good governance. The slow moving world of law has to learn to adjust and adapt to these new developments. Will citizen power prevail? I think it will because they have woken up to the fact that geographical information is the leitmotif of human existence and therefore they are the main stakeholders.

Geospatial World I July 2012 7 NEWS

lion for the development of Nasarawa use planning and preparation of dis- State Geographic Information System trict land use plans and connecting (NAGIS). It will be developed as per districts to the country's land admin- the World Bank standards. The istration information system. NAGIS aims to phase out the obso- NIGERIA lete data storage system and management. Sonny Agassi, commission- KENYA Maps to address er in-charge of the ministry, said, "We want to upgrade land adminis- UNESCO maps disaster issue tration in the state by digitising land Surveyor-General has been asked to records. NAGIS will be a one-stop groundwater map geographical landscape of the shop for all land use data in the The United Nations Educational, country to address disaster issue, state." Scientific and Cultural Organization informed Arc. Muhammad Namadi (UNESCO) launched 'Groundwater Sambo, Vice President of Nigeria, Resources Investigation for Drought during 47th Annual General Meeting RWANDA mitigation in Africa' project in of the Institution of Surveyors in Nairobi. Ilorin. During the Meeting, the Presi- Ministry seeks funds The project is supported by the US dent of the Institute, Yakubu Maikano, Government and Japan International observed that the country needs a for land management Cooperation Agency (JICA). It aims to National Mapping Policy that would The Ministry of Environment and Nat- provide assured water supply in sustain the production of maps in the ural Resources (Minirena) presented emergency situations in the Horn of country. "The Federal Government its latest budget allocations to the Africa. The USD 2 million project will must produce accurate maps standing committee on budget and map groundwater resources in throughout the length and breadth of national patrimony of the Chamber of drought-prone areas of Kenya, the country". Deputies. Ethiopia and Somalia. It also aims to The ministry demanded approxi- study hydrological make-up of the Nasarawa develops mately USD 4 million for sustainable areas and build local capacities. The state GIS land management. Some of the pri- groundwater survey will use WATEX orities under sustainable land man- system developed by Radar Technolo- Nasarawa State Ministry of Lands, agement include budget for process- gies International that will enable Survey and Town Planning in Nigeria ing seven million leasehold titles, rapid precise groundwater assess- funded approximately USD 16.5 mil- training district officials in GIS, land ment for large areas.

SOUTH AFRICA

RICS expands footprint in Africa

Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) created panels of internationally accredited dispute resolvers, who will play an important role in property related matters in the South African market. The move is in response to the Mandatory Court Mediation pilot, launched by the Department of Justice, which will make it mandatory for disputes to go through a mediation process before they can be set down for trial. "These are not only mediators, but also arbitrators and adjudicators - who also bring years of experience," said Craig Hudson, RICS Business Development - Africa.

8 Geospatial World I July 2012 serve 18 departments of the state First sat for armed government. forces set for launch Rising sea level India is set to launch the first- threatens coastal areas ever dedicated military satellite, INDIA Rohini. The 2,330-kg naval satel- Multi-disciplinary teams, comprising lite is supposed to have a 1,000 Sat data to help of more than 220 scientists belonging nautical mile footprint over Indian to over 120 institutions, warned in a Ocean and will ensure ‘network- regularise Delhi report that the most vulnerable centric operations’. It will enable settlements stretches along the western Indian the navy to network all its war- coast, affected by sea level rise, are ships, submarines and aircraft The Ministry of Urban Development, Khambat and Kutch (Gujarat), Mum- with operational centres ashore. Government of India, allowed regu- bai and parts of the Konkan coast larisation of unauthorised colonies in and south Kerala. Using digital eleva- Delhi, in accordance with the satellite tion model data (90m resolution), dig- images of 2007 instead of 2002. The ital image processing and GIS soft- move aims to complete the regulari- ware, they observed that the sea level sation of colonies before 2013 will rise by 3.5 to 34.6 inches between assembly polls. Earlier, several Resi- 1990 and 2100. It also observed that dent Welfare Associations (RWAs) deltas of the Ganga, Krishna, had submitted layout plans of their Godavari, Cauvery and Mahanadi colonies based on the ground situa- rivers on the east coast may also be In addition, the government tion on February 8, 2007 while Delhi threatened along with irrigated land appointed Rear Admiral Kishan State Spatial Data Infrastructure and adjoining settlements. K Pandey, a communications and (DSSDI) had set boundaries on satel- electronic warfare specialist, as lite images of 2002. The difference in GIS to monitor rural Assistant Chief of Naval Staff ground reality and satellite images job scheme (communications, space and net- delayed the fixing of boundaries. work-centric operations) in keep- Government officials in Tamil Nadu ing with the navy's endeavour Himachal Pradesh gets state employed a GIS to manage the to transform from a "platform- GIS portal Mahatma Gandhi National Rural centric navy'' to a "network- Employment Guarantee Scheme enabled navy''. The State of Himachal Pradesh state (MGNREGS). The GIS incorporates launched a GIS portal for Labour and satellite imagery provided by Anna Employment Department. It will be University's Institute of Remote used in organising job fairs and cam- Sensing using Indian Remote Sens- UAE pus interviews. The portal was offi- ing (IRS) satellites. "Local panchayat cially inaugurated by Dr P C Kapoor, presidents often say that desiltation Geospatial a good Principal Secretary of the state. The in their areas has already been car- GIS system, hosted on Aryabhatta ried out and that there is no work for career option: Bayanat Geo-informatics & Space Application MNREGS beneficiaries," said a state Geospatial domain is a good career Centre (AGiSAC) website, has spatial official. "Using GIS mapping, we have option and becoming a part of information on administrative struc- shown the exact amount of silt and geospatial industry can help in ture, infrastructure and employment encroachment that has taken place achieving the development goals of exchanges. The GIS system has been over the years, which may not be visi- Abu Dhabi under its Vision 2030 plan, developed in nine months and will ble at the ground level." said Khaled Al Melhi, CEO of

Geospatial World I July 2012 9 Bayanat. He was addressing a visiting Relic Bureau to get Uznir and Suhaibah students delegation from the Faculty g-power of Humanities and Social Sciences, Geography and Urban Planning Cultural Relic Bureau will build an Department, United Arab Emirates offshore supervision platform to pro- University (UAEU). Bayanat's officials tect cultural relics around the Xisha shed light on the agency's highly suc- Islands in the South China Sea, Chi- cessful internal emiratisation pro- nese media reported. gramme that has helped the compa- The platform will consist of a GIS, ny secure a leading industry position remote sensing satellite and video and post one of the highest emirati- surveillance system to supervise the pipeline depth, intersection and dis- sation rates in Abu Dhabi. waters, according to Wang Yiping, tances. director of the Bureau, Hainan province. The Xisha Islands consists CHINA of a cluster of about 40 islets, sand- SINGAPORE banks and reefs. Toyota, NavInfo to TomTom expands form Telemap China MALAYSIA footprint in APAC Toyota Motor Corp. and NavInfo Co., TomTom released its latest map Ltd. (NavInfo) announced its plans to Bentley honours UTM products for the Asia Pacific (APAC) establish a joint-venture company for region. Now, TomTom maps cover 51 the distribution of map data to car team countries and territories throughout navigation systems in China. The For the first time ever, a Malaysian APAC, with navigable coverage for 15 joint-venture company, Telemap Chi- team won the annual Bentley Student countries across 8 million kilometres na Co., Ltd., is scheduled to begin Design Competition. Bentley hon- of roads. The new products include services in 2013 with starting capital oured Uznir Ujang, 29, and his wife voice maps in Thai and Bahasa of approximately USD 9.2 million. Suhaibah Azri, 27, from the Universiti Indonesian, debut of lane and sign- Equity participation will consist of 51 Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). post information, addition of nearly 1 percent provided by NavInfo, 39 per- The couple developed a 3D software million address points, street net- cent provided by TMC and 10 percent model to enable utility, telecommuni- work coverage of over 100 cities in provided by Beijing Media Technical cations and pipeline companies to India and nearly 83,000 km Chinese Solution Ltd. accurately retrieve information like road network map.

PAKISTAN

USD 7.61 mn boost for space programmes

Pakistan government allocated PKR 717.078 million (approximately USD 7.61 million) for nine projects, overseen by Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO). The projects include development of a compact antenna test range, development of various laboratories and logistic support facilities for the National Satellite Development Program, Altitude and Orbital Control System Centre, development of a satellite assembly integration and test facility, remote sensing data transmission facility and satellite environmental validation and testing facility.

10 Geospatial World I July 2012 Xiang Yu, Peace Map Co., Ltd.

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Business leaders rely on ‘big data’

The Economist Intelligence Unit report 'The Deciding Factor: Big Data & Decision making', commissioned by Capgemini, revealed that nine out of ten business leaders believe 'big data' is now the fourth factor of production, as fundamental to business as land, labour and capital. 'Big data' improved businesses' performance, on an average, by 26 per cent and that the impact will grow to 41 percent over the next 3 years. The majority of companies (58 percent) claimed they would make a bigger investment in 'big data' over the next three years. According to Capgemini's press statement, 'big data' refers to the data, gathered by information-sensing mobile devices, sensory technologies (remote sensing), cameras, microphones, radio-frequency identification readers, and wireless sensor networks.

12 Geospatial World I July 2012

Survey. UPRNs are assigned to GPS/GNSS manufacturers will need address records by local authorities to combine an increasing number of at the planning stage and persist for technologies, supporting ubiquitous the lifetime of each and every proper- indoor and outdoor location. In 2012, ty across UK. This means that every CSR, Broadcom, and Qualcomm property is uniquely recorded and can have all made announcements be unequivocally identified by any around increasing convergence of organisation that holds the UPRN in location technologies in the handset." its own records. Ordnance Survey open for public. It is an educational publishes the UPRNs in its Address- 'Earthquakes without attraction, which acquaints visitors Base range of products, produced by frontiers' gets funds with cartography and navigation. GeoPlace LLP, in conjunction with Willemijn Simon van Leeuwen and the Local Government Association Natural Environment Research Bart van Leeuwen conceptualised the and Scottish Government's Improve- Council and the Economic and Social idea and in collaboration with the ment Service. Research Council funded GBP 3.5 Netherlands' Forestry Commisison million to a five-year project, 'Earth- (Staatsbosbeheer) embodied it. Some ‘GNSS IC market to quakes without frontiers'. The project of the key attractions of GeoFort reach 1.8 bn by 2016’ aims to understand the threats, include Intelligent Maze, Bat posed by unanticipated earthquakes Research Garden and 3D Cafe. A study from ABI Research demon- in continental interiors. It will be led strated the continued expansion of by the University of Cambridge. the GNSS Integrated Circuit (IC) mar- Researchers will use state-of the- UK ket that is forecast to reach 1.8 billion art ground- and satellite-based shipments globally by 2016, repre- technology to examine the link Cabinet Office calls for senting a market worth over USD 3.3 between earthquake faults and the billion at the end of the period. landscape they have created. The data standardisation The study observed that companies project will target a relatively neg- The UK Cabinet Office called for like u-blox, Fastrax and iPosi all lected area for earthquake research - greater use of Unique Property Ref- developing specific GPS/GNSS the ten million square kilometres of erence Numbers (UPRNs) across the solutions to meet the unique require- the Alpine-Himalayan belt stretching public sector, to support the move ments of this market. ABI's senior from Italy, Greece and Turkey, across towards individual electoral registra- analyst, telematics and navigation, the Middle East, Iran and central tion (IER), according to Ordnance Patrick Connolly said, "Ultimately, Asia, to China.

