Geospatial data infrastructure: The development of metadata for geo-information in China
Stores of geoscience records are in constant flux. These stores are continually added to by new information, ideas and data, which are frequently revised. The geoscience record is in restrained by human thought and technology for handling information. Conventional methods strive, with limited success, to maintain geoscience records which are readily susceptible and renewable. The information system must adapt to the diversity of ideas and data in geoscience and their changes through time. In China, more than 400,000 types of important geological data are collected and produced in geological work during the last two decades, including oil, natural gas and marine data, mine exploration, geophysical, geochemical, remote sensing and important local geological survey and research reports. Numerous geospatial databases are formed and stored in National Geological Archives (NGA) with available formats of MapGIS, ArcGIS, ArcINFO, Metalfile, Raster, SQL Server, Access and JPEG. But there is no effective way to warrant that the quality of information is adequate in theory and practice for decision making. The need for fast, reliable, accurate and up-to-date information by providing the Geographic Information System (GIS) communities are becoming insistent for all geoinformation producers and users in China. Since 2010, a series of geoinformation projects have been carried out under the leadership of the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR), including (1) Integration, update and maintenance of geoinformation databases; (2) Standards research on clusterization and industrialization of information services; (3) Platform construction of geological data sharing; (4) Construction of key borehole databases; (5) Product development of information services. "Nine-System" of the basic framework has been proposed for the development and improvement of the geospatial data infrastructure, which are focused on the construction of the cluster organization, cluster service, convergence, database, product, policy, technology, standard and infrastructure systems. The development of geoinformation stores and services put forward a need for Geospatial Data Infrastructure (GDI) in China. In this paper, some of the ideas envisaged into the development of metadata in China are discussed.
SPATIAL DATA INFRASTRUCTURE. BENEFITS AND STRATEGY
Nowadays, the geoscience data have become widely available in different organizations, which play a very important role in decisions-making at different levels (social, economic, political…). However, these organizations use standards, technologies and policies that differ from one to another. Therefore, this information is increasingly being distributed widely and become divorced from their original context or had remained limited to a small scale. Hence, the need for a spatial data infrastructure (SDI) becomes a necessity in order to facilitate the creation, sharing, and access to geospatial data, thus the exchange of knowledge between them, using a minimum set of standard practices, protocols, and specifications. The establishment of a spatial data infrastructure is to create conditions to ensure free access of public authorities, local authorities, organizations and citizens to spatial data. This paper presents a preliminary study of implementation of a spatial data infrastructure. It introduced the SDI developments in USA, Canada and Europe and summarized the relevant benefits.
Geoscience after IT: Part M. Business requirements that drive the information system, and provide coherent frameworks
The roles of participants in the information system are changing, and this is reflected in their business groupings and motivation. IT brings greater flexibility to the record, but without a coherent framework, cyberspace becomes a chaotic sludge of trivial ephemera. Cataloging and indexing, peer review by editorial boards and the disciplined approach of information communities can impose the necessary order and standards. Metadata and data models can help to maintain a clear structure for geoscience. Business aspects link the objectives of the investigator to the framework of the science, defining the logic of reorganization and providing incentives to drive the system.