Overdracht van terrein informatie dmv een GIS internettoepassing bij de OVAM

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1 1 1. General Introduction GIS What is a GIS? The Philosophy of a GIS Aspects of a GIS project Intergraph and GeoMedia OVAM General Soil Management General How does OVAM deal with this? Current situation of GIS by OVAM Charge Location Current draft Extension by the current research Initial Model of the GIS-project Aspects that will be integrated in the website Functionalities that will be integrated in the GIS project Conclusion... 10

2 2 1. General Introduction 1.1. GIS What is a GIS? GIS stands for Geographic Information System. An information system is not just the storage of information in a database, it also contains the processes for planning from recording observations, collecting information through the analysis of stored information, and the output of required information, for example by means of a map. An information system s goal is to improve the human capacities in making decisions. Besides the alphanumerical information in the database, a GIS also contains geographical information. What makes GIS such a great solution is that the several database layers (the way the database is preserved not included) can be put on top of each other so that their geographical consistency can be compared. The database layers can be compared and be questioned. This way the database can be presented in maps and indexes. The analysis of the information will be simplified and accelerated The Philosophy of a GIS A GIS can be implemented in two ways: through projective implementation and through process implementation. The projective implementation is used when the GIS technology is used once for a certain project. The databases needed are brought together, and certain questions are asked and operations fulfilled, which result in a certain conclusion afterwards. However, when the GIS is built in such a way that it needs to be used several times in a company's management, and that it can be a very useful tool to arrive at certain conclusions, than we speak of a process-use of the GIS. We start with a dozen of functionalities, which the GIS can accomplish, for a certain service within the company. Another service however can also use the functions, with its own database, and it can then ask for some other functionalities. An important aspect here is the openness of the GIS project. Still another service can work with still other shapes of database layers, but these layers have to be opened, questioned, analysed and compared with all the other databases in the GIS, at the same time. To make the GIS beneficial and valuable, every GIS project has to be designed processive. An excellent designer's theory to accomplish this goal is the spiral model. In this model the following 3 stages of the design of a GIS will be accomplished:

3 3 1. The initial design. 2. The conceptual design. 3. The detail design. In every stage there is room to get the appropriate information, and there is also room for the analysis and organisation of the information. In this way a GIS project becomes dynamic and flexible for the needs of the users. Fig. 1.1 : the spiral model Aspects of a GIS project In a GIS project, we certainly have to mention the following elements: database acquisition: collecting existing and self-making database sets. pre-processing: converting database sets so they can be implemented in the GIS project. planimetric integration managing of a database analysis, numerical and spatial questions output: maps, tables, statistics,... In every aspect we have to keep the needs of the users and the design strategy in mind.

4 Intergraph and GeoMedia To start a GIS project, you need an environment in which you can make connections to several database sets, and in which you can put these database sets on top of each other in a geographical order. This environment does not only consist of the necessary software of a GIS project, but it also contains the hardware and the suitable data. Intergraph is active in this sector since In 1995, Intergraph developped a brand new series of GIS-software with GeoMedia technology, for users, viewers and doers, desktop and web. Later Intergraph developed horizontal and industry extentions like GeoMedia Grid, GeoMedia Terrain, GeoMedia Public Works, GeoMedia Transportation Manager, etc. Based on GeoMedia WebMap Professional, a processive Internet Application for the Public Waste Agency of Flanders (OVAM) will be designed. This pilot application can be used as a first design for a web application. This web application takes care of the transfer of spatial information between soil remediation experts and the Public Waste Agency of Flanders.

