CHAPTER 3

The Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI)

The Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure aims to be a source for geospatial information and services in Canada. This chapter:

• Defines the scope of the CGDI;
  
  
• Describes its vision and guiding principles;
  
  
• Outlines the benefits of the CGDI for Canadians; and
  
  
• Details the implementation of the CGDI.
  
  

3.1 What is the CGDI?

The Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure is all of the technology, standards, access systems and protocols necessary to harmonize all of Canada's geospatial databases, and make them available on the Internet. Geospatial databases include: topographic maps, air photos, satellite images, nautical and aeronautical charts, census and electoral areas, forestry, soil, marine and biodiversity inventories.

Figure 2 Conceptual Architecture of the CGDI

3.2 Vision and Guiding Principles

Like other national spatial data infrastructures, the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure formalizes the structure and process for organizing, using and sharing geospatial data and services common to a broad spectrum of applications and users within a country. The concept of a geospatial data infrastructure is not new; in fact, the need for a national geospatial data infrastructure in Canada was recognized several years ago. Countries such as Australia and the United States of America have also established their own national geospatial data infrastructures, and others are following suit. Note that while the terms "geospatial" and "spatial" are synonyms, "geospatial" is the preferred term in Canada. In this manual "geospatial" refers to the Canadian initiative, whereas "spatial" refers to other data infrastructures, as per their names. Access to data and services, data policy, framework data, technology and standards are five major components common to any spatial data infrastructure. Access to data and services is a key feature of spatial data infrastructures and should include the ability to locate geospatial information and Web access. With regard to data policy, policies have been developed and guides to best practices for dissemination of government geospatial data in Canada are being implemented. For framework data, agreements are being ratified to establish national spatial data infrastructure framework layers, by coordinating the baseline information through partners and linking them to a common ground. With respect to technology, integration is the key to the success of any national spatial data infrastructure in which disparate hardware and software work seamlessly. Geospatial standards are also based on information technology, and they constitute the link and "glue" to all national spatial data infrastructure components. For its part, the CGDI has endorsed several core standards and specifications that are well harmonized with the international community.

The vision of the CGDI is:

The following principles are guiding the CGDI in both its evolution and application:

• Open: The CGDI will be based on open and shared specifications for operational transactions and information exchange. "Open and shared" in this context means that the specifications are available for the world to take, to use, and to modify for other purposes. These specifications will be based on national and international standards where available.
  
  
• Transparent: The CGDI will allow users to access data and services seamlessly in a manner that removes the complexities of the underlying technology and information infrastructure. "Seamless" data access refers to the elimination or hiding of artificial spatial boundaries introduced by jurisdictional organization structure or by technical artefacts such as scale or quality of information.
  
  
• Cooperative: The CGDI will facilitate the cooperation and interoperability of participating organizations.
  
  
• Evolving: The network of participating organizations will continue to encompass new requirements and business applications for information and service delivery to their respective users. The CGDI will evolve to meet these changing requirements.
  
  
• Self-organizing: The CGDI will enable various levels of participating organizations to contribute geospatial information, metadata, services and applications without the requirement for centralized administration, access and warehousing. Organizations are responsible for their own content.
  
  
• Sustainable: The CGDI will ensure its long-term sustainability through its relevance to the needs of the participating agencies and users.
  
  
• Timely: The CGDI will define and recommend technologies and services that will support real-time and timely response in support of distributed access to information and location-based services. The CGDI may define minimum levels of service that must be met by participants in order to offer a service to the infrastructure.
  
  

3.3 Benefits of the CGDI

Canadians are benefiting from the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure through:

• Universal access to geospatial information, anywhere, anytime;
  
  
• The development of applications to discover and access distributed online information;
  
  
• The integration of different geospatial information to provide seamless views;
  
  
• Seamless chaining of applications, data and services or combinations of these;
  
  
• Geospatial update and exchange capabilities, which enable collaborative activities;
  
  
• The sharing of geospatial semantics, allowing easier integration of information;
  
  
• Wide-scale interoperability, by adhering to common and open information standards and specifications; and
  
  
• The development of effective partnerships with regional and sector-specific spatial data infrastructures and linkages with other national spatial data infrastructures to form a global spatial data infrastructure.
  
  

Developing applications benefit from the infrastructure through:

• Reduced costs: Applications can be built by reusing existing services.
  
  
• Reduced complexity: Service interfaces hide the underlying complexity.
  
  
• Less costly integration and interoperability: Standard interfaces simplify interconnection and integration.
  
  
• Direct access to current, authoritative source data.
  
  

In sum, the CGDI and the new applications it spawns lead to:

• Informed decision-making: The CGDI provides easy access to current information, knowledge and expertise.
  
  
• Efficiency: National standards and specifications, as well as access to services, reduce duplication of effort.
  
  
• Usability: The CGDI provides reliable access to geospatial information for Canadian governments, businesses and individuals.
  
  
• Economic growth: The CGDI encourages the profitable export of Canadian technology, products and services and internal growth with increased sales.
  
  

3.4 Implementation of the CGDI

The key objective for the implementation of the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure is to achieve a critical mass of accessible data, services and compatible applications. The CGDI is progressing on four fronts:

1. Applications are being analyzed through the Announcement of Opportunity for communities of practice, to identify common requirements of communities of practice using the CGDI that can be met effectively through the infrastructure.
   
   
2. An architecture, documented standards and open system specifications are being developed. The requirements identified on the applications front lead to the development of these products. This is the task of the CGDI System Architecture Working Group in cooperation with the Open Geospatial Consortium® Inc. (OGC).
   
   
3. New components that implement the service specifications are being built and integrated into the infrastructure. The GeoInnovations program is instrumental in seeding the development of the components, and the CGDI Development Network provides a test-bed for deploying these components into the CGDI.
   
   
4. More kinds of data are being added to the infrastructure. Applications that exploit the new data and services are then integrated, completing the cycle of implementation.