Executive Summary

Infrastructure is the physical foundation of a society, community or enterprise. Infrastructure comprises assets, installations or systems used to provide goods or services. Canada’s infrastructure is owned or operated by all three levels of government (federal, provincial and local), as well as the private sector. Consequently this diverse group of owners maintains infrastructure information in a multitude of formats at various locations across the country. This situation prevents any single organisation or group of organisations from having a single, consistent, easily-referenced view of the infrastructure across Canada or even in one location in Canada. This project represents the first step in solving this serious problem.

The main objective of this project was to develop the first version of a National Infrastructure Data Model (NIDM) to support strategic situational awareness in the context of emergency management. Secondary objectives included gathering information on authoritative sources for infrastructure data across Canada as well as preparing recommendations on how to facilitate sharing of infrastructure data across jurisdictions. The analysis process in this project was driven by 6 workshops conducted across the country: Fredericton, Whitehorse, Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Ottawa. Participants in these workshops reviewed the draft data model, provided insight on authoritative sources in their respective geographical areas and offered recommendations on how the model and the information sharing process could evolve.

The resulting data model builds on the work that was done for the Cross-Border Infrastructure Plan, which is a joint U.S. – Canada initiative which began in 2004-2005. The model was adjusted to reflect requirements expressed during the workshop and to take into account some industry-standard data models, such as those of the Aeronautical and Marine Transportation industries. As we could not get participants from all industry sectors in the workshops and the number of emergency management practitioners was limited, there is still validation work required from both data provider and end-user perspectives, to ensure completeness of the model. We anticipate that this will be done through consultation with industry sector representatives and pilot projects that will involve data providers and emergency managers and that will identify enhancement requirements to the model.

The NIDM has been organized into twelve sections; the ten Critical Infrastructure (CI) sectors, as identified by Public Safety Canada (PSC), along with two additional sections: one for the Common model elements and an “Other” section to accommodate those types of infrastructure which could not be classified into one of the ten CI sectors. This organization is for presentation purposes only and does not impact at all how data will be used by end-users. The latter will be able to package data from various infrastructure classes to suit their requirements.

Information on authoritative data sources for infrastructure data was collected during the workshops. However, most of the sources identified by participants can be categorized as second-hand knowledge in that they were identified by individuals who thought or knew about the sources, but they were not confirmed by the actual sources themselves.

The implementation of a full-fledged distributed national infrastructure data model and sharing approach will require the establishment of an appropriate framework that will set the management and technical guidelines for stakeholders. The following activities are recommended for the implementation of the data model and sharing approach in Canada:

1. Set up a National Infrastructure Data Community of Practice with representatives from various levels of government and the private sector

2. Identify a champion to drive the agenda of the Community of Practice and ensure its sustainability

3. Work closely with GeoConnections’ initiative to develop a Situational Awareness National Information System to leverage efforts and optimize communication among common stakeholders.

4. Establish a portal to facilitate collaboration and information exchange within the National Infrastructure Data Community of Practice

5. Implement an Infrastructure Data Exchange Test-bed to provide a cost-effective facility to test data model

6. Implement pilot projects to validate data model with data providers and end-users

7. Confirm authoritative data sources for infrastructure classes and establish registry for authoritative infrastructure data sources

8. Publish infrastructure data compliant with the NIDM through web services

9. Translate data model to French, ensuring complete nomenclature mapping at the infrastructure class level and at the attribute level

10. Review data model and data access challenges and opportunities with industry, by sector

11. Develop and expand data sharing agreements as mandated through legislation in the Emergency Management Act.

12 Adopt standardized Emergency Management symbology for map visualization that will be based on the NIDM infrastructure classes and attributes

13. Establish a security classification standard so that each infrastructure data record can be given a standard security/sensitivity classification level and that these records can be exchanged through a secure system that recognizes and acknowledges the assigned classification.

14. Establish regional, provincial, territorial and national infrastructure data dissemination nodes to integrate data from different sources and keep them up to date, using appropriate data management processes.

15. Educate and promote the use of the NIDM

16. Establish a national scheme and process to address criticality

There is no question that the need to exchange infrastructure information to support emergency management is paramount. At the same time, the complexity and diversity of infrastructures, combined with a large number of infrastructure owners with commercial interests and security concerns, make information sharing a challenging undertaking. This project succeeded in bringing together numerous stakeholders to share their challenges and potential solutions in disseminating and accessing infrastructure information and to provide their views on what data should be part of this initial model to support strategic situational awareness. There is much work left to overcome all information sharing challenges and fully realize the benefits that a common model and data sharing approach could bring. However, many of the recommendations above could be undertaken in the near future and could also show results in a short time span, ensuring that the national infrastructure data system evolves in a continuous manner, through small steps.