DENMARK

Conference outlines potential of GMES

The 'GMES in Action' conference concluded with the 'Copenhagen Resolu- tion'. The resolution on the future of GMES (Global Monitoring for Environ- ment and Security programme) outlined its potential and requirements to move forward, such as an adequate governance model, data policy and long- term financial commitment. Referring to an independent study, the resolution observed that GMES will exhibit a return on investment of up to ten times. Paul Weissenberg, Deputy Director General of the European Commission, commented, "Each EUR 1 invested will generate EUR 4 in return."

14 Geospatial World I July 2012 tralian Bureau of Meteorology is delivering forecasts of the same Sat data reveals accuracy 10 hours earlier. They piracy patterns explained that the way the atmos- 'Spatial and gaming phere affects GPS signals gives them A study by the New Zealand tech to shape future information on important tempera- Defence Force (NZDF) revealed a cities' ture profiles. strong correlation between suc- RMIT Professor John Le Marshall cessful pirate activity, wind speed An innovative synthesis of mapping said, "This extra information, in the and wave height. Using informa- technologies and video game engi- data-sparse Southern Hemisphere, is tion from European Space neering enabled urban planners to now making our forecasts more Agency's (ESA) GlobWave project, create the cities of the future, accurate. GPS can fill that gap. It was the NZDF team observed that observed Esri Australia's 3D geospa- the missing link." during summer in Indian Ocean, tial specialist Leonard Olyott. He was addressing Transport and Main Roads Spatial Science Symposium in NEW ZEALAND Brisbane. Olyott said, "Computing advancements in the gaming industry Govt embraces open data initiative New Zealand Government included 1700 datasets in a directory on the website data.govt.nz. It is a move to there was a significant drop in open up the data (including geospa- pirate activities. The team con- tial data) for the public. The cluded that during summers, high government first committed to waves made difficult to sail boats this initiative in a Cabinet Paper on and hence there were less pirate 'open government' issued in August activity. Owing to security prob- have driven our ability to take GIS 2011. The open data exercise is lems in the region, no in situ technology into a 3D environment. coordinated by a steering committee; measurements were available. It The result is tools like Esri its terms of reference and all its made GlobWave data uniquely CityEngine, which when populated minutes are available on the placed to provide regular and with geographical data can model the ict.govt.nz website. accurate wind and wave height impact of natural and man-made The steering group is chaired by information. phenomenon on urban infrastruc- Colin MacDonald who also holds ture.” positions of Chief Executive of tial datasets. Some of these datasets Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) are new to the New Zealand market- GPS data improves and thereby government’s Chief place. weather forecast Information Officer (CIO). For example, the company claimed that 'NAVTEQ Transport' is the coun- Researchers at the Royal Melbourne Critchlow to market try’s first heavy transport-specific Institute of Technology and the NAVTEQ data geospatial dataset. It includes a Bureau of Meteorology claimed that range of data to support improved GPS can make weather forecasting NAVTEQ, a Nokia subsidiary, selected route planning and optimisation for more accurate by providing a new Critchlow Associates, a provider of the heavy transport sector. Another type of temperature observation. customised geospatial services in new product for this market is Using GPS technology, the Aus- New Zealand, to market its geospa- 'NAVTEQ Enhanced City Model'.

Geospatial World I July 2012 15 Google patents tion of GEOTrac is expected to extend location-based alarm PeopleNet's (a Trimble company) system transportation solutions to address the North American oil and gas BUSINESS The United States Patent and Trade- industry. "The acquisition extends mark Office (USPTO) awarded 'United PeopleNet's focus on innovation, NGA cuts EnhancedView States Patent: 8195203' to Google. service and brings best-of-breed According to the USPTO filings in solutions to the North American payment 2011, the patent is for a software- transport/oil and gas industry," said The National Geospatial Intelligence based alert system and is titled 'loca- Ron Konezny, general manager of Agency (NGA) informed GeoEye that it tion-based mobile device alarm'. Trimble's Transportation and Logis- would not renew the USD 3.5 billion According to excerpts from the patent tics (T&L) Division. EnhancedView contract. However, the filing, "This document discusses sys- NGA proposed an option under which tems and techniques that may be GITA embraces new used to change the behaviour of an business model alarm clock on a mobile computing device depending on the geographical The Geospatial Information & Tech- location of the device. Also, the cate- nology Association (GITA) Board of gories of information displayed on an Directors approved a plan that will 'alarm' or 'clock' screen may change allow the association to continue to based on whether the user is deter- provide services to the geospatial mined to be at home or somewhere industry as a volunteer organisation. else." This is a move necessitated by several years of declining conference GeoEye will get service revenue of Trimble acquires attendance and membership. USD 39.75 million for the three GEOTrac Through a press statement, Bob month ending November 2012, and a Samborski, Executive Director of nine-month option providing for USD Trimble acquired GEOTrac Systems GITA, explained, "GITA will be less 119.3 million, contingent on funding. Inc. - a provider of wireless fleet dependent on conferences and On the other hand, DigitalGlobe management and worker safety solu- physical events and will offer announced that the NGA is consider- tions for the oil and gas industry. It individuals and organisations new ing renewing its EnhancedView con- will be reported as part of Trimble's and different ways to participate tract for the third year. Mobile Solutions segment. The addi- and gain benefit from participation

POLICY

NGA reveals strategy for next four years The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) announced its strategy for 2013-2017. The document 'NGA strategy 2013-2017' observed that NGA and GEOINT are key enablers of national security interests, actions and decisions around the globe. The Strategy aligns with the nation's strategic priorities, goals and objectives as outlined in the National Intelligence Strategy, the Defense Intelligence Strategy and the Secretary of Defense strategic guidance: Sustaining U.S. Global Leadership: Priorities for 21st Century Defense. The document also listed NGA's goal of providing online, on-demand access to its GEOINT and to broaden analytic expertise.

16 Geospatial World I July 2012 in the wider geospatial community. leges but can publish content. Users Radar, laser to The go-forward plan includes a can interact with and consume con- transition to a volunteer operation, tent but not publish it. Jack Danger- identify valuable with the GITA staff transitioning from mond, President, Esri, said, "ArcGIS plant traits full-time employment at the end of Online works with all types of data June." and is built on a powerful enterprise A Texas AgriLife Research applied mapping platform that lets users radar and terrestrial laser-scan- simply manage their geospatial con- ning tools to differentiate types of PRODUCTS tent, such as data, maps, images, plants. It helped researchers in applications and other geographic identifying traits that give the NAVTEQ offers 2011 information." breeding line an advantage when it comes to drought resistance. Canada Census data Nokia announced that its Location & APPLICATIONS Commerce business is the first to launch 2011 Canada Census data in Satellites to study its Census Boundaries product. The Census data will be offered as part of ocean wind the Q1/2012 NAVTEQ Maps database NASA selected an ocean wind study release. When combined with demo- proposal led by the University of graphic data, Census Boundaries Michigan. The proposal, Cyclone becomes a tool for lifestyle and popu- Global Navigation Satellite System The ability to map roots at differ- lation analysis in the fresh and reli- (CYGNSS) will consist of constellation ent depths allows detection of able context of the NAVTEQ map. This of eight micro-satellites, which will plants with deeper roots or roots enables organisations to boost effi- receive both direct and reflected sig- that spread out further. "Our idea ciencies, control costs and make nals from GPS satellites. The direct is if we can identify those plants informed decisions for a range of signals will pinpoint CYGNSS obser- in a population or be able to char- applications. For example, geo-mar- vatory positions, while the reflected acterise the roots below ground, keters can use Census Boundaries to signals will respond to ocean surface we could adapt our varieties to discover population trends and roughness, from which wind speed make them more drought-resist- become informed about where a will be retrieved. ant or drought-tolerant," stated business' key customer segments Sean Thompson, one of the are located. researchers. EVENT Esri releases ArcGIS Online Hexagon 2012 es, Industries and the World Forward, Esri released ArcGIS Online - a showcases latest tech during Hexagon 2012 Conference in cloud-based mapping system. There trend Las Vegas. are three roles in ArcGIS Online: The Conference brought together administrators, publishers, and Hexagon is commited to empower its the latest technologies and user users. Administrators of the ArcGIS customers with actionable informa- communities from Leica Geosystems, Online subscription have the ability to tion to proactively address tomor- Intergraph, Hexagon Metrology and customise, publish and use content, row’s challenges today, stated Ola Novatel, all in one location. The com- and also monitor service consump- Rollén, President and CEO of Hexa- pany claimed that the conference tion through a dashboard. Publish- gon. He was delivering keynote pres- registered 70 percent more attendees ers do not have administrative privi- entation, Hexagon: Moving Business- than last year.

Geospatial World I July 2012 17 CANADA key primary data in a range of appli- Ceará, Goiás, Paraíba, Piauí and Rio cations critical to achieving sustain- de Janeiro. Apart from these maps, GeoBase gets able development. one can also access maps of Acre, Amazonas, Amapá, Bahia, Maranhao, elevation data Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, Mato GeoBase database included updated BRAZIL Grosso do Sul, Pará, Paraná, Per- Canadian Digital Elevation Data nambuco, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio (CDED). The database aims to Terra-i to track Grande do Sul, Rondonia, Roraima, increase the availability of base Santa Catarina, São Paulo & Tocan- geospatial data to all Canadians. deforestation tins at IBGE website. With these According to an official press state- An international team of researchers maps, users can identify the highest ment, the source digital data for from Colombia, the UK, USA and peaks and nomenclature of the hills CDED is the hypsographic and hydro- Switzerland developed Terra-i and and mountains, allowing a more launched during the Rio+20 Confer- detailed knowledge of the territory. ence. They claimed that it is the first ever system to monitor deforestation Google launches across Latin America in near real- cultural map time using satellite data. Terra-i can monitor changes in land cover every Google unveiled a cultural map of 16 days and for every 250 metres on Brazil's Surui indigenous people. It the ground. Preliminary results from can be accessible through Google the new system revealed that in parts Earth. It is a digital tool that will help of Colombia, deforestation increased Amazonian tribe share their vast graphic elements of the National by 340 percent since 2004; and over a knowledge of the forest and fight ille- Topographic Data Base (NTDB) at million hectares of forest have been gal logging. It provides 3-D visualisa- scales of 1:50 000 and 1:250 000, or lost in the Gran Chaco, Paraguay. tion of Surui territory in the north- the Geospatial Data Base (GDB), or western Brazilian state of Rondonia. various scaled positional data IBGE releases maps of Rebecca Moore, Google Earth Out- acquired by the provinces and territo- five states reach leader said that by developing ries, or remotely sensed imagery. The the map Google now had a methodol- CDED plays the same role as con- The Brazilian Institute of Geography ogy that can be used to help other tours and relief shading on conven- and Statistics (IBGE) released five indigenous peoples around the world, tional paper maps. CDED serves as a new physical maps for the states of including in Canada & New Zealand.

