The Australian spatial data infrastructure: The next ten years
In 1996 ANZLIC – the Spatial Information Council identified the need for an Australian Spatial Data Infrastructure to support Australia’s economic, ecological and social development and well being. ANZLIC saw the ASDI as comprising the people, policies and technologies necessary to enable the generation and use of spatially referenced data through all levels of government, the private and non-profit sectors and academia. That vision is now ten years old. The ASDI in that time has achieved many of its original goals but others have at best only been partly achieved.
In 2006 ANZLIC charged the Intergovernmental Committee for Surveying and Mapping (ICSM) with responsibility for implementation and enhancement of the ASDI and challenged ICSM to reinvigorate the original vision. ICSM has commenced that revitalisation with a review of the achievements to date and an examination of the vision against a backdrop of rapidly evolving information and technology.
This paper sets out some of the challenges and opportunities for the ASDI over the next ten years. It proposes a more dynamic vision which embraces new and as yet unknown technologies, the private sector and academia, and the end users of spatial information.