Course Spatial Data Infrastructures
GRS21304 / K075219
Period 1 2003-2004
INTRODUCTION
Case ‘SDI-Use’
Week 6
6 October 2003 (10.30 –12.30)
Joep Crompvoets (+ Mary-Ellen Feeney)
Overview – SDIs & Decision Support
1. Introduction & Background
2. Decision Process



Availability
Accessibility
Applicability
3. Types of Decision-Making
4. Supporting Decision Makers
through the SDI Hierarchy
5. Examples & Discussion
6. Introduction case ‘SDI-Use’
SDIs & Decision Support
SDI is developed to enable
ready access to spatial information
to support decision-making
at different scales
for multiple purposes…
SDIs & Decision Support
The purpose of SDI is always to
support some form of decision,
regardless of the application area
What is significant about
Spatial Decision-Making?
 spatial information is one of the most
critical elements underpinning decisionmaking for many disciplines,
 an estimated 90% of all information used
by government has spatial characteristics
or attributes,
Spatial Data & Information
 70-80 % cost of any GIS project is spent
for data collection, maintenance,...
 the same data sets will be collected by
different agencies again & again.
SDI Decision-Support Motivations
 Avoiding costly duplication of data c
collection & maintenance
 & encouraging access to common &
up-to-date data for all to use in
their decision-making.
 … What is the significance of
this?
SDI Decision-Support Capability
 Facilitates the Decision Process
AND
 Facilitates different Types of
Decision- Making
SDI and The Decision Process
Data
Collection
Real World
Take
Action
Data
Sources
Input
of Data
Data
Management
Data
Retrieval
& Analysis
Users
Information
for
decision-making
Analysis
SDI and the Decision Process
Spatial Data
Infrastructure
 Availability
 Accessibility
 Applicability
The Decision
Process
Information for
decision-making
Enabling action
in the real world
SDI and The Decision Process
Number of Datasets
Available
to use in
decisionmaking
Accessible
to the
decision-maker
Applicable
to the problem
using available
technologies
Data options for decision-making
Available for use in DecisionMaking
Science
Management
Different Specialist &
Process Knowledge
e.g. biophysical &
socioeconomic
systems
Application
Areas
Different Fields
Locations
Disciplines
Existing egs of problems
to be addressed
Between departments &
organisations
Accessible to Decision Makers
Policies
Skills and
Training
Stakeholders
Decision
Makers
Privacy
Pricing
Access
To find,
download, use
data…
Who ?
Needs ?
Incentives ?
Decision
Processes
Applicable to the Problem
Data
Models
Tools
Interface
For overlay & analysis
Interoperability &
flexibility to work with
other tools for decision
support
Usability, adaptability, user interfaces
Applicable to the Problem
Data
Models
Type, content,
format, metadata,
language,
availability, volume
etc.
Biophysical
Socioeconomic
metadata and meta
models




























For overlay & analysis
Interoperability & flexibility to work with
other tools for
Tools
Interface
decision support
GIS - statistics,
maths, visualization,
wayfinding
algorithms etc.
Usability,
adaptability,
user interfaces
Graphical user
interfaces, visual
programming
languages,
HTML, XML, GML,
web based
technology etc.
Applicable to the Problem – E.G.
Data
GIS
+ Models
Interface
Grain Yield
Prediction
Soils, Climate,
Topography etc.
Demographic & Where people live &
Economic
Grain demand for
these settlements
etc.
The combination of basic data,
yield modelling, &
human demand & location analysis
provides a way to evaluate food security
SDI Decision-Support Capability
 Facilitates the Decision Process
AND
 Facilitates different Types of
Decision-Making
SDI Development
SDI is an initiative intended to enable
all spatial data stakeholders
to cooperate with each other & interact
with technology
in an effective and efficient way
to better achieve their objectives
within an administrative or political level
SDI Development
Less detailed data
Global SDI
The principle
objective
for any
stakeholder is to
support their
decision-making.
Regional SDI
National SDI
State SDI
Local SDI
More detailed data
Data
Corporate SDI
What types of DecisionMaking ?
Organisational theory classifies decision-making into
fundamentally three different types:
 Strategic
 Management or Tactical
 Operational
What types of DecisionMaking ?
Organisational theory classifies decision-making into
fundamentally three different types:
Strategic
Management or Tactical
Operational
Strategic decision-making is
concerned with long-term
goals & policies for resource
allocation/management to
meet defined objectives
What types of DecisionMaking ?
Organisational theory classifies decision-making into
fundamentally three different types:
Strategic
Management or Tactical
Operational
Tactical decision-making is
concerned with the
acquisition & efficient
utilization of resources to
achieve defined goals
What types of DecisionMaking ?
