CHAPTER 39
European CZM and the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Initiative
(GSDI)
R. A. Longhorn
ABSTRACT: This chapter presents the latest information available about the marine
data subject area in the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) initiative, which
began at an international meeting in Bonn, Germany, 4 September 1996. The purpose
of the GSDI initiative is to examine the degree to which a global information
infrastructure for spatially referenced data can be implemented and which areas of use
of spatial data are most relevant to international cooperation. Coastal zone
management (especially in Europe, where national coastlines form the European
coastline) and ECDIS (electronic charts) are two areas of special interest. A review of
strengths and weaknesses in these areas, at global level, will be presented. The second
global conference on GSDI took place in October, 1997 in North Carolina, USA.
Introduction
The concept of a Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) has been discussed in one
form or another for some years now, adopting the current title in 1994, when a
proposal for a GSDI was published in the proceedings of a major European GIS/LIS
conference. (Morrison 1995) The proposal made in Morrison’s paper appeared only
two months following the now famous US Presidential Executive Order to create the
National Spatial Data Infrastructure, issued on 13 April 1994. Since that time, most
major developed nations have either launched or are launching NSDIs in their
respective countries and several initiatives exist at regional level, e.g. the EGII
(European Geographic Information Infrastructure) (EUROGI, 1997) and the
Permanent Committee on GIS Infrastructure for Asia and the Pacific, initiatives which
began in 1995 and 1996, respectively (AUSLIG, 1996).
543
D.R. Green and S.D. King (eds.), Coastal and Marine Geo-Information Systems, 543–554.
© 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.
European CZM and the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Initiative
(GSDI)
R. A. Longhorn
ABSTRACT: This chapter presents the latest information available about the marine
data subject area in the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) initiative, which
began at an international meeting in Bonn, Germany, 4 September 1996. The purpose
of the GSDI initiative is to examine the degree to which a global information
infrastructure for spatially referenced data can be implemented and which areas of use
of spatial data are most relevant to international cooperation. Coastal zone
management (especially in Europe, where national coastlines form the European
coastline) and ECDIS (electronic charts) are two areas of special interest. A review of
strengths and weaknesses in these areas, at global level, will be presented. The second
global conference on GSDI took place in October, 1997 in North Carolina, USA.
Introduction
The concept of a Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) has been discussed in one
form or another for some years now, adopting the current title in 1994, when a
proposal for a GSDI was published in the proceedings of a major European GIS/LIS
conference. (Morrison 1995) The proposal made in Morrison’s paper appeared only
two months following the now famous US Presidential Executive Order to create the
National Spatial Data Infrastructure, issued on 13 April 1994. Since that time, most
major developed nations have either launched or are launching NSDIs in their
respective countries and several initiatives exist at regional level, e.g. the EGII
(European Geographic Information Infrastructure) (EUROGI, 1997) and the
Permanent Committee on GIS Infrastructure for Asia and the Pacific, initiatives which
began in 1995 and 1996, respectively (AUSLIG, 1996).
543
D.R. Green and S.D. King (eds.), Coastal and Marine Geo-Information Systems, 543–554.
© 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.