1.
Geo The Big 5
Challenges and Opportunities Rising from Open Geospatial
Association for Geographic Information (AGI)
Belfast, 13 May 2014
Tracey P. Lauriault
National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis (NIRSA)
National University of Ireland at Maynooth (NUIM)
The Programmable City Project
Geospatial Data Insfrastructures, Cybercartography
and Open Data: The Need for Geomaticians

2.
Table of Contents
1. What is open?
2. Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure
• Multisectoral Collaboration
• Operational Policies
• Geomatics Round Table
3. Cybercartography
• Nunaliit Cybercartographic Framework
• Atlases and Data Management
• Law
4. Open Data & Programmable City
• Overview
• Portals
5. The Role for Geomaticians

3.
1. What is open?

4.
Open Policy

5.
Open Licences

6.
Open Source/Formats/Specs

7.
Open Infrastructure

8.
2. Canadian Geospatial
Data Infrastructure

9.
1999
Canadian Geospatial Data
Infrastructure (CGDI)
20012005
2013

10.
Discovery Portal

11.
Federal Government Setting

12.
CGDI Principles
1. Open:
enables better decision making, the CGDI is
based on open, barrier-free data sharing and
standards that allow users to exchange data.
2. Accessible:
allows users to access data and services
seamlessly, despite any complexities of the
underlying technology.
3. Evolving:
the network of organizations participating in
the CGDI will continue to address new
requirements and business applications for
information and service delivery to their
respective users.
4. Timely:
the CGDI is based on technologies and
services that support timely or real-time
access to information.
5. Sustainable:
is sustained by the contributions of the
participating organizations and broad user
community and through the infrastructure’s
relevance to these groups.
6. Self-organizing
the CGDI enables various organizations to
contribute geospatial information, services
and applications, and guide the
infrastructure’s development.
7. User and community driven
emphasizes the nurturing of and service to a
broad user community. These users,
including Canadians in general, will drive the
CGDI’s development based on user
requirements.
8. Closest to source
maximizes efficiency and quality by
encouraging organizations closest to source
to provide data and services. Thereby
eliminating duplication and overlap.
9. Trustworthy
is continually enhanced to protect sensitive
and proprietary data. The CGDI offers this
protection through policies and mechanisms
that enable data to be assessed for quality
and trusted by users.
Source: : 2012, Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure Vision, Mission
and Roadmap - The Way Forward

13.
Canadian Geomatics Accord
(2001, 2007, 2014)
http://www.ccog-cocg.ca/index_e.html

14.
Operational Policies & Standards
Documents:
Protected Information
• Confidential information
• Sensitive Information
• Private information
• Intellectual Property
Access, Management & Dissemination
• Archiving and Preservation
• Data Integration
• Data Sharing
• Licensing
• Volunteered Geographic Information
• Cloud Computing
• Free and Open Source Software
• Licensing
Semantics
• Catalogue Services for the Web (CSW)
• North American Profile of ISO19115:2003 -
Geographic Information – Metadata
Syntax and Encodings
• Geography Markup Language (GML)
• GeoRSS
• Keyhole Markup Language
• A Styled Layer Descriptor (SLD)
• Symbology Encoding (SE)
Services
• A Web Map Service (WMS)
• A Web Feature Service (WFS)
• A Web Processing Service (WPS)
• Catalogue Services for the Web (CSW)
• A Table Joining Service (TJS)
• A Web Map Context (WMC)
• A Web Map Tile Service (WMTS)
• A Web Coverage Service (WCS)
• Filter Encoding Standard provides XML and KVP
• A Gazetteer
http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/earth-sciences/geomatics/canadas-spatial-
data-infrastructure/8902

15.
Federal Geographic Data
Platform
• Comprehensive collection &
sharing of authoritative data
• Search, discovery, access, &
visualization tools built once &
reused many times, search
once and find everything
• Common web-based
environment enabling data
integration, analysis, &
visualization to support
informed decision-making
• Shared governance &
management of geospatial
assets and capabilities, through
operational standards &
policies 2014-…

