Canada Adopts Geospatial Standard
Ottawa: 3 July 2009
Canada has established two standards on geospatial data. They are designed to help users across all government departments to locate, understand, use and share geospatial data.
A news release by GeoConnections Canada states:
“The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat has established the Standard on Geospatial Data for the Government of Canada. The Standard on Geospatial Data supports the Policy on Information Management and the Policy on the Management of Information Technology of the Government of Canada. The Standard will facilitate interoperability across institutions and increase their ability to identify, understand, use, and share geospatial data. This standard also allows institutions to maximize the reuse of existing mapping and related products.
The scope of the standard currently comprises two ISO standards: ISO 19115 Geographic information - metadata and ISO 19128 Geographic information - Web map server interface. Both standards have been previously endorsed by the national GeoConnections program for use in the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI).
The standard came into effect June 1, 2009. Departments will have until May 31, 2014 to fully implement the standard. Further information on the standard is available from the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat: http://publiservice.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pol/doc-eng.aspx?section=text&id=16553 (The Federal government departments can access additional implementation guidance on the standard at: http://www.gcpedia.gc.ca/wiki/Standard_on_geospatial_data) (link only for federal government departments)
More information and resources supporting the Government of Canada Standard on Geospatial Data is available at: http://www.geoconnections.org/en/communities/developers/standards/gc”
In the Canadian chapter in the recently released Global PSI literature review, the following excerpt sets the context of the development of the Canadian Spatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI) and the work of GeoConnections Canada (Fitzgerald, Anne M. and Hooper, Neale (2009), A review of the literature on the legal aspects of open access policy, practices and licensing in Australia and selected jurisdictions).
“Canada, like the United States and Australia, has a federal system of government. Unlike the United States and Australia, however, Canada has historically supported a higher level of private sector participation in the development, funding and maintenance of key spatial data infrastructure (SDI) This is reflected in initiatives led by GeoConnections Canada, a national program headed by Natural Resources Canada which involves the federal, provincial (State), territory and municipal governments, and the private and academic sectors working in partnership with governments to develop the components of the SDI. GeoConnections Canada was established in 1999 to develop the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI), with the objective of harmonising Canada’s geospatial databases and increasing the amount of geospatial data, information and services available on the internet. It coordinates members of the Canadian geomatics constituency, bringing them together to agree on policy positions and promoting the use of data standards and protocols to facilitate access to Canadian geospatial data.”
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