VENEZUELA

President approves fund for VRSS-1 sat

The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, approved USD 4.6 million for the VRSS-1 (Venezuelan Remote Sensing Satellite). It is also known as 'Miranda Satellite'. It is the second Venezuelan satellite to be built and launched from China. The President explained that it is a low Earth orbit observation satellite, and will be placed 397 miles away from the Earth. The VRSS-1 is expected to be in orbit between September and October 2012.

18 Geospatial World I July 2012 See us at Esri UC booth 617

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toll-free: +1 678 391 9700 or US callers at 866-453-1609 · [email protected] www.terragotech.com INTERVIEW CONTENT IS THE “NEXT BIG OPPORTUNITY"

Can you share with us the genesis, the motive and order to provide good serv- the journey of TomTom? ices, we had to focus on the ” content in our devices. We TomTom is originally a soft- observed that information ware company. We initially about particular routes was developed applications for not very sophisticated, mobile devices but in the because of the lack of late 1990s, we actively start- understanding of how road ed developing digital maps networks worked. We knew for mobile devices. We were where the road was, where quite excited about it and so the crossings were, but we were our customers did not know how fast peo- because of the possible ple were driving on that road applications. Our pioneering or what was the fastest efforts culminated into a route to one's destination. full-fledged car navigation From 2005-06 onwards, we application in the early aggressively developed that years of the new century. technology and it brought us That was a breakthrough for very close to the content. the industry, which was We started involving our technology-driven until that users in collecting informa- point in time. Car navigation tion and started collecting was not new and neither speed profiles. We started was navigation, but our developing live traffic infor- efforts made it a consumer mation because we consid- product, easy-to-use, ered it to be an important affordable and accessible to ingredient. We also started a wide range of users. It developing feedback mech- changed the life of millions anisms for customers who of car drivers, easing their stress in finding the way on Harold Goddijn the roads. Founder & CEO, TomTom We soon realised that in

20 Geospatial World I July 2012 found inaccuracies in our data or of gation capability is increasing. our content to smartphone makers How is TomTom capitalising on any changes in road network. and developing our own mobile this situation? Around that time, Alain De Taeye applications. This is a growth area of TeleAtlas and I got together. That When we entered the market with and a big revenue stream culminated in a group of companies our products, car drivers had a for us. which is very active in content pro- choice - they either had an expen- duction, content collection and pub- sive in-built system in the car, or It has been four years now that lishing and technology development they had a PND. And we delivered TomTom acquired Tele Atlas. How to use the content in a cost effective the PND with a fantastic value-for- have the individual strengths way to deliver good end-user experi- money. Today, there is an increase in been synergised so far? ence and this enables us power dif- the number of ways consumers can We made good progress though ferent applications.

We are seeing new avenues opening up for content and maps. On the other hand, PND market is on the decline. How is TomTom reorient- ing itself to this reality?

We had a massive success in the PND market in a short time. But today, PND market is declining and this decline (10-20%) has been difficult. We started reorient- ing our business in 2006- 2007 with a bigger focus on content and services and started focusing on automotive market, GIS market and enterprise market, where we saw big potential. While use navigation, location-based serv- there is still lot of scope for there is a decline in consumer busi- ices etc and the way they can con- improvement in further integrating ness, there is growth in these areas. sume those services is much broad- these businesses. We are looking for Today, PND revenue is only 35 per- er than ever before. Mobile phones synergies and bundling our content cent of our total group revenue. are increasingly being used for with software that we developed in However, we have not been able to these services. More and more con- automotive and consumer space. compensate yet. One of our targets tent is getting geo-referenced and We made big progress in the way we is to reach a point where new activi- displayed on a map. So, there is make maps and the way we can ties will deliver overall growth to the enormous growth in the usage of include our communities and con- group. We can see that moment on geographical information systems sumer base to help us create con- the horizon. and data. And there is steep decline tent collectively. A good example is in the prices. We are capitalising on our traffic information product. While PND market is declining, this smartphone revolution in a Going forward, one of the exciting the number of people using navi- number of ways. We are licensing areas is making the use of geo-

Geospatial World I July 2012 21 Significant research is on to TomTom has been providing real Part of the transition from provide real-time geographic time traffic data to governments data. What is the role of sensors and road transport authorities. Tele Atlas to TomTom has in this? How is the response? been the desire to shorten There is lot of excitement. For the the release cycle to get Talking specifically about roads and first time, there is a big database. real time apps and to be traffic, I should say that lot of work Since 2006, we have been filling that able to process changes is going on. This is based on two database with statistical information that one identifies in the themes. Looking specifically at car, about driving. It is a massive source we will increasingly start looking at of information ready to be mined. field quickly the car as a node in the network. We are not tapping it enough but we Once a car is connected to the net- see lot of interest and people are work, there are lots of possibilities. developing applications on top of the graphical information and database We can turn the car into a sensor. database. But it is only valuable much easier for people to use. We We can detect when it is raining, when one can really extract the will bundle that with technology, when it is starting to freeze, if there information as needed and cater to software and applications. This has is a traffic jam and if the direction of diverse categories like engineering already started happening and we traffic has changed. Going forward, companies, governments and traffic made good progress in the enter- we can see cameras in a traffic mis- consultancies which are working on prise market (where there is sion being built-in into a car. One making products that help in real renewed interest and investment) can do some local processing and time, in real life, to plan for traffic and on the GIS side. We foresee our also give data back to the drivers. and make for good policies. revenues in certain areas growing in The second important develop- double digits every year. ment I foresee is that governments TomTom democratised navigation will start publishing their own infor- with its PNDs. Do you see such How do you foresee geospatial mation in an agreed format, which democratisation happening with content getting more live, infor- the industry can pick up and trans- traffic information as well? mation collection more dynamic fer to the customers. So, there is This technology will be a standard and its transmission into traffic more one-to-one relationship equipment in a couple of years. information systems? between people looking after There is lot of traffic information on That's an important point. Part of roads/road networks and the driv- the shelf that is valuable but it is the transition from Tele Atlas to ers. Information can be tailor-made active routing that is important. We TomTom has been the desire to for people who are driving on certain are not selling traffic information; shorten the release cycle to get real routes and at certain times and that we are selling solutions to get users time apps and to be able to process would be a relevant and cost-effec- to their destinations in shortest pos- changes that one identifies in the tive way of distributing information, sible time. By using all those sen-

field quickly and be able to publish enhancing safety and reducing CO2 sors and correct routing, about ten them in near real-time to get closer emissions. percent of travel time in urban areas to real time mapping. In a not too In the future, there is also and up to 30 per cent of travel time distant future, we will be able to opportunity for peer-to-peer com- in congested urban areas can be productise that and go to the market munication, where we will see spe- saved. So it is logical and cost-effec- with fresher and easier-to-maintain cial versions of Wi-Fi protocols tive. maps. The changes in data network being developed for vehicle commu- can be published to our partners in nication. Peer-to-peer communica- What about privacy issues? near real time. These partners can tion can facilitate warnings for traf- Consumers can choose whether be not only governments or enter- fic congestion, but also exchange of they want to participate in a pro- prises, but also end users in cars or information between the car and the gramme or not. But we guarantee PND users. road side equipment. absolute privacy. If we collect data

22 Geospatial World I July 2012 from a car, we don't know which car we collect the data from as the car remains anonymous. The data remains anonymous and aggregat- ed. We don't store anything that can be linked back to the individual driv- er. Europe has strict regulations but they specify that if you treat that information properly, make it anonymous, aggregate it, you can do whatever you want with it. In the real world, privacy is not an issue. What we, others, press, politicians need to do, is to learn about privacy - when is it that we need to worry, and when it is okay. That debate is not very sophisticated yet because it is complex, emotional TomTom has opened Traffic Information Centre in Berlin and not always fact-based because it is very difficult to understand what that information comes with a cer- strategic partners to our local the facts are. You need to be half an tain business model. If you want to customers in India. We want to engineer yourself to understand use Google Maps, you have to use bring all the technology, all the what the policies are. I think the pri- certain applications. learning and understanding we vacy debate will evolve. Currently, But we can deliver our content developed in the international we have a set of rules that are work- in different formats, ensuring context. We are investing in our ing fine and five years from now, we complete privacy. There will be an content and providing our partners might have a different set of rules. important business for that type with software to turn that content of information that is completely into great and exciting end-user Google Maps and Bing Maps are unrestricted in its use and flexibility propositions or business-to-busi- providing access to lot of free is in-built. ness propositions. content. How are you competing Our most important markets are with this kind of facility available What is your strategy for emerging North America and Europe. At a cer- for people? economies like India, China, tain level, saturation is taking place It is true that there is a lot of free Brazil and South Africa? in consumer space in these markets content. But there is a cost associ- We see big opportunity for the con- but there is substantial growth in ated with making it. And typically tent and services we deliver. Cus- automotive business. And we believe tomers are already asking us to we can repeat that in China, India, expand our investments in these Brazil, Indonesia and other coun- In the real world, privacy is countries. Taking India as example, tries. not an issue. What we, it is still nascent in India but we There is lot of investment in that others, press, politicians believe there is great future for car space and growth in areas like navigation, navigation in general and telematics and general licensing. It need to do, is to learn location-based services. Some of is a very high margin business on a about privacy - when is it them will be free, some of them will fixed cost which is a map. We will that we need to worry, and be paid. We want to be there not continue to do what we are doing when it is okay only as strategic partners to our and investing in those areas. Growth international customers, but also as will come back.