5 OVAM General. OVAM stands for Public Waste Agency of Flanders ( in Dutch Openbare Vlaamse Afvalstoffen Maatschappij ). Their slogan is Less waste and cleaner soil. The OVAM takes care of the soil remediation in the Flanders. Belgium is a federal state, which means that each province has to take care of its environmental issues. It is the Flemish government, which makes decisions in environmental management. Fig. 1.2 : The Flemish Environmental Government

6 Soil Management General. The OVAM was founded because of a decree issued on July, 2, The decree involved the management of waste (in Flanders). In 1995, a more specific legislation in the Flanders about soil remediation resulted in the Soil Remediation Decree. This decree gives the OVAM an important tool to take care of a new and historic soil contamination. The goal is to deal with the soil contamination of the past within a period of 40 years. At the same time, OVAM tries to avoid new contamination How does OVAM deal with this? Every time there is a transfer of land, for example a sale, a soil examination is required. If you want to sell land, you need a soil attestation, which confirms that the land is clean. The seller needs to ask the OVAM a confirmation. When a confirmation is requested, the OVAM accesses its database, the Register of Contaminated Soils, to see if there are records pertaining to the piece of land in question. Before the Soil Remediation Decree, the OVAM already collected information about contaminated soils or risky pieces of land. This information was stored by means of old information files such as maps and certificates. When the OVAM finds the information in the Register of Contaminated Soils, and no contamination is found, the owner gets a soil confirmation. If there is no information in the register, the OVAM does research to see if there was any risky activity on the piece of land in the past. The Flemish Government made a list of risky activities so that the OVAM has a basis to work with. If there has been no risky activity in the past, the owner also gets his soil confirmation. Otherwise, the owner needs an exploratory research. The report of the research needs to be given to the OVAM. If there is no contamination founded on the parcels, the owner of the land gets a soil attestation. In other cases a Descriptive Soil Examination is required. Descriptive Soil Examination is a more extensive investigation than the exploratory investigation. Its goal is to map and quantify all contaminations. If the contamination is within certain standards (set by the Government and the OVAM), the owner of the ground gets his soil attestation. If the contamination is beyond the standards, a soil remediation is required.

7 7 All the data of the soil investigations, exploratory as well as descriptive, must be transferred to the OVAM. This data will be saved in the database, so that gradually the database has more and more data pertaining to the parcels in Flanders. In this entire procedure, the OVAM serves as coordinator, and control institute. It also forces the polluters to remediate their soil. The OVAM does not issue any investigation or remediation by itself. In this way of working, the OVAM and the Flemish government hope to trace, map and remediate systematically all the contaminated soils in Flanders. The flowchart below gives a schematic overview: PWAF Soil Policy Soil Transfer Are there any data of the parcel? YES NO risky activity? no soil contamination? then soil attest NO YES Soil attest Exploratory Investigation Contamination? YES NO Descriptive Soil Examination Soil attest contamination under the norms? YES NO Soil attest Soil remediation project Fig.1.3 : OVAM Soil Policy, Flowchart.

8 Current situation of GIS by OVAM. The OVAM already has a GIS application developed in a GIS environment called de dossierhouderstoepassing, literally translated as Dossier Holder Application. This is a GIS-application for the people of the OVAM who treat the dossiers in the Soil Policy. They procure the soil attests, and they follow and observe all investigations and remediations. The Dossier Holders Application is connected to the database of the OVAM. In this way it is possible to give a geographical presentation of all existing dossiers and their parcels. The structure of the OVAM database will be discussed later. The most important trump of the Dossier Holders Application is the fact that it is easy to see the neighbouring parcels of contaminated soils. For example: When there is a request for a soil attestation of a parcel, and there are no data of the parcel in the database of the OVAM, then it is very easy to navigate in the GIS to that particular parcel. All existing files of all parcels in the neighbourhood can be showed on a map, and the chance of contamination on the particular parcel can be estimated better and easier by possible contaminations in the neighbourhood. Before the Dossier Holders Application it was very difficult to estimate the possible contaminations caused by contaminated soils in the neighbourhood, because other files were handled by other Dossier Holders. A contamination however does not end at the border of a parcel. With the Dossier Holders Application a lot of research work is saved, wrong interpretations are reduced to a minimum, and it is possible to give a summary of all contaminated soils in a certain area Charge Location Current draft. The data of the soil investigations of the Soil Remediation Experts must be transferred to the OVAM, because the Dossier Holders have to follow every investigation and remediation. The Soil Remediation Experts have to compose a complete file, according to the standards of the OVAM, and hand over the file to the OVAM. To actualise the database of the OVAM, the Soil Remediation Expert also has to make an XML file (XML = Extensible Markup Language) and give it to the OVAM. The file consists of all necessary date for the OVAM, such as name of the parcel, the name of the dossier holder and the soil remediation expert, all results and conclusions, The OVAM has chosen for the XML format, because there is a clear tendency to choose for the XML format in the data transfer. XML is a way of placing structural data in a text format. It is a universally readable text format, but not designed to be read like in that. Important to note is the fact that it is not licensed. Every Soil Remediation Expert can write or can make somebody else write a