16.
Federal Committee on Geomatics
and Earth Observations (FCGEO)
1. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
2. Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development
Canada
3. Canadian Northern Economic Development
Agency
4. Canadian International Development Agency
5. Canadian Food Inspection Agency
6. CSA
7. Dept. Fisheries and Oceans-Coast Guard
8. Dept. Fisheries and Oceans- -Science
9. Dept. National Defence
10. Elections Canada
11. Environment Canada
12. Health Canada
13. Industry Canada
14. Natural Resources Canada
15. Parks Canada
16. Public Health Canada
17. Public Safety
18. Royal Canadian Mounted Police
19. Shared Services Canada
20. Statistics Canada
21. Treasury Board Secretariat
22. Transport Canada
Established 12 January 2012
1. Provide proactive, whole-of-
government leadership in
geomatics and EO to better
support government
priorities
2. Enhance the responsiveness,
efficiency and sustainability
of the federal geomatics and
EO infrastructure
3. Improve access, sharing and
integration of geospatial
data at all levels
(Federal/Provinvial/Territo-
rial and international)

17.
3. Cybercartography

18.
Geomatics and Cartographic
Research Centre
• Directed by Dr D. R. Fraser Taylor
• Research Themes
• Indigenous Knowledge
• Northern Research
• Law, Society & Cybercartography
• Geospatial Information Management
• Archiving & Preservation
• Cybercartography & the New Economy
• Cinema
• Sound
• Open Source
• Nunaliit Atlas Framework 2.0

19.
Definition
Cybercartography is a theoretical construct
proposed by D.R. Fraser Taylor (1997, 2003).
“the organization, presentation, analysis and communication
of spatially referenced information on a wide variety of topics
of interest and use to society in an interactive, dynamic,
multimedia, multisensory and multidisciplinary format”.
Cybercartography offers an opportunity to
deeply rethink how maps are created, including
their design, how they are produced,
disseminated and used on the Internet.

20.
GCRC Atlases
of Indigenous
Perspectives and
Knowledge (Great
Lakes-St. Lawrence
Region)
Atlas of
Arctic Bay
Lake Huron
Treaty Atlas
Inuit (Siku)Sea
Ice Use and
Occupancy
Project
Views from
the North
Kitikmeot
Place Name
Atlas
Atlas of the Risk
of Homelessness
Frontline
Health Atlas
Atlas of
Canada's Trade
with the World
Cybercartographic
Atlas of Antarctica

21.
Distributed Data Management
Network for LTK
Requirements:
• On & Off-Line
access and use
• Distributed
access and
storage
• Low Bandwidth
• Access
permissions
• Many
Knowledge
Contributors
• Interoperable
• Flexible
• Replication
• Synchronization

22.
Field Data Collection
Tablet Data Collection:
• 1st Prototype on Apple’s
2nd generation iPad
• Table copy of CouchDB
w/simplified Nunaliit
Interface
• Offline data collection
• Advanced Editor
• Online replication &
synchronization
functionality
• Android device
prototype in progress

23.
Offline Data Collection
Tablet Field Test:
• Gwich’in Social
and Cultural
Institute
• Ingrid Kritsch
used for 3 weeks
• Collected over
800 spoken place
names, photos
and videos
w/elders on an
iPad
• Data replicated
back in Ottawa in
a matter of hours

24.
Data Collection
Photos © 2012 Gwich’in Social and Cultural Institute

25.
Consent and Metadata
Consent, Lineage,
Metadata, Authorship:
• LTK data documentation
• LTD data consent
• LTK use rights and access

26.
Nunaliit Cybercartographic
Atlas Framework
http://nunaliit.org/
https://github.com/GCRC/nunaliit/wiki

27.
Preservation, Management, Law
& Policy

28.
GCRC Research Open Principles
• Products produced w/public funds belong to the public
• Whenever possible open access comes first
• BSD License
• Use data from open access sources
• Creative Commons
• Share as much as possible
• Publish in Open Access Journals
• Create and use open source software, tools, widgets, etc.
• Design for open source browsers
• Participate in open access, open data, open source communities
• Build in consent and data access protocols into data collection tools
• Conduct research on access to data, consent, law and policy
• Encourage these principles in public consultations
• Education & Capacity building
• Adhere to interoperability standards and specifications
• Data Preservation