Geospatial World I July 2012 23 VOLUNTEERED GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION/CROWDSOURCING

Democratisation of geographic information

While the importance of the expert group of surveyors and cartographers in the context of geospatial information cannot be devalued, amateurs are becoming increasingly active and the sharp boundary between the expert and amateur is getting blurred. Prof. Arup Dasgupta, Managing Editor, analyses the process of democratisation of geo-information

24 Geospatial World I July 2012 CoverCover StorStoryy

he public at large are the biggest stakeholders in With modern systems like GPS the field of geographical applications. The daily receivers, GPS-enabled devices like phones Tacts of transportation, location and recreation, to and cameras and the interactive Web get- name a few, are all geographically referenced. In fact, it ting popular, a whole range of geographic would not be wrong to say that geography provides the data collection and dissemination activities leitmotif to human existence. An individual is a resource emerged, characterised by the generic term for geographical information that is localised and person- “user generated content” al, yet the average citizen hardly had any role to play in the geospatial world. This fact was realised by local level planners and the first attempt to draw on this wealth of of crowd sourcing raises many issues of privacy if it is local information and include it in the more formal tech- used to identify individuals and tracks them to determine nological world of GIS was termed “public participatory their preferred locations and personal interests. geographic information systems, or PPGIS. The attempt in PPGIS is to quantify local information and knowledge THE SOCIAL CONTEXT and in the process give ownership of the system to the Public participation in geospatial activities is a part of the stakeholders. continuum of public participation in ICT. Web 2.0 has giv- With modern systems like GPS receivers, GPS- en rise to the emergence of Web-based communities enabled devices like phones and cameras and the inter- which focus on social networking, social book marking, active Web getting popular, a whole range of geographic blogging and Wikis. VGI and neogeography arise from the data collection and dissemination activities emerged, desire of the average person to tag data to specific loca- characterised by the generic term “user generated con- tions of their interest and share this data with others in tent,” or UGC. Terms such as volunteered geographic the same way as they share on say, Facebook. Informa- information, neogeography and crowdsourcing are spe- tion has become pervasive and ubiquitous and geographi- cific instances of UGC. These terms cover the act of the cal information is following this trend, resulting in a fun- collection and dissemination of geographic information by damental shift in geographic knowledge production and individuals who may or may not be trained surveyors and practice. Chris Thomas, Government Market Manager, geographers but who have sufficient knowledge to be Esri, reflects this when he states that "Esri saw the early able to observe, record and report a geographical feature beginnings through citizen and volunteer group involve- or event. VGI is characterised by a formal set up where ment during disasters where disparate groups began to the public can contribute; a typical example being Google report road conditions, need for water, lack of electricity, Map Maker where tools are provided to the volunteer to enter data which is further subject to review and moderation. Wikimapia is another example but here the review process itself is driven by volunteers. Neogeography, on the other hand, lacks a formal structure. It is more intu- itive, personal and perhaps even idiosyncratic but it is an expression of an individual geographic view - like a mashup. A related term is crowdsourcing where each individual is considered as a sensor and thus is a source of geographic information. Crowdsourcing can be solicited or involuntary. A radio station which looks for traffic reports from citizens is an example of a solicited crowdsourcing. Studying the movement of mobile phone locations to determine traffic congestion is an example of involuntary crowd sourcing. The latter type

Geospatial World I July 2012 25 Box 1 etc. The use of GIS through light weight applications on PROFILE OF VOLUNTEERS smart devices began to increase through focused citizen engagement activities. We witnessed groups and individ- The Report of the EuroSDR campaigns (television, uals using GIS to support a wide range of activities today, Workshop on Crowd Sourc- radio, internet forums, print from reporting graffiti and pot holes, to relaying informa- ing for the Updating of media, etc.). These are National Databases held in mostly once-off mappers tion on the location of endangered species, supporting 2009 identifies several specially motivated by real time collection of broadband connectivity for future types of volunteers. competitions, mapping parties, etc. infrastructure planning, supporting the inventorying of "Groupies" are small groups trees in an urban forest, and much more. The list of of map (or any geodata) The "open mappers" are activities grows each and every day." lovers which produce small groups which spend a trustable and very valuable lot of time to contribute very While the importance of the expert group of surveyors data of great value. valuable and large informa- and cartographers in the context of geospatial information to open source data tion is not to be devalued, at the same time amateurs are The "casual users" are hik- sets or data systems ers, bikers, mountaineers (OpenStreetMap, MapShare, becoming increasingly active and the sharp boundary etc. This group partly over- Google MapMaker, etc.). between the expert and amateur is getting blurred. The laps with the groupies but are distinguished by a lesser The "passive mappers" are advantage that the amateurs have over the experts is that effort and therefore less owners of mobile phones their information is up-to-date and localised but the disadvantage is that the information is not as accurate and reliable as the information from an expert. This process of democratisation, therefore, is not without its dangers. As in other social media, a lot of information can be mis- leading if not downright erroneous.

THE ISSUE OF AUTHENTICITY As can be seen from the profile of volunteers (Box 1) the reliability and authenticity of the VGI ranges from 'low' for data from casual users to 'high' for data from experts. The acceptance of datasets from such a variegated set of volunteers requires special effort. In general, quality of data has multiple dimensions such as absolute and relative geometric accuracy, currency, topological correct- ness, the accuracy of the metadata, the legal aspects and valuable data production. which incorporate GPS the validation stamp by an official agency. VGI may not positioning. The use of this meet all these parameters. The main issue is the fitness The "experts" are active information is restricted by of data for the purpose intended. VGI data to be used in a people and leading map law and/or acceptance of experts in organisations like the individuals. disaster situation should be up-to-date and usable for mountain rescue, fire navigation even if the accuracy is not of map quality. brigades, civil protection, The "mechanical turks": The On the other hand, data which has a higher persistence traffic guides, etc. The Amazon Mechanical Turk is experts have to be identified a crowd sourcing market- by, and committed to, the place and service where mapping agencies with human beings can con- (financial) agreements. tribute to posed tasks for a The advantage the amateurs have over the monetary payment. They can experts is that their information is up-to-date The "media mappers" are be used to gather needed and localised but the disadvantage is that the data for mapping agencies, potentially large groups, acti- information is not as accurate and reliable as vated sporadically by region- but the delivered data would al up to international media need careful checking. the information from an expert

26 Geospatial World I July 2012 level like a road has to be accurate and certified by an “While the authoritative data has authority. to necessarily come from the For example, MapmyIndia, an LBS portal, ensures national mapping organisations, authenticity by validating such crowdsourced information current data is where volunteers with their large in-house team of 400+ professional field can contribute. People are now equipped with technology and surveyors and 150+ map specialist engineers. Hence, this empowers them to provide Ng Siau Yong MapmyIndia data is crowd-augmented yet professionally Director insight to things happening at GeoSpatial Division created and verified, creating a continuous cycle of best, various locations” Singapore Land Authority freshest and most accurate data available for India, says Rohan Verma, Director, MapmyIndia. Information, RMIT University, Australia both feel that THE NMO VIEW from the perspective of cartography, VGI is a very positive development. “Open Street Maps has made an impact on Ng Siau Yong, Director, GeoSpatial Division, Singapore NMOs. The task that NMOs have done in the past as an Land Authority feels that while the authoritative data has authority will partly be covered by both commercial and to necessarily come from the national mapping organisa- volunteered communities. However, a cartographic prod- tions (NMOs), current data is where volunteers can con- uct is a standardised product like a newspaper or a tribute. According to Yong, "There is a sea of potential for movie, but a VGI product is a customisation of that stan- VGI. People are now equipped with technology and this dardised product. Issues of accuracy and reliability of CGI empowers them to provide insight to things happening at data will decide on its acceptability,” they say. various locations. The ability to report an incident speedily These views are reflected in the conclusion of the is very common these days as seen through Twitter and Report of the EuroSDR Workshop on Crowd Sourcing for Facebook. OneMap has recently launched a set of crowd- the Updating of National Databases held in 2009. It states sourcing tools which will enable users to collect crowd- that "a strong collaboration of the mapping agencies and sourced data through a plug-in which one can embed on the research communities in the field of user generated their webpage. A set of crowdsourcing tools or APIs on content, which is identified as an important and valuable OneMap can be used by developers to create their own input in map or geodata updating procedures, content crowdsourcing tools on their websites or create a mobile generation and interaction with the users. There is a lack application to capture data on the move." on experiences, knowledge on interaction Georg Gartner, President, International Cartographic schemes, on techniques, on Association (ICA) and William Cartwright, Depart- ment of Land

Geospatial World I July 2012 27 Box 2 er, there is a limited awareness of the standards as vol- ‘CITIZENS AS SENSORS’ unteers are generally not involved in developing them. As a result, there is limited understanding of their context or The not-so-friendly term of sensory role creates legiti- utility and therefore very few volunteers "buy in" to the 'crowdsourcing' has been in macy, as does an explicit standards. It does not help that standards are difficult to use for quite some time now, opt-in approach to any kind as well as the rather anony- of identifiable tracing - read. Another difficulty is that data must have associated mous-sounding 'volunteered keeping in mind that with metadata. Most volunteers do not know about metadata geographic information.' 'spatial joins,' identification is With 'citizens as sensors,' it never far away. Whenever and those who know, do not appreciate its value. In fact, gets much more specific and we act as citizens, though, data collected by experts often lacks adequate metadata, personal, immediately raising e.g. with a desire for public therefore it is no surprise that VGI has even less metada- concerns of privacy and per- participation, individual iden- haps bringing up a sense of tification typically would be ta. One way of imposing standards without loading the responsibility as 'citizens.' intended. volunteer is to create a gateway through which the volunteered data has to be submitted. Such a gateway inserts Without entering into the Another facet of 'people as complexities of the privacy sensors' frequently gets the requisite standardisation. Examples of such gateways debate and discussing the caught up in this debate: are Google Map Maker, Open Street Maps, Wikiloc, concept of ownership in whenever 'crowdsensing' is one's own data, it is clear truly done to observe clus- 360.org, Wikimapia and Eye on Earth. that location adds an entirely tering, movements and col- The Open Geospatial Consortium has addressed the new dimension to privacy. As lective actions of larger much as presence in a pub- numbers of people, benefits issue of standardisation in VGI and suggests the mapping lic space might seem to be might clearly outweigh the of its Sensor Web Enablement standards to VGI. VGI could all but private, we now critical aspects. Lots of peo- be treated as a complement to remote sensing. Further, recognise from many practi- ple indicate collective behav- cal examples that a person's iour, lots of cars indicate since VGI uses Web 2.0, features would be retrieved from location is an extremely traffic, lots of customers let the Web through a set of well-defined rules. This is simi- powerful key allowing the us measure business - as linking of otherwise inde- long as we stay away from lar to the gateway approach described earlier. Another pendent data sets. The 'spa- Id'ing individuals, the 'crowd' OGC effort, Open GeoSMS is an open-coordinate short tial join' of personal records serves as the protective cov- message service (SMS) standard to allow transmission of is much more critical than er of privacy concerns. the simple tracking of an 'Crowd', all of a sudden, thus map information and communications among different individual, raising legitimate becomes a much more platforms of digital maps. The goal is to share location concerns about where the friendly term! 'people as sensors' evolution information across operating systems and applications. is going. This standard is user generated and is in the process of becoming a standard. “People as sensors,” or “people being observed” might be the most important dis- REGULATORY ISSUES tinction to be made, but VGI is currently a 'free for all' movement. While such unfortunately this is often Josef Strobl kept in a fuzzy state. Thus altruism is to be appreciated, it may fly in the face of legal Director only 'full disclosure' of any University of Salzburg, Austria statutes and restriction in the long run, particularly if and

legal aspects, on production process integration aspects, etc. The dialogue between crowds and mapping agencies “Organisations that encourage or is in most cases not established or is at a very basic level. solicit VGI should provide adequate How to establish, support and motivate a community to training and materials on potential achieve tailored user generated content is seen as one legal risks. The training and the main field of investigation." materials should be tailored for the Kevin Pomfret particular region” Executive Director Centre for Spatial Law & STANDARDS Policy The main issue with VGI is the lack of standards. Howev-