9 9 functionality in his own software that exports the data of his investigation in the XML format. To contain an easy data transfer it is necessary that the data is organised in a structural and uniform way in the XML file. This structure is determined in an XSD file. Based on an XSD file, it is possible to make an XML file. The OVAM has made an XSD file for the soil remediation experts, namely OVAM.XSD. To determine an export within the software of the soil remediation expert, an XSD-file exists, namely OVAM_LookUp.XSD, with all the necessary user information in the same application. The OVAM also has a draft application, namely IBD3, to make an XMLfile in the required XML format. The soil remediation expert has to fill in some fields with administrative and alphanumerical data and then an XML file will be made in accordance with the standards of the OVAM. This XML-file can accompany the written dossier, on a disk, or it can be mailed to the OVAM. The OVAM will check the XML file to see whether it is in accordance with the standards set by the OVAM. If it does, the data will be saved in the OVAM database. The main problem in this flowchart is the transfer of geographical information. The only aspects that are required now are the X-Y coordinates (preferably of the middle of the parcel) and possibly the X- Y coordinates of all the holes the Soil Remediation Expert made for his investigation. The GIS service of the OVAM will translate the data to geographical information, (which can be viewed in the Dossier Holder Application ). Because of this way of working, not all the geographical information of an investigation can be saved in the database. The OVAM has made a standard for the transfer of geographical information Extension by the current research. This research will study in what way the data transfer between de soils remediation experts and the OVAM can be realised by an Internet application. A website will be developed with GeoMedia WebMap Professional, a GeoMedia environment especially designed to realise Internet and intranet GIS applications. An important aspect is designing an easy and clear way of transferring geographical data, and visualising the geographical data immediately Initial Model of the GIS-project Aspects that will be integrated in the website. Access to data: the soil remediation expert can only access the data useful for his investigation, and only registered persons will have access to certain data. The choice of a Descriptive or Exploratory investigation will be presented, each with their own specific functionalities and data. The transferred data will not be saved directly into the OVAM database. They will be collected in another database, so that the OVAM can check them first.

10 10 Scale dependency of the data. Drawing of the current parcel borders on a map Functionalities that will be integrated in the GIS project. A big and easy to use map-navigation to the wanted parcel or to an existing file, resulting in a Kadscan (scanned cadastral maps of Flanders) layout of the parcel or parcels. The possibility to complete the map with, e.g. the following elements: Recipients of risk full brag. Location of canals. Other sources of contamination. The exact location of soil calibres, groundwater standings and monsters, and other instances of a soil investigation. The found contaminations (in case of a descriptive soil examination) To indicate the functionalities, so that they meet with the needs of the users, the standard procedures for Exploratory Investigation and Descriptive Soil Examination, made by the OVAM, will be studied. Following a soil remediation expert in the field, will be one of the many tasks, so that the people that have to use the website later on, will have an input. They can learn the practice of the elements that cannot be written in the Standard procedure Conclusion. This research is aimed at searching for a substitute for the current complicated data transfer from the soil remediation experts to the OVAM, with the accent on geographical information. The input application IBD3 can be integrated in the website. The philosophy of this GIS project is processive. The website will be designed for the data transfer of every possible soil investigation. This is why the entire workflow of the OVAM, and the workflow of the soil remediation expert will be analysed. The model of this project is a spiral model. It is, however, possible (if needed) to implement other geographical data layers. Other functionalities can be added or changed, without having to start over the project. This project does not strand when one particular phase takes up more time than predicted. The possibility to manage to database will be implemented.