29.
4. Open Data

30.
Most Popular Open Data Defs.
1. Access
2. Redistribution
3. Reuse
4. Absence of Technological
Restriction
5. Attribution
6. Integrity
7. No Discrimination Against Persons
or Groups
8. No Discrimination Against Fields
of Endeavor
9. Distribution of License
10. License Must Not Be Specific to a
Package
11. License Must Not Restrict the
Distribution of Other Works
★ make your stuff available on the Web
(whatever format) under an open license
★★ make it available as structured data (e.g.,
Excel instead of image scan of a table)
★★★ use non-proprietary formats (e.g., CSV
instead of Excel)
★★★★ use URIs to denote things, so that people
can point at your stuff
★★★★★ link your data to other data to provide
context
Tim Berners-Lee, 5 star deployment
scheme for Open Data

31.
Open Data Definitions (sample)
• 1959 Antarctic Treaty
• 1992 - UNCED – Agenda 21 Chapter 40,
Information for Decision Making
• 1996 Global Map
• 2005 - Open Knowledge Foundation (OKNF)
- 11 Principles (Licence specific)
• 2007 GEOSS - Data Sharing Principles for the
Global Earth Observing System of Systems
• 2007 - US Open Government Working Group
- 8 principles of Open Government Data
• 2007 Science Commons Protocol for
Implementing Open Access Data
• 2007 Sunlight Foundation - 10 Principles for
Opening Up Government Informatio
• 2007 OECD, Principles and Guidelines for
Access to Research Data from Public
Funding
• 2008 OECD, Recommendations on Public
Sector Information
• 2009 W3C - Publishing Open Government
Data
• 2010 Tim Berners-Lee 5 Star of Open Data
• 2010 Panton Principles for Open Data in
Science
• 2010 Ontario Information Privacy
Commissioner - 7 Principles
• 2013 Open Economics Principles
• US Association of Computing Machinery
(USACM) – Recommendations on Open
Government
• American Library Association (ALA) – Access
to Government Information Principles

32.
Data Sharing
ARTICLE III
1. In order to promote international cooperation in
scientific investigation in Antarctica, as provided for
in Article II of the present Treaty, the Contracting
Parties agree that, to the greatest extent feasible and
practicable:
(a) information regarding plans for scientific programs in
Antarctica shall be exchanged to permit maximum
economy and efficiency of operations;
(b) scientific personnel shall be exchanged in Antarctica
between expeditions and stations;
(c) scientific observations and results from Antarctica
shall be exchanged and made freely available
Agenda 21 – Chapter 40
INFORMATION FOR DECISION-MAKING
40.1. In sustainable development, everyone is a
user and provider of information considered in
the broad sense. That includes data,
information, appropriately packaged
experience and knowledge. The need for
information arises at all levels, from that of
senior decision makers at the national and
international levels to the grass-roots and
individual levels. The following two
programme areas need to be implemented to
ensure that decisions are based increasingly on
sound information:
a. Bridging the data gap;
b. Improving information availability.