28 Geospatial World I July 2012

and/or solutions to these questions, such that lawyers “VGI has a significant role to play understand the risk and believe it is properly allocated in the industry, and must be harnessed effectively to create given the business relationship, there could be significant a strong positive impact. The push back on integrating VGI with other data solutions". industry must continuously invest Training and documentation are proposed by Kevin to in a strong underlying professional overcome these issues. "Organisations that encourage or Rohan Verma data gathering and verification Director solicit VGI should provide adequate training and materials MapmyIndia backbone and infrastructure” on potential legal risks. The training and the materials should be tailored for the particular region. For example, the legal issues associated with VGI collection in the Unit- when it starts getting integrated into the authoritative ed States are different than those in China. Organisations system. Kevin Pomfret, Executive Director, Centre for can include language in their documents (contracts, Spacial Law and Policy, feels that it will be at this point license agreements, terms and conditions) that outline when "lawyers are likely to begin raising the questions such matters as ownership rights in the data, compliance like who owns and is responsible for the quality of the with local laws, steps taken to insure data quality. While data that is collected - the collector, the entity that aggre- such steps may seem premature in the early stages of gates the collected data or the 'owner' of the information collection, they will prove very helpful later on as in many that is collected. Should the volunteer be solely responsi- cases the strength of the VGI database will only be as ble for complying with all privacy or national security strong as its foundation." laws or should the organisation that encourages the collection or aggregates the information also be liable? Is it IMPACT ON INDUSTRY ethical to encourage volunteers to collect and share such VGI presents a very cost-effective solution for data in information without providing them knowledge of legal data-hungry industries like location-based services. For risks? If VGI providers do not have adequate answers example, MapmyIndia augments its exhaustive geo-database of India with information that comes from hundreds of thousands individual and corporate users of MapmyIndia data and products. Individual users of MapmyIndia's web, mobile and in-car products can easily provide structured and unstructured feedback, such as: adding a new place, editing an existing place, reporting an error, suggesting better routes between places etc. Corporate users continuously provide feeds to Map- myIndia about new Map showing the signal strength levels of various places around the UK from data contributed by Twitter users. Created by Steven Gray outlets which have

30 Geospatial World I July 2012 opened or those that have been shut, as well as changes in routes being used in their daily business operations “In government, VGI is creating a whole new dialogue between dependent on MapmyIndia GIS. VGI has a significant role citizens and government. The to play in the industry, and must be harnessed effectively adaptation of VGI is providing a to create a strong positive impact. There are examples of voice of citizens who may not VGI which are fully unstructured or unverified which in normally have ever engaged Chris Thomas the end create inaccuracies and problems for users. So, with their federal, state, or local Government Market Manager, Esri the industry must continuously invest in a strong underly- governments” ing professional data gathering and verification backbone and infrastructure, observes Rohan. According to Chris of Esri, "We are witnessing a rescue and rehabilitation efforts, the most up-to-date broadened definition of enterprise GIS. One that includes data came not from the UN or the military but from Open society, elected officials, knowledge workers, and govern- Street Maps. Volunteer efforts like Ushahidi provided the ment workers that may not have viewed themselves a platform for collecting VGI. In the Haiti earthquake, professional that would benefit from GIS or data collected 25,186 SMS messages and numerous e-mails, Web, and through GIS. Each week we see the emergence of appli- social media communications resulted in 3,596 georefer- cations we had not thought of coming in from NGOs, enced reports that were displayed cartographically via the start-ups, academia, traditional business partners, and of web and acted on by government and intergovernmental course, our user community". Esri perceives a real humanitarian actors. opportunity in leveraging the VGI movement by adapting Gartner and Cartwright are of the view that "VGI data their products to embrace citizen-to-government applica- might be more useful in urban areas and might replace tions. Esri's new solutions initiative ArcGIS for Local other activities at either commercial or at the national Government provides templates such crowdsourcing, citi- authority level. This holds a big effect for the future of zen requests, emergency management data collection for cartography. The first step of cartography is to get geo VGI that can be combined with other templates for a full data in order to make maps and cartographic products. service experience. The cartographic communication process is Companies such as City Sourced influenced by users’ needs." This implies have emerged as data collectors of citi- that the volunteer can become a major zen requests. By linking to a Web GIS influence in the urban planning and man- like ArcGIS Online and with a better agement process. Municipalities do understanding of the workflows, GIS depend on volunteer information for could support such a data source with a maintenance of their assets. The product that could support the full impact of urban planning could be operation. The data collected by the judged in advance through a citizen could be pulled into the back process of consultation with and office where GIS analysis could be data collection from volunteers. performed, executives could view the Chris Thomas opines that "in information on their dashboards, government, VGI is creating a and the information could be con- whole new dialogue between sumed into CRM and 311 applica- citizens and government. tions. The adaptation of VGI is providing a voice of citizens IMPACT ON GOVERNANCE who may not normally Perhaps the biggest impact that VGI has have ever engaged is on crisis management. It is a well with their federal, known fact that during the Haiti earthquake state or local

Geospatial World I July 2012 31 Box 3

EMPOWERING CITIZENS IN URBAN PLANNING

The city of Norrköping in Sweden is In the service, empowering its citizens to plan the the user easily future city centre. The city planning navigates in office of Norrköping has initiated a proj- an interactive ect to communicate plans for the new 3D view of city centre as well as engage the citizens Norrköping to contribute with ideas. and explores the city. Infor- The service in Norrköping is based on mation points Agency9s CityPlanner, a Web-based provide details service for collaboration and communi- in text, images cation in urban development and infra- and 3D mod- structure projects. Agency CityPlanner is els. The user provided as a cloud service and allows can comment projects to: and read others' com- > View virtual model of existing ments directly terrain and 3D city in the 3D environment. Unlike traditional "We are overwhelmed by the positive > Create scenes of project models physical models in closed exhibition response from citizens and media. Within and vector data halls, the Web services are available a few days of the release of the service, > Share project information in to citizens 24 hours a day. This is a there were many qualified comments project teams new channel to attract the younger from citizens proving its value. The generations and people too busy to attractive near reality presentation of the > Publish externally as project visit exhibition meetings and hearing city in 3D combined with the simplicity in information meetings, to communicate projects accessing information brings clarity and and build positive support for proposed makes it easy to create interest from citi- > Consult stakeholders in formal plans. The service was released by zens. We will continuously monitor the planning process Norrköping Municipality in connection inputs as contribution in our develop- > Engage external users to provide with a local real estate event on ment of the city," says Dag Johansson new ideas and suggestions. April 13-15. City Architect of Norrköping.

governments. The data collected by these groups at IN CONCLUSION times may have taken years to collect or may never have VGI is here to stay. A connected community will find been collected at all. The citizen engagement component expression through many means. Social media is a mani- is bringing GIS to a much wider audience. Not just the festation of this power. Add to this a geo-equipped com- people collecting the data in the field, but elected officials munity and we have geo-social networks, a powerful lob- recognise the importance of leveraging the communities by of volunteers and activists who can add to geographic within their communities. These elected officials have information. OSM and Ushahidi are examples of how this always known what GIS was but now they can realise a power can be fruitfully harnessed. Governments and whole new use that impacts them in more personal ways. NMOs in particular are aware of the potential of this net- New geospatial workflows are being created. Thus, new work. It will take some time before this potential can be analytical processes and visualisation products are com- harnessed as an authoritative data source. Chris Thomas ing to the forefront." sums this up succinctly when he says "The world is adapting and communicating quite differently. The road ahead is stimulated by the imagination of individuals that VGI is here to stay. A connected community will have picked up GIS for the first time and reintroduced find expression through many means. Social new apps at every turn. I for one love to wake up each media is a manifestation of this power. Added day to see new things on the horizon." to this is a geo-equipped community Prof Arup Dasgupta Managing Editor, [email protected]

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Georg Gartner President International Cartographic Association

As an old science and art, what are the challenges facing cartog- to use the most efficient presenta- possibility in mobile phones. But, raphy today? tion model for a particular scenario. there are more variables to cover, I would call cartography a discipline Today, there are a range of presen- most notably the user. Every user that deals with the triangle of tation models available, like 2D, 3D, has different needs and interests science, art and technology. It has animation etc. Maps are a very pow- and the scenario they are in can be benefitted from its long tradition erful tool of communication where a modelled. Adopting ubiquitous and history but at the same time, new trend of personalisation is also computing in our domain will cartography is also as modern as emerging. significantly impact cartography in ever due to the increase in demand the future. for geospatial information and the This also ties in with ubiquitous need to comunicate it effectively. mapping. Can you explain ubiqui- You have talked of cartography as Modern cartography is facing chal- tous mapping in more detail? communication. Can you discuss lenges like producing Ubiquitous mapping refers to geomedia techniques? cartographic models in near real anything that is derived from Web Geomedia techniques are the time. Another challenge before mapping or location-based services underpinning technologies used to modern cartographers is putting to get access to and have maps fulfill the task of communicating maps on various kinds of devices available anytime, anywhere. It is spatial information. Any technique, like mobile phones. There is a need not a vision anymore. It is already a be it map, a 3D model or location-

34 Geospatial World I July 2012 based augmented reality, which is doubt, the easiest way would be to related to location or geo-datum, is ask someone for directions. But in If people are aware of a geomedia technique. my view, this process will give what I the space they are in, call distorted mental awareness of they can make better How does visualisation fit in? space. A person might be able to use of that space. Visualisation is a method of commu- find way from point A to B but might Semantic descriptions, nication to make use of the geome- not be able to find the way back, or enriched with landmark dia techniques. take a shortcut. Our research has information, give a more shown that people are not able to human-like navigation Other than visualisation, modern act in space properly if they have a cartography includes non-visualisa- distorted awareness of the space. tion techniques and methods as well. For example, a car navigation On the other hand, research shows gation. It also relates to a person's system is a cartographic task. If that if the person is using a map, emotional relation to space. We, as someone needs directions while that feeds him and allows him to act humans, have a permanent emo- driving on a highway, they would in space. I call it spatial awareness. tional relation with space. For exam- prefer acoustic information to a If people are aware of the space ple, a girl, at night time, would wish map. They would prefer may be a which they are in, they can make to take a certain route because of small graphical representation of an better use of that space. Semantic the comfort factor even if it is not area. This is a cartographic task descriptions, enriched with land- the shortest. We are undertaking an whereby spatial information is being mark information, give us a more approach known as EmoMap (emo- communicated in innovative. human-like navigation. tional map), as a layer to Open- StreetMap. Here, our relations to So, cartography is no longer only At the same time, we are also trying space are being mapped. about the visual aspect? to analyse things like why human Modern cartography includes all beings tend to act/react differently The address system in Europe is kinds of communication channels. in different places in terms of navi- very organised but in countries That is why it makes sense to have multimedia packages and acoustic channels to transmit spatial information. Human beings are very visually oriented and even if they have all kinds of acoustic possibilities and options, they would still like to have a map or a small screen device. In many Asian countries, people are more used to non-visual approach. If they want to go to a particular place, they simply ask for directions...