Organisational theory classifies decision-making into
fundamentally three different types:
Strategic
Management or Tactical
Operational
Operational decisionmaking is concerned with
the effective & efficient use
of resources for execution of
specific tasks
Types of Decision-Making
Often less detailed data available &
so requires good tools for
modeling & forecasting
More Unstructured
Operational
Tactical/Managerial
More structured
Requires detailed data & uses
tools for analysis & integration
Strategic
Types of Decision-Making
Often less detailed data available &
so requires good tools for
modeling & forecasting
More Unstructured
More structured
Requires detailed data & uses
tools for analysis & integration
computer-based systems support
spatial decision-making through data
collection & management
visualisation, analysis & integration
modelling & forecasting
& allowing more effective & efficiently
execution…
For example GIS, DSS
The development of increasingly complex spatial
decision-support tools to assist in different types of
decision-making is reported in A trend in Automated
Cartography (Kelmelis, 2001)
Web-based DSS
Internet GIS
Mobile Location-based
Services & Solutions
Web-based Spatial
Data Clearinghouses
Spatially Enabled Databases
GIS
1970
Time
1985
1995
2000
2005
Types of Decision-Making
Emphasis is on
modeling how the
world works/
potential realities &
planning
Often less detailed data available &
so requires good tools for
modeling & forecasting
More Unstructured
Operational
Tactical/Managerial
Strategic
More structured
Requires detailed data & uses
tools for analysis & integration
Emphasis is on analyzing
relationships & representing how the
world looks/ reality & acting
Types of Decision-Making
More Unstructured
Increasing decision-making complexity
More structured
What do we mean by
Decision Complexity?
 The number of criteria to be considered
 The number of decision makers or
people involved in the decision process
 The location of decisions in time &
space
Why is it important that SDIs
support different types of
decision-making?
 Strategic vs Managerial/Tactical vs
Operational
 With different levels of complexity
 Utilizing a variety of decision-support
tools
To support the objectives of stakeholders making
decisions at different administrative & political levels
Decision-Making & the SDI
Hierarchy
Decision-Making
Strategic
SDI Level
Global SDI
Regional SDI
Management/
Tactical
National SDI
State SDI
Operational
Local SDI
Corporate SDI
SDI need to support different types of decision-making
To support the objectives of & between different
political & administrative levels in the SDI hierarchy.
Example 1: Mapping Malaria Risk in Africa
Operational
Management/
Tactical
Strategic
Decision-Making
Decision-Making
Decision-Making
Global SDI
Continental
Malaria
distribution Maps
Regional SDI
National SDI
State SDI
Local SDI
Malaria
Endemnicity
Data
Malaria
Seasonality
Data
Malaria
Occurrence
Data
Spatial
Models on
geographic
distribution,
seasonality &
endemnicity
Used for planning,
intervention &
prevention by
national &
international health
officials
Example 2: Food Insecurity in Africa
Operational
Management/
Tactical
Strategic
Decision-Making
Decision-Making
Decision-Making
Global SDI
17 countries participate in
Famine Early Warning System
Regional SDI
National SDI
State SDI
Local SDI
Satellite
Imagery
Estimates of
animal/veg
amt & vigour
Yield data
Market & 
condition
monitoring
Predictive
rainfall/
weather data
Example 3: Water Insecurity in Victoria
Operational
Management/
Tactical
Strategic
Decision-Making
Decision-Making
Decision-Making
Global SDI
Regional SDI
Fire risk, Drought risk, Export
commitments (e.g. wheat)…etc.
National SDI
State SDI
Local SDI
Estimates of
distribution &
qty reserves
Restriction
thresholds &
implementation
Predictive
rainfall/
weather data
Predictive
consumption
Case SDI-Policy
DESCRIPTION
Yesterday (5 October, 2003), a national disaster happened
in Utopia. The East part of the country (Purgatory Town)
was hit by an earthquake (7.8 on the scale of Richter).
The whole area is in ruins. Thousands of people died and
many more are injured. The local fire stations and hospitals
are damaged and not operational. Since an implemented SDI
is missing and local archives are ruined, access to data sources
for (vital) geo-information about the area has become impossible.
Purgatory city
Today (8:00 AM), the Minister of State for the Interior received the
"master plan" which your SDI-project team had submitted last Friday.
During this week he will have several meetings with your team about
the proposals included that document, because next Friday he has to
present and defend the national SDI master plan in the parliament. After
having gone through your report a first time, he asks your team whether
the suggested SDI (if implemented) would have suited the current needs
of the emergency services for decision-making. In addition, he notices
that in his opinion several potential SDI-users and their SDIrequirements are missing. He wants to receive a reply to his question and
a revised list of potential users on the shortest possible term.
Assignment
Extend the current list of the potential SDI-users. Define
for each of these the user requirements for decision-making.
Trace, whether the proposed Utopia SDI, if available now,
would have survived the earthquake, and if so, whether it
could have supported the emergency services for their
decision-making under the circumstances the earthquake has
caused. Motivate your answer.
Objectives
List the (emergency) users
Determine their main Level of hierarchy
Determine their SDI-requirements for decision-making
Analyze (proposed) Utopian SDI suitability to meet these
requirements (especially in case of emergency).
Determine criteria for analysis
Good luck with the
case assignment