33.
Cities take the lead in Canada

34.
Licences & Collaboration
Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton, Vancouver + Montreal

35.
Open Data Cities
1. Banff Open Data Portal, (AB) Pilot
2. City of Brandon (MB)
3. City of Burlington (ON)
4. City of Calgary (AB)
5. City of Chilliwack (BC)
6. City of Edmonton (AB)
7. City of Fredericton (NB)
8. Portail de données ouvertes de la ville de
Gatineau
9. County of Grande Prairie (AB)
10. Open Data Guelph (ON)
11. Halifax Regional Municipality (NS)
12. City of Hamilton Open and Accessible Data (ON)
13. City of Kelowna Open Data Catalog (BC)
14. City of London (ON)
15. Township of Langley (BC)
16. Open Data Medicine Hat (AB)
17. Town of Milton (ON)
18. City of Mississauga (ON)
19. Ville de Montréal Portails données ouvertes (QC)
20. City of Nanaimo (BC)
20. City of Niagara Falls (ON)
21. Region of Niagara (ON)
22. Regional District of Central Okanagan
23. Regional District of North Okanagan (BC)
24. District of North Vancouver (BC)
25. City of Ottawa (ON)
26. Region of Peel (ON)
27. City of Prince George (BC)
28. Ville de Québec Catalogue de données (QC)
29. City of Red Deer, (AB)
30. City of Regina (SK)
31. District of Saanich Open Data (BC)
32. Open Data Saskatoon (SK)
33. Données ouvertes Sherbrookes (QC)
34. Strathcona County Open Data Portal (AB)
35. City of Surrey (BC)
36. City of Toronto (ON)
37. City of Vancouver (BC)
38. District of North Vancouver (BC)
39. City of Victoria (BC)
40. City of Waterloo (ON).
41. Region of Waterloo (ON)
42. City of Whitehorse (YK)
43. City of Windsor (ON)
44. York Region

36.
Open Data Provinces
1. Data BC
2. Alberta Open Data
3. Open Data Saskatchewan, Citizen Led
4. Ontario Open Data
5. Données ouvertes Portail du Gouvernement du Québec,
Québec Ouvert – Citizen Led
6. Newfoundland and Labrador

37.
Open Data National
• Geogratis & Geobase & Discovery Portal & Atlas of Canada
• Office of the Information Commissioners Open Government
Resolutions
• OpenData.gc.ca
• Research Data Canada
• Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) Open Data

38.
Fed. Open Data Portal

39.
Civil Society - Accessibility
Catherine Roy: ecrire@catherine-roy.net & http://montrealaccessible.ca/

40.
Civil Society - Transparency
 Les appels d’offres et certain contrats
octroyés de la Ville de Montréal et la
province du Québec (version détaillée
ici)
 Le registre des entreprises du Canada
 Les dons au partis politiques du
Canada
 Les dons aux partis politiques du
Québec
 Le registre des lobbyistes du
gouvernment fédéral(aussi registre et
journal)
 Licenses restreintes dans l'industrie
de la construction
 Les contrats octroyés par la Ville de
Laval depuis 2007
 Les contrats octroyés par la Ville de
Montréal depuis 2006

41.
Civil Society - Hackathons
http://www.rhok.org/
http://montrealouvert.net/2011/
11/23/compte-rendu-du-3e-
hackathon-montreal-
ouvert/?lang=en
http://www.livinglabmontreal.org
/TranspoCampMTL

42.
Standardization - Transportation
Planning
Au niveau municipal, les
données sont accessibles
indirectement sur le site de la
ville de Montréal. En d'autres
termes, ces données n'ont pas
été prévues pour être utilisées
de manière directe mais sont
affichées sur une carte dans la
section Info-Travaux.
Au niveau provinciale, les
données viennent du
Ministère des transports du
Québec et de son
service Québec 511. Là aussi le
MTQ se démarque de ses
homologues canadiens en étant
a priori le premier à proposer
des données GPS pour la
localisation des chantiers. http://zonecone.ca/ & http://open511.org/

43.
Entrepreneurs
 All 10,000 public and
private foundations.
 Exhaustive list of
federal and provincial
funding programs
specifically for non-
profits (over 700).
 Corporate funders
(500 and growing).