: Salzburg Research t i

d I will give you the example of way- e r

o finding. If a person wants to find his t o

h way from place A to place B, there P are various possibilities involved. If a person has to find a place, then no Augmented reality

Geospatial World I July 2012 35 over the world either already are, or president of ICA, undertook a big Cybercartography is will be influenced by it. The tasks project on Canadian sources which becoming more relevant that NMOs have undertaken in the is called cybercartography. The now because the move past as an authority will partially be architecture of that project was to from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0 covered by both commercial and bring human sciences, technical is based on semantics. An volunteered communities. However, sciences and art - the three pillars emerging concept is Web VGI data poses many questions - of cartography I mentioned - togeth- 4.0 which would see the how reliable that data is and the er, to build new theories, new meth- doing away of human- area and context in which we might ods and new tools to get a better machine interface be able to use them. From the per- insight into modern cartography spective of cartography, it is an methodologies and technologies. interesting development. Currently like India, addresses are not very we are witnessing parallel worlds. The term cybercartography is well defined. People usually posi- There are national authorities that becoming more relevant now tion themselves with their neigh- do their work because the govern- because the move from Web 2.0 to bours. Can EmoMap play a role in ment wants them to, commercial Web 3.0 is based on semantics. This such a situation? companies want to make money by links to cybercartography. The I agree that such situations need a providing information to feed the emerging concept is Web 4.0 which structured system. Emotional map- industry and then there are the vol- would see the doing away of ping can have its advantages in such unteers. In the future, I wish these human-machine interface. We just a system. For example, if one wants worlds come together in the best talked about ubiquitous computing to give directions to an old relative, sense. and ubiquitous cartography. The way they can refer to landmarks that I see it, the time is not far when we existed earlier but no longer exist. Is ICA recognising such efforts by will not even need to carry the The relatives can identify with such volunteers? device around - there will be semi- landmarks. So if I am connected via Yes, very much. ICA is the world devices planted everywhere and social media to a particular group of authority body for cartography and maybe also implanted in humans. people, I can use EmoMap in a way GI science, both of which are closely MIT Media Labs has developed that I allow them to get my person- inter-woven. For instance, think of "sixth sense technology" based alised spatial relations as well. SDI, geospatial analysis or geovisu- on the theory that most of our Where the public in general is con- alisation - all these are types of communication also involves cerned, I can aggregate that infor- activities in cartography and GI sci- communicating with hands. Do mation. Therefore, many people who ence. ICA encompasses all these you see this kind of technology have the same pattern lead to a par- activities. In terms of reaching out to making a presence in cartogra- ticular recommendation. We call these new developments, we have phy? this collaborative filtering - search very active Commissions. We have This kind of technology definately engines use the same technique. assigned some strategic MoUs with holds big potential in cartography. A organisations like OSGeo with whom mobile device that can be used as a How is cartography transforming with crowdsourcing and volun- we are working very closely under projector would be perfect for car- teered geographic information? the ICA flag. We have already set up tography. However, a problem is that Volunteered geographic information an establishment each in Africa, as a pointer, people might not feel (VGI) is significantly influencing car- Asia and Europe. Another one in comfortable as being visible in their tography. The biggest project influ- North America is in the pipeline. environment. If someone wants to encing VGI is OpenStreetMap. VGI is know about a particular building, becoming such a significant phe- Can you shed some light on they will have to point towards it, nomenon that even national map- cybercartography? which makes them prominent in ping organisations (NMOs) from all Professor Fraser Taylor, former their environment. However, gener-

36 Geospatial World I July 2012 Panoramic tourist map of resort Sunny Beach, Bulgaria. The map, based on a real 3D digital model of terrain, buildings and facilities, was a winning entry at the 25th International Cartography Conference. ally speaking, I see lot of benefits One of the missions of ICA is the We are also working with the open from these new technologies, like transfer of new cartographic and source community and have work- projection, for cartography. Wear- geographic technology and knowl- shops dedicated to developing coun- able computing too may be used as edge, especially among developing tries. Open source software will be a tool to interact with the space we nations. What are ICA’s initiatives able to provide free data. ICA will are in, either for way-finding or in this direction? provide the information to developing information about the awareness of We are very keen and active on countries regarding this data. As that space. This is definitely the getting memberships from the ICA's president, I have started taking direction in which modern cartogra- developing nations. I have travelled some steps in this direction. So far, phy is looking. to India, Tunisia and am travelling to all our Commissions are entitled to other African countries to make act as they want, individually. We are While cartography is very much them aware about the possibilities now putting in place a working group technology driven, there is always an and options of getting linked to that synchronises the activities of element in the communication international organisations. the Commissions to make the most process which is not dependent on We are also developing and running of these activities. ICA encourages technology. It is important to make dedicated outreaching capacity countries all over the world to con- communication processes efficient, building programmes. Under this, tact us if they are interested in such accurate, pleasing, comfortable and we are conducting 2-3 days' initiatives, even if they are not mem- fitting into the situation. This ele- hands-on workshops on modern bers. We would like to reach out ment is missing in modern cartog- cartography and technologies like with our experts and the skills and raphy products. Web mapping. knowledge which are with the ICA.

Geospatial World I July 2012 37 NATIONAL MAPPING AGENCIES BetweenBetween aa rockrock andand aa hardhard locationlocation

social network services, location- Pressurised to remain viable in delivering authoritative based shopping applications, loca- geospatial data in challenging economic times, many national tion-enabled search and location- mapping and cadastral agencies are developing strategies to based mobile advertising. Additional- ly, increasing demand for personal incorporate crowdsourced data into their production processes navigation and LBS that provide users with points of interest (POI) e are much more location (GNSS)-enabled mobile phones. information augurs well for the aware now than we were a future of this market and the associ- Wfewyears ago and location- The location revolution ated geospatial data based services (LBS) are reshaping The global market for LBS is project- market. how we plan trips, meet friends and ed to reach over USD 21 billion in This location revolution in our find good local restaurants (Steudler annual revenue by 2015, registering personal lives is being mirrored in et al, 2012). Web 2.0 around 1.24 billion subscribers our professional lives. Geospatial social media has turned location- (PRWeb, 2012). The market is being information is increasingly being based and has moved social driven by the proliferation of GNSS- used to ensure that emergency serv- media from cyberspace to real enabled smart phones, growing pop- ices arrive at incidents in time, to place (Sui and Goodchild, 2011). ularity of mobile commerce support the formulation of policies to Most location-based social media and increasing usage mitigate the impact of climate allow users to know and see on a of location change, to ensure that map where their friends are physi- based services are cally located at a particular time, pri- marily based on global navigation satellite systems

38 Geospatial World I July 2012 better targeted to citizens’ needs and sourcing approach is also known as devices that can sense and can be to empower citizens and communi- "citizen cyberscience", "volunteered sensed. Ubiquitous sensing has ties to manage their localities more geographic information" and "neo- entered the back pocket and hand- effectively. A recent McKinsey report geography" (McLaren, 2011). bag. In the case of mobile phones, a (McKinsey, 2011) The highest significant amount of information is estimates that in profile mapping- captured passively (usually with the 2020, the world- Citizen sensors in based crowdsourc- authority of the user). The phenome- social media are wide personal ing initiative is nal growth of social media, such as providing new sources geospatial data of real-time and OpenStreetMap Facebook and Twitter and the more market will gener- dynamic geospatial which in 2004 recent development of location- ate over USD 100 information that spearheaded the based social networking have raised billion in revenues can be used in time- democratisation of awareness of location issues across for the service critical or real-time mapping. It is per- society - for example the Foursquare providers and gen- monitoring and fectly adequate for (www.foursquare.com) social check- decision making erate USD 700 bil- many applications in site. These citizen sensors in lion of value to and is completely social media are providing new end users by 2020; free to reuse under sources of real-time and dynamic data is the new currency. the Open Database Licence (ODbL) geospatial information that can be and has certainly influenced both used in time-critical or real-time Citizen involvement in public and private sector data sup- monitoring and decision making. location revolution pliers. As well as geospatial information Traditionally, governments have had State governments in Victoria, supporting outdoor navigation, the their own formal channels for col- Australia and North-Rhine West- integration of inertial measurement lecting public sector geospatial phalia, Germany use a 'private' units (IMUs) into future generations information, normally through crowd and employ volunteers to of mobile phones will provide national mapping and cadastral input to their mapping programmes geospatial data on the layout of agencies (NMCA). Originally, internal (Coleman et al., 2010). In the com- buildings through passive crowd- resources were used, but over the mercial domain, firms such as sourcing to provide more effective past 30 years, the private sector has NAVTEQ and TomTom use Web- support of indoor navigation. increasingly been involved in the col- based customer input to locate and Crowdsourced data is people lection and maintenance of data qualify mapping errors and/or fea- centric and have strengths in local through outsourcing and partnership ture updates required in their road knowledge, higher currency, wider agreements. However, a dramatic network databases. range of geospatial data, greater shift in how geospatial data is Not all capture of crowd- attribution and sourced is unfolding through the sourced information is good direct involvement of citizens in active. They are crowdsourcing. Its roots lie in the increasing- increasing convergence of three phe- ly car- nomena: the widespread use of rying GNSS and image-based mapping technologies by professionals and expert amateurs; the emerging role of Web 2.0, which allows more user involvement and interaction and the growth of social networking tools, practices and culture. This crowd-

Geospatial World I July 2012 39 Combining crowdsourced These proposed strategies range based social media and passive data with authoritative from using open crowdsourced data crowdsourcing. This will place fur- data is perceived to to just derive change intelligence; ther pressure on the survival of devalue the NMCA through using crowdsourced data NMCAs who will retreat to the dimin- authoritative products from more trusted targeted sources, ishing market for authoritative and potentially increase e.g. professional map users such as geospatial data. their exposure to mountain guides; to the NMCA act- Geospatial data used to be defini- litigation ing as a moderator of semi-struc- tive and expensive and there were no tured crowdsourced inputs similar to alternatives. The fusion of sources of vernacular. However, crowdsourced the Wikipedia approach. Most geospatial information from the pub- data is not normally managed in a NMCAs are cautious about this lic sector, commercial companies, systematic manner with moderation change as combining crowdsourced the citizen as a 'prosumer' and the and therefore tends to have inconsis- data with authoritative data is per- expanding sensors in the 'Internet of tent coverage with variable and ceived to devalue the NMCA authori- Things' is transforming the geospa- unknown quality and authenticity. tative products and potentially tial information landscape. Society Despite these drawbacks, crowd- increase their exposure to litigation. now has access to an ever increasing sourced geospatial data is being The global technology companies rich set of geospatial information used in an increasing number of pro- have understood the power of loca- and associated location-based infor- fessional and social applications tion and just how effective the use of mation services that are embedded where accurate, authoritative and geospatial data is in generating sig- and pervasive in our professional and assured (AAA) geospatial data is not nificant revenues through location personal lifestyles.

required. It is delivering significant based-shopping applications, loca- Robin McLaren benefits to developing countries tion-enabled search and location- Director, Know Edge Ltd where up-to-date mapping is sparse. based mobile advertising. Where [email protected] these companies cannot source The impact of crowd- existing geospatial data, they cre- sourced geospatial data ate their own sources with on NMCAs increasing levels of detail and The increasing availability of free to quality. These data will be reuse geospatial data from crowd- augmented by crowdsourc- sourcing, the powerful private tech- ing, increasingly sourced nology companies and public through location- sector open data initiatives are putting pressure on NMCAs to remain viable in delivering their authoritative geospatial data in challenging economic times. Many NMCAs are developing strategies to incorporate crowdsourced data into their production processes.

