What’s Special about SDI Related Research?

Four challenging areas for SDI related research are discussed in this paper. These are SDI diffusion, SDI evolution, data sharing in SDIs and the hierarchy of SDIs. What’s special about this kind of SDI related research, then, is the insights and understanding of the processes involved in SDI development that can be gained from examining critically with the help of conceptual frameworks and models that have been rigorously tested in other fields

Evaluating the performance of large scale SDIs: two contrasting approaches

In the last couple of years there have been two very different attempts to evaluate the performance of large scale spatial data infrastructures (SDIs). The first of these was in the United States of America where the Coalition of Geospatial Organizations (COGO), a consortium of professional organisations, set up an expert panel to produce a report card of the performance of the US NSDI. The second evaluation was in the European Union where the European Commission carried out its own evaluation of its Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE) Directive to meet the requirements of the European Commission.   The main features of these two contrasting approaches to evaluation are described in the opening sections of this paper while the final section considers the similarities and differences between the two outcomes of the two exercises. The outcomes of this investigation provide some interesting insights into the issues involved in the implementation of large scale SDIs.

Methodology to describe, analyse and assess sub-national SDIs: survey, experiences and lessons learnt

Over the last ten years development of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) has become an important subject being a driving force towards the vision of Digital Earth increasing the availibility and accessibility of geographic information exchange and sharing of spatial data. Worldwide, large investments have been made to develop SDI initiatives. Given the expenditure and society’s interest in the proper and effective use of these funds, it has become a necessity to have reliable methods and instruments to assess these SDI initiatives. However, the assessment and evaluation of SDIs is an extremly challenging task due to a number of reasons. Although the literature provides a number of assessment methods, all of them either concentrate on only some aspects of an SDI or on one specific region, or are still conceptual in nature (Crompvoets et al., 2009). In this paper, the authors introduce a new pragmatic appoach to identify, analyse and assess SDI solutions having the principles of Digital Earth, INSPIRE and GMES in mind. This approach has been developed by the Thematic Network eSDI-Net+ and has been validated in a comprehensive survey involving about 200 SDIs from 26 European countries as well as different stakeholders involved in the creation and use of SDIs throughout Europe. The main purpose of the paper is to introduce this unique SDI assessment methodology as well as to demonstrate the possiblities of its practical application. Furthermore, the paper critically reflects the experiences made and lessons learnt by applying this methodology in a survey of the subnational SDIs in Europe in 2008-2010 and discusses the main implications for future SDI research, in Europe and worldwide

Governance of national spatial data infrastructures in Europe

The effective development and implementation of spatial data infrastructures (SDIs) requires governance in order to avoid gaps, duplications, contradictions and missed opportunities in the implementation of different SDI components. Appropriate governance instruments should be established to coordinate the activities and contributions of different stakeholders. This article reviews the governance of national SDIs in Europe before, during and after the adoption of the European INSPIRE Directive, which aimed to establish an infrastructure for spatial information in the European community. The analysis is based on a governance instruments approach as introduced by public administration researchers to analyse coordination and governance in the public sector. The study shows that the instruments-based approach is a useful tool for analysing governance in the context of SDIs and contributes to a better understanding of SDI governance. Evidence was found for the adoption and use of each of six sets of governance instruments in the governance of national SDIs in Europe: collective decision-making structures, strategic management, allocation of tasks and responsibilities, creation of markets, inter-organizational culture and knowledge management, and regulation and formalization of the infrastructure

Next-Generation Digital Earth: A position paper from the Vespucci Initiative for the Advancement of Geographic Information Science

This position paper is the outcome of a joint reflection by a group of international geographic and environmental scientists from government, industry, and academia brought together by the Vespucci Initiative for the Advancement of Geographic Information Science, and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. It argues that the vision of Digital Earth put forward by Vice-President Al Gore 10 years ago needs to be re-evaluated in the light of the many developments in the fields of information technology, data infrastructures, and earth observation that have taken place since. It focuses the vision on the next-generation Digital Earth and identifies priority research areas to support this vision. The paper is offered as input for discussion among different stakeholder communities with the aim to shape research and policy over the next 5-10 years

The Economic Value of Digital Earth

Abstract In this chapter, we approach the economic value of Digital Earth with a broad definition of economic value, i.e., the measure of benefits from goods or services to an economic agent and the trade-offs the agent makes in view of scarce resources. The concept of Digital Earth has several components: data, models, technology and infrastructure. We focus on Earth Observation (EO) data because this component has been undergoing the most dramatic change since the beginning of this century. We review the available recent studies to assess the value of EO/geospatial/open data and related infrastructures and identify three main sets of approaches focusing on the value of information, the economic approach to the value of EO to the economy from both macro- and microeconomic perspectives, and a third set that aims to maximize value through infrastructure and policy. We conclude that the economic value of Digital Earth critically depends on the perspective: the value for whom, what purpose, and when. This multiplicity is not a bad thing: it acknowledges that Digital Earth is a global concept in which everyone can recognize their viewpoint and collaborate with others to increase the common good

The genomic landscape of balanced cytogenetic abnormalities associated with human congenital anomalies

Despite the clinical significance of balanced chromosomal abnormalities (BCAs), their characterization has largely been restricted to cytogenetic resolution. We explored the landscape of BCAs at nucleotide resolution in 273 subjects with a spectrum of congenital anomalies. Whole-genome sequencing revised 93% of karyotypes and demonstrated complexity that was cryptic to karyotyping in 21% of BCAs, highlighting the limitations of conventional cytogenetic approaches. At least 33.9% of BCAs resulted in gene disruption that likely contributed to the developmental phenotype, 5.2% were associated with pathogenic genomic imbalances, and 7.3% disrupted topologically associated domains (TADs) encompassing known syndromic loci. Remarkably, BCA breakpoints in eight subjects altered a single TAD encompassing MEF2C, a known driver of 5q14.3 microdeletion syndrome, resulting in decreased MEF2C expression. We propose that sequence-level resolution dramatically improves prediction of clinical outcomes for balanced rearrangements and provides insight into new pathogenic mechanisms, such as altered regulation due to changes in chromosome topology

Regional SDIs in Australia

[Overview]: Australia is one of the very few countries in the world that has relatively mature regional SDIs. This is largely due to its institutional context. This paper describes some of the main features of Australia’s institutional context and examines three data sharing partnership projects that have been developed in three Australian states. The last section discusses the relevance of the findings of research on Australia from the standpoint of the implementation of the INSPIRE initiative