Keywords: Japan Digital Earth, spatial data infrastructure, ISO/TC211, update, management, GIS.

In the United States of America, the expansion of administrative information was a problem in 1980s. Therefore the US government established the FGDC (Federal Geographic Data Committee) in 1990, for utilizing the spatial data effectively and avoiding the double development of spatial data [1]. The FGDC is developing a search engine for the spatial data and is standardizing the spatial data. The SDI (Spatial Data Infrastructure) consisting of the spatial data is also being developed by the FGDC. In 1998, based on these FGDC activities, the US government presented the concept of the Digital Earth.

In Japan, each organization had spatial data, but the various spatial data were not in cooperation as an SDI. Therefore the various spatial data could not be used to advance relief and reconstruction activities quickly after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in 1995. The development of the SDI was planed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in 1996.

The Japan Geographical Survey Institute planned the Digital Earth project [2] and its realization is in process. The project requires the Spatial Data Infrastructure, which consists of the spatial data of roads, rivers, harbors and so on, and describes the land shape, as a basis of the Digital Earth [3]. The spatial data is constructed when the each construction product was completed.

The Japan Geographic Survey Institute collects and manages the spatial data of all construction projects in Japan as the Spatial Data Infrastructure. The quantity of spatial data is very large. Therefore, the Spatial Data Infrastructure cannot be updated frequently. Thus, the latest land shape is not found on the Spatial Data Infrastructure, which cannot be used by the many administrations. On the other hand, the Road Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport constructs a Road GIS, and the River Bureau of same department constructs a River GIS uniquely. Therefore, there are duplicate uses of the new spatial data, and the expense is wasted.

In this paper, a new maintenance method for the Spatial Data Infrastructure is proposed. The effective methods for updating and management of the Spatial Data Infrastructure were constructed in order to reflect the latest land shapes for many administrative operations. At first, the all spatial data was standardized. The standardized spatial data was based on ISO/TC211 (Geographic Information / Geomatics) and JSGI2.0 (Japanese Standards for Geographic Information) [4,5]. Secondly, the maintenance and updating methods of the Spatial Data Infrastructure for the new spatial data was constructed. The standardized spatial data has the following geometric descriptions: 'point' is shown as a 'GM_Point,' 'curve' as a 'GM_Curve,' 'surface' as a 'GM_Surface,' and 'solid' as a 'GM_Solid'. Finally, the management of organization for the Spatial Data Infrastructure was proposed. In the future, the proposed maintenance method can frequently update the Spatial Data Infrastructure, and reflect the latest land shapes on the Spatial Data Infrastructure.

1

J. Moeller, M. Reichardt, "The Spatial Data Infrastructure in the United State of America", Operation Research, Japan Society of Operation Research, Vol.46, No.1, 44-47, 2001.

2

M. Murakami, "Vision of Digital Earth", JACIC Information, Japan Construction Information Center, Vol.16, No.3, 22-26, Japan, 2001.

3

Policy Committee of Geographic Survey Institute in Japan, "Geographical Survey Institute Policy Conference Report: Fundamental Surveying of 21st Century", Japan, 2002.

4

JSGI Promotion Committee, "Japanese Standards for Geographic Information", Geographic Survey Institute, Japan, 2002.

5

Committee in Government Ministries Responsible for GIS in Japan, "GIS Action Program 2002-2005", Japan, 2002.

purchase the full-text of this paper (price £20)

go to the previous paper
go to the next paper
return to the table of contents
return to the book description
purchase this book (price £135 +P&P)