40 Geospatial World I July 2012 TRANSFORM THE WAY THE WORLD WORKS

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1 KUWAIT ENVIRONMENT PUBLIC AUTHORITY Citizen power to the fore

• Create credible knowledge on the uthentic environmental commonly with people over the state and value of the environment in information is fast becoming internet. eMISK is an ambitious proj- Kuwait through assessment, analysis Aa necessity, just like any ect initiated and implemented by the and reporting of environmental data other strategic information neces- Environmental Inspections, Monitor- • Promote and disseminate environ- sary for human health and sus- ing and Emergencies Department mental knowledge to all levels of the Kuwaiti society through a web portal tainable use of our environmental (EIMED) at Kuwait EPA. It envisions resources. Issues ranging from an internationally recognised centre Among the major contributions reduced availability of fresh water, of excellence for analysis and dis- of eMISK to Kuwait has been the contamination of natural systems, semination of environmental knowl- development of an official environ- waste management, sustainable edge, providing authoritative strate- mental portal of Kuwait, called use of resources, population gic and timely information for the "Beatona" (www.beatona.net). The growth, air pollution and climate government, companies, word "Beatona" stands for "Our changes, conservation of biodiver- researchers and the Kuwaiti public Environment" in Arabic language and sity and land degradation to reme- for development and implementation represents EPA's commitment diation of oil spills and land mines of policies and decisions for a sus- towards creating environmental have all remained hot topics of dis- tainable environment. It thus carries awareness among the people of cussion at public forums and a mission to evaluate and highlight Kuwait. Contributions from various media conferences in Kuwait. the values of the environment and government entities and organisa- To tackle the above mentioned put authoritative environmental tions form an integral part of the challenges through the provision of knowledge at the centre of decision- information offered through Beatona, sound geo-environmental data, the making in Kuwait. due to which it boasts of being the Kuwait Environment Public Authority 'one-stop-shop' for sharing authen- (KEPA) took an initiative in 2010 by eMISK OBJECTIVES tic environmental information in establishing the 'Environmental • Support KEPA in its duties and man- Kuwait. Monitoring Information System of dates for environmental monitoring Beatona was formally released Kuwait (eMISK)', as a unique reposi- • Support the development and adop- for public access on 31 March 2012. tion of policies and practices contribut- tory of geo-environmental informa- ing to conservation and sustainable use Beatona today shares all possible tion relating to Kuwait that is shared of the environment environmental information over the

GIS layer showing soil types in Kuwait GIS layer showing protected areas in Kuwait Case Study

42 Geospatial World I July 2012 The public can report an environmental problem using "Fix Our Environment" The public can identify the location of the problem and upload the information and up module to three photos

internet to facilitate easy access to organised in an easy to manoeuvre respective department can directly the valid scientific information on interface that bares all information, approach the user through optionally Kuwait's environment. The portal is grouped into easy to follow domains. provided phone numbers or email envisioned to play a leading role in All information in this section is address. raising awareness of the value of the available for free download and use. In the near future, Beatona is environment among Kuwait resi- contemplating launching another VGI dents. The information hosted on VGI AT BEATONA initiative with a focus on bringing vol- Beatona is made available through Volunteered Geographic Information unteered amateur information on the two main components, namely, the (VGI) is an integral part of Beatona sightings of birds and other wild "Environmental Explorer" and the and offers an excellent tool based on species spotted within the land and "Knowledge Base". The "Environ- the concept called "Fix Our Environ- marine territories of Kuwait. This mental Explorer" holds a wealth of ment", which is designed to seek particular initiative is planned to be first-hand environmental information public inputs in the upkeep of envi- designed for wild-life enthusiasts, in the form of geographic maps, GIS ronmental health and hygiene of the bird watchers and amateur fishing layers and time series data for vari- region. The application allows the and diving members of the society to ous environmental parameters public to directly access the website report their occasional findings into (including; air quality, water quality, and locate issues of environmental the volunteered living resource reg- quality of marine water and sedi- concern using a web-based enter- istry of Kuwait. ments and many other parameters). prise GIS system. It also allows the The information thus submitted The Environment Explorer also people to report a problem that will be broadly classified into king- has modules to inform public on the needs attention. The information doms, phylum, orders etc. and sent quality of Air and Water through thus submitted is reviewed by the for ratification by the appropriate modules called "Our Environment content administrator and classified subject matter specialists for Status", where the user can see for and marked for attention and action approval. Once ratified, it will be himself/herself the quality of air and by the appropriate department. reported with the authority of the water through a time window of Accordingly, the latest status is person who reported the presence his/her choice. reflected on the Web portal for the along with scientific and common Beatona also has a comprehen- information of the public. name of the species for the knowl- sive section on environmental knowl- The operation of the tool is edge of public. It is hoped that a edge base that is home to all kinds designed in simple steps where the freely downloadable mobile phone of articles, news and multimedia user can also upload photographs application would allow the users to files including videos, photographs, captured with mobile phones. Once upload geo-tagged photographs and magazines and maps related to the problem is addressed or needs descriptions, giving unprecedented Kuwait and its environment. The further clarification from the boost to the inventory of wild animals

information under this section is reporter, the concerned staff of the and plants of Kuwait. Case Study

Geospatial World I July 2012 43 PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEM - LIBYA A speedy recovery of health system

n 12 December 2011, in online community emergency Robert Colombo Llimona, a response teams. OGIS analyst for the Vulnera- The purpose of the project was The Libyan Government, bility and Risk Analysis and Map- to get a final Health Facility Reg- with support from the ping (VRAM) at the World Health istry GIS layer for Libya, which World Health Organisation, Organisation (WHO) Mediterranean would include the location type and is rebuilding the health Center for Health Risk Reduction names of the health facilities (HF) system in the country based (WMC) in Tunisia, contacted the across the country along with their on geographic information Standby Task Force, Open Street status. This was to be the starting collected with strong Map (OSM) and GISCorps to point for providing a crucial service participation of volunteer request support on a project relat- to the local community since the committees ed to the public health system in public health infrastructure was Libya. The Standby Task Force starting to get back "online" as its (SBTF) is a volunteer-based net- capacity was starting to increase work that represents the first wave again, which would benefit the entire field and identify which HF's were community and still operational, which ones were citizens. not and in doing so collect the statis- WHO was tical data to create a strategy of fast looking for recovery for the national health sys- datasets to try tem. to compile a WHO already had two of its staff basic layer with in Libya working on this specific which to start project (collecting data, points, visit- work. Once this ing places, etc.) but they needed to basic layer be more precise in their approach, (which included which is why they wanted to make the HFs that sure the volunteers could gather all were in place the existing, valid and original before the revo- datasets. lution and The SBTF decided to immediately fighting) would start a deployment and sent out a be compiled, call for action to their 800 volun- WHO could teers, while at the same time creat- properly start ing a Google spreadsheet to collect its assessment the data found online by the volun- of the actual teers, merging it with the already public health existing data and possible other situation in the sources founded by the volunteers. Case Study

44 Geospatial World I July 2012 The volunteers from OSM and SBTF coordinated all their efforts using a dedicated Skype chat and a common documentation page, while GIS Corps were responsible for cleaning the data and deleting duplicates. The deployment ran through the entire holiday period (December- January) and the second phase of the project started when it was clear that no more information could be found online. HumanitarianOpenStreetMap Team (HOT)/OSM created a Web interface to allow anyone from Libya to add information missing on the health facilities founded by the volunteers or to add new facilities that In-progress Google worksheet showing newly added health facilities were not already inserted. The platform was entirely written in Arabic and user friendly to allow anyone to use it. This project is an example of the fact that volunteered geographic information (VGI) today is not only the harnessing of tools to create, assemble and disseminate geographic data provided voluntarily by individuals (Goodchild, 2007), like GISCorps, OpenStreetMap and the Standby Task Force, but it also includes participatory approaches to geographic information systems. According to WHO, as a volunteer

Libya Health Facility Registry with detailed coordinates of health facilities

community, three volunteer techni- will be used by the Libyan Govern- According to the WHO, cal communities (VTCs) have helped ment, with support from WHO, to three volunteer technical them gather more data in four weeks help rebuild and set in place the communities have helped than a single person, working 20 health system in Libya in the near them gather more data in hours per day, could have done in future. This data became part of the four weeks than one person, three months. The online volunteers Ministry of Health's baseline infor- working 20 hours per processed more than 600 facilities mation for their reconstruction day, could have done in and precisely mapped more than 400 three months efforts will be a key element for of those. According to WHO, all the future emergencies, system analysis collected and compiled information and maintenance. Case Study

Geospatial World I July 2012 45 QUEENSLAND RECONSTRUCTION AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIA Rising from disaster

hen floods, Tropical infrastructure and assets - including the flood on specific communities," Cyclone Yasi and severe schools, rail, homes, roads and says Cushing. Wstorms wreaked havoc bridges. The map, developed using The GIS technology behind the across the Australian state of Esri's ArcGIS technology, is also an QRA map has also had an influence Queensland during 2011, the dis- invaluable tool aiding businesses and beyond the reconstruction effort, asters destroyed billions of dollars the community at large with situa- providing the impetus for collabora- of property and infrastructure and tional awareness of infrastructure tion between State Government took more than 30 lives. In the reconstruction progress. departments and local councils. crises' wake, the Queensland The QRA map features a commu- Cushing informed, "Each of these Reconstruction Authority (QRA) nity feedback tool that is facilitating a stakeholders has specialised data was formed to guide the biggest two-way information exchange which is highly useful for other levels rebuilding effort in the state's his- between the government and com- of government. For example, the tory. munity. QRA Director of Data and Department of Environment and To provide Resource Man- Australians with agement devel- a comprehen- oped accurate sive, up-to-date maps and spa- insight into how tial layers of the reconstruc- actual flooding tion process was events and flood unfolding, QRA plains which are partnered with assisting local Esri Australia's authorities and Professional relevant recov- Services team to ery agencies in develop an inter- better planning active, online for future natu- map. Updated ral disaster An interactive flood check map daily with data events.” collated from various sources on the Performance Mark Cushing said GIS When floods again ravaged ground - such as the Transport technology ensured that Queens- Queensland in 2012, this time in the Department with road condition land's reconstruction programme State's Western Downs district, the updates, councils and members of was open and transparent. "By pro- map was quickly updated to include the community - the site displays the viding access to the latest govern- information about inundated towns current status and condition of infra- ment rebuilding information in the such as Mitchell, Roma and St structure and assets across Queens- visual and easy-to-understand for- George. But the value of the map land. mat via an interactive map, the web- extends beyond its ongoing role of With a click of a mouse, viewers site also provided the community and documenting natural disasters and can select affected communities and local government with opportunity to informing the community during

Case Study view disaster imagery of impacted provide feedback on the impact of times of crisis.