44.
Civil Society - Advocacy
http://www.opendatabc.ca
/index.html
http://opennorth.ca/

45.
6. Role for Geomaticians

46.
Research
Data
Canada
Archiving, Management and Preservation of
Geospatial Data
National Consultation on Access to Scientific
Data Final Report (NCASRD)
20101990 1995 2000 2005
National Data Archive
Consultation (SSHRC)
Stewardship of Research Data in Canada: A Gap Analysis
The dissemination of government geographic data in Canada
Research Data Strategy Working Group
Toward a National Digital Information Strategy:
Mapping the Current Situation (LAC)
Canadian Digital Information Strategy (CDIS)
IPY
1985 2014
Mapping the Data Landscape: Report of the 2011 Canadian Research Data Summit
Digital Economy Consultation Industry Canada
Resolution of Canada’s Access to Information and Privacy Commissioners
Geomatics Accord Signed
Canadian Geospatial Data Policy
Liberating the Data
Proposal
OD Advisory Panel
Open Government Partnership
G8
Subjectivities &
Forms of Knowledge
• Policies
• Reports
• Proposals
• Recommendations
• Consultation
2008
MiningWatch Canada & Great
Lakes United by Ecojustice
Digital
Infrastructure
Leadership
Council
Standing Committee on Industry, Science & Tech.
Community Data Roundtable
Privacy (Geo)
Sensitive Data (Geo)
Open Data Consultations
VGI Primer Cloud (Geo)
FCGEO

47.
20101990 1995 2000 20051985 2014
Data Liberation Initiative
Maps Data and Government
Information Services (MADGIC)
Geogratis Data Portal
GeoBase
Canadian Internet Public Policy Clinic
GeoConnections
GeoGratis
Census Data Consortium
Canadian Association of
Research Libraries
(CARL)
Atlas of Canada Online (1st)
CeoNet Discovery Portal
Research Data Network
How'd they Vote
CivicAccess.ca
Campaign for Open Government (FIPA)
Canadian Association
of Public Data Users
Datalibre.ca
VisibleGovernment.ca I Believe in Open
Campaign
Change Camps Start
Nanaimo BC
City of Toronto
4 Cities
Data.gc.ca
Global TV
Hansard in XML
Let the Data Flow
Aid Agency
Proactive.ca
DataBC
7 Cities
GovCamp
Fed. Expenses
Fed.Gov. Travel &
Hospitality Expenses
Open Data Hackfest
Citizen Factory
B.C.'s Climate Change
Data Catalogue
Open Parliament
DatadotGC.ca
Hacking Health
14 Cities
Quebec
Ontario
OGP
3 Cities
Alberta
G8
Community Data Program
FCM Quality of Life
Reporting System
Geographic and Numeric Information System
Materialities / Infrastructures
• Consortia
• Portals/Catalogs/Maps
• Open Data/Open Gov Events
2009
1979 National Atlas
Information System

48.
Epistemic Communities
Research Data
GovData
GeoData
Physical
Sciences
AdminData
Public Sector Data
Access to Data Open Data
Social
Sciences
2005
GeoWeb
Not examined
•Open source
•Open access
•Freedom of information
•Law

49.
Role for Geomaticians
Geomaticians need to transfer & translate their
• Thematic knowledge
• Programming abilities
• Scientific practices
• Data management skills
• Data sharing, interoperability and discovery
expertise
• Infrastructure knowledge & systems thinking
• Multisectoral collaboration and consultation abilities
To other sectors & participate in the digital
strategies & IT/IMS/ICT communities & perhaps
even lead them!

50.
5. Conclusion

51.
Programmable City Objectives
How is the city translated into software and data?
How do software and data reshape the city?
Translation:
City into Data
Transduction:
Data Reshape City
THE CITYDATA
Discourses, Practices, Knowledge, Models
Mediation, Augmentation, Facilitation, Regulation

52.
Data & Infrastructures
do not exist independently of the ideas, techniques,
technologies, people and contexts that produce,
process, manage, analyze and store them,
regardless of them often being presented in this
manner...
(The Data Revolution, Kitchin in Press 2014).
also mediate culture and society by constructing
stories which create representations around which
subjects are created & actions are taken shaping
and shaped by geographic imaginations
(Data, Infrastructures and Geographical Imaginations, Lauriault 2012)

53.
Q & A
Tracey.Lauriault@NUIM.ie
@TraceyLauriault
http://www.nuim.ie/progcity/
Thank You!