46 Geospatial World I July 2012 196_260_geospatialworld.inddd 1 2 DISASTER RESPONSE UserUser generatedgenerated datadata toto thethe rescuerescue

Satellite imagery depicts survivor camps in the aftermath of Haiti earthquake. Image courtesy GeoEye

With maps and geospatial data playing a critical role in crisis preparedness and response, here's a look at how Google Crisis Response team is working with response organisations to help find ways to make emergency information more accessible and actionable

vidence suggests that during tial data are often at the heart of als. In the immediate aftermath of a crisis, people are increas- these technology trends and play a the earthquake, the team worked Eingly turning to the Web, critical role in crisis preparedness with existing satellite imagery part- mobile phones and social media to and response. ners at GeoEye and DigitalGlobe to find emergency-related information rapidly collect and publish satellite such as when to evacuate, where to Evolution of Google Crisis data. NGOs and response groups on find shelters, how to locate emer- Response the ground were able to use this gency care, or how to find news After the devastating Haiti earth- imagery and related vector data to about loved ones. Emergency service quake in January 2010, the Google create offline maps, combine data personnel are also using cloud- Crisis Response team was formed to sets and run analysis. based technologies and mobile work with response organisations Because the Google Crisis device platforms to assess impact, and help find ways to make emer- Response team was able to release coordinate response efforts across gency information more accessible the data in open formats with freely agencies and provide useful informa- and actionable - both for affected available APIs and leverage its exist- tion to the public. Maps and geospa- individuals and response profession- ing consumer tools, all organisations

48 Geospatial World I July 2012 who wanted to consume this infor- of people. The Google Crisis mation could do so easily on their In the 2010 earthquake that Response team released own. Trying to coordinate data shar- struck Christchurch, New Zealand, the data in open formats ing directly with each group on the Custom Maps were also used by var- with freely available ground in such a situation would ious community members and APIs, enabling all have proved unsustainable and oner- organisations to provide information organisations who ous for everyone involved. about the locations of shelter, food, wanted to consume this Government agencies, NGOs, water and other critical community information to do so commercial organisations and con- needs. Residents were able to use, easily on their own cerned citizens are all important share and enhance this map of criti- players in the collection and provi- cal resources in the aftermath of the sion of information during crises. event. The result was a mixture of Having tools available that are easy crowdsourced and official data which US East Coast, in the summer of to use and readily available is an allowed users to better understand 2011. Due to heavy rains that accom- important component to fostering the resources that were available panied Irene, the state of Vermont open data and coordination. In sup- and where volunteer efforts should experienced its worst flooding in port of its partners’ efforts, the be focused. decades, as well as hundreds of mil- Google Crisis Response team A more recent example is the lions of dollars in estimated dam- Satellite imagery depicts survivor camps in the aftermath of Haiti earthquake. Image courtesy GeoEye worked with Google Map Maker, aftermath of Hurricane Irene, which ages. Since so much of the state's which provides for an easy way to affected areas in the Caribbean and infrastructure was affected by the update base-layer data and quickly make it available to others via the public Google Maps interface and API. For poorly mapped or remote locations where long-term response efforts are happening, NGOs and volunteers can use Google Map Maker to improve Google's map of the infrastructure and resources in order to improve coordination and planning for everyone.

Customised maps Users can also create customised maps and share them on Google infrastructure using Google Custom Maps. People have used this tool to mark emergency medical stations, to note areas of disease outbreak or to identify infrastructure damage. Dur- ing Israel's Haifa forest fire in 2010, local media used Custom Maps to provide the public with a rapidly evolving evacuation map that could be simultaneously updated and shared with hundreds of thousands Custom Maps in the aftermath of earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, provided the community with critical recovery information.

Geospatial World I July 2012 49 power of data visualisation in disaster preparedness and recovery, there is still a need to encourage the continued adoption of open data formats and better data licensing so that information is more accessible. The Google team believes that governments and organisations should encourage the use of Web- friendly open standards, especially KML, WMS and WFS, whenever possible so that

State of Vermont crisis map highlights the impact of severe flooding. people can quickly share and visualise flooding - including road closures, ing to the event, Google team was data in disaster situations. collapsed bridges and electrical out- able to immediately publish a crisis Google Crisis Response team’s ages - the need for timely access to map that combined many key disaster response work has high- a broad range of geospatial datasets geospatial datasets, including United lighted the role of geospatial data in was paramount. Working with the States Geological Survey stream crisis preparedness and response Vermont Agency of Transportation gages, Red Cross shelters, bridge over the past few years but its real and other various agencies respond- closures and road access. Being able potential is only beginning to be to mash up these crisis-related uncovered. The first and most critical datasets into a single comprehen- step that we can take toward a better While relief organisations sive map capable of taking the load system is to work toward simple, and governments have of potentially millions of views a day standard and open internet-based long understood the power meant that government and media technologies to better help emer- of data visualisation in websites were able to re-publish a gency responders and populations disaster management, comprehensive view of the event affected by devastating natural dis- there is still a need to that was viewable by non-technical asters collaborate. This approach encourage the continued users across a range of browsers will allow an army of developers and adoption of open data and devices. volunteers to contribute, create and formats and better data find solutions for the needs that are licensing so that informa- Way forward unique to each event.

tion is more accessible While relief organisations and gov- Ryan Falor ernments have long understood the Product Manager, Google Crisis Response

50 Geospatial World I July 2012

STANDARDS

Geospatial encoding and service interface standards, especially open standards, are essential elements in the success of VGI policies, initiatives and business schemes

dvances in positioning tech- provides citizens in more than 40 and FourSquare depend on user nologies, Web mapping, cel- countries the ability to populate and input. Geolocated, internet-connect- Alular communications, smart update Google Maps road centreline ed sensors become increasingly phones, sensor Webs, webcams and and attribute data. Firms like Navteq small, cheap, energy-efficient and wiki-based collaboration have (Nokia) and Tele Atlas (TomTom) use easy to integrate into physical opened up opportunities for almost customer input to locate and qualify devices and digital systems. anyone, or anything, to become an mapping errors and/or feature It is important to keep in mind active or passive producer of updates in their road network data- that we are just beginning to see the geospatial or location data. Com- bases. Location-based marketing emergence of new kinds of location mercially, Google Map Maker now services such as Facebook Places information flow from and between

52 Geospatial World I July 2012 advancing digital technologies. The consensus process. KML makes it the reuse of the same data in differ- activities of businesses, citizens, easy for users to "mashup" data ent application fields. Researchers at consumers, researchers, non-gov- records with map servers like Google Heidelberg University have shown ernmental organisations and govern- Maps that display KML files. how such models can be built and ments will evolve as we use these maintained with the help of VGI and technologies to support productive OGC Open GeoSMS: The OGC Open crowdsourcing. activities and also as we struggle to GeoSMS standard provides develop- counter the technologies' assaults ers with an extended short message VGI-related OGC activities on privacy, security, institutional service (SMS) encoding and interface Below are a few of the current areas continuity and the reliability of infor- to communicate location content of activity in the OGC, focused on mation. between different LBS (location- OGC standards relevant to VGI and based service) devices or applica- crowdsourcing: Information moves by tions. Developers of Open GeoSMS means of standards provide a free, open source software Geosynchronisation: Geospatial con- Applications involving VGI and loca- development kit and the standard is tent providers must increasingly col- tion information crowdsourcing used in various disaster manage- laborate with outside entities to col- ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowd- ment volunteer communications lect new data and/or update their sourcing) depend on transfers of applications related to Sahana and existing data holdings. A geosyn- location data and also transfers of Ushahidi. chronisation service, deployed by a location information service queries data provider, sits between data col- and responses. For such transfers to GML profile of GEORSS: As RSS lectors and the features a data take place, the data needs to be ("real simple syndication") and Atom provider offers. It allows data collec- encoded in ways that digital systems become more prevalent as a way to tors to submit new data or make can interpret it and the services need publish and share information, it modifications to existing features to provide known interfaces so that becomes increasingly important that without directly affecting the features clients and servers can communi- location be described in an interop- in the provider's data store(s) until cate queries and responses. Geospa- erable manner so that applications validation has been applied, thus tial encoding and service interface can request, aggregate, share and ensuring that the data published by standards, especially open stan- map geographically tagged feeds. the provider is of high quality. The dards, are thus essential elements in GeoRSS was designed as a light- OGC Geosynchronisation Service the success of VGI policies, initiatives weight, community driven way to Standards Working Group (SWG) is and business schemes. extend existing developing a candi- feeds with geo- date OGC Geosyn- OGC standards graphic information. Applications involving chronization Inter- The OGC, working with many other VGI depend on face standard ver- information and communication OGC City Geography transfers of location sion 1.0.0. data.For such transfers technology (ICT) standards organisa- Markup Language to take place, the tions, has produced and continues to (CityGML) Encoding data needs to be Decision fusion - produce standards that are relevant Standard: CityGML encoded in ways that Object fusion: Deci- to VGI and crowdsourcing.The 37 provides a common digital systems can sion fusion, in the interpret it existing OGC standards include, for definition of the context of the OGC's example: basic entities, work, provides ana- attributes, and rela- lysts an environ- OGC KML: Google submitted KML tions of 3D city models. This is ment of interoperable services for (formerly Keyhole Markup Language) important with respect to the situation assessment, impact to the Open Geospatial Consortium cost-effective sustainable mainte- assessment and decision support, (OGC) to be evolved within the OGC nance of 3D city models, allowing based on information from multiple

Geospatial World I July 2012 53 geocaching, mapping, navigation systems and many others.

How open standards are developed In the past, it has usually been the case that technology providers alone have determined the path of technology's advance, based on their per- ceptions of market demand. Modern consensus standards organisations like the OGC have evolved to give both technology users and providers a way to cooperatively develop standards infrastructure that guides and Figure 2: Many disaster relief programmes use VGI supports the advance of technology in ways that are mutually rewarding for the organisations' members. sensors, databases and people, per- Geospatial Digital Rights Manage- Those who have a stake in the devel- haps via social networks. Though the ment (GeoRM) and provenance: opment of standards related to VGI focus of a recent OGC decision fusion GeoRM and provenance interface and and crowdsourced location data can study was on military intelligence, encoding standards will be critical in benefit in participating in the OGC decision fusion is equally relevant to addressing issues of security, public standards activities described above. business intelligence, urban plan- access, intellectual property and Standards organisations like the ning and many other domains. emergency use of geospatial infor- OGC must remain agile in respond- mation. These issues will be impor- ing to market changes and trends WFS-G (Gazetteer): Geonames tant in some VGI applications. The and they need to stand ready to databases, called gazetteers, OGC Geospatial Digital Rights Man- embrace standards developed else- are an information resource for agement Reference Model provides where that have come into wide use representing places, groups of the basis for two international stan- or that promise to open up new mar- people and cultures. The OGC dards relating to GeoRM: ISO 19149, kets. The OGC has a formal process WFS-G best practice paper Geographic Information - Rights to help move open but proprietary describes the Gazetteer Service expression language for geographic standards into the OGC's global vol- Application Profile of the OGC information and ISO 19153, Geo- untary consensus standards mainte- Web Feature Service Interface graphic Information - Geospatial nance process. Google, for example, Standard. Digital Rights Management Refer- brought their KML specification into ence Model. the OGC and Wikitude has brought RESTful Service Policy Standard their Augmented Reality Markup Working Group and OGC GeoSer- Points of Interest Data Encoding Language specification into the OGC. vices REST 1.0 candidate standard: Specification (POIs): OGC has worked This approach gives everyone an REST stands for "Representational with the World Wide Web Consortium opportunity to weigh in on the stan- State Transfer", a set of principles (W3C) to develop an open standard dard and no one individual or entity and constraints for Web computing for describing points of interest data. can unduly influence the standard.

that optimise desirable qualities POIs have many uses, including aug- Mark Reichardt including ease of development, mented reality browsers, location- President & CEO, Open Geospatial Consortium robustness and scalability. based social networking games, [email protected]

54 Geospatial World I July 2012 www.bentley.com/GT

Data courtesy City of Quebec

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