A Case Study on Local SDI Implementation in Germany

Transcription

1 A Case Study on Local SDI Implementation in Germany Hartmut MÜLLER, Falk WÜRRIEHAUSEN, Germany Key words: Local SDI, Municipality, Commune SDI, Geospatial Basic Data, Geospatial Thematic Data, Web Service, INSPIRE, GDI-DE SUMMARY Germany is a federal republic consisting of 16 States (so called "Laender"). At the local level the Federation comprises more than 300 counties and more than 13,000 municipalities. The tasks of local authorities in Germany are complex. A well functioning spatial data infrastructure can provide a basis for spatial data discovery, evaluation, download and application for users and providers within all levels of government, the commercial sector, the non-profit sector, academia and the general public. This paper presents a case study which highlights some aspects of local SDI implementation in Germany. The implementation has to go in line with the organization of the public administration which in turn reflects the federal structure of the Federal Republic of Germany. At the local SDI level items related to the organisation of communal administration bodies are an issue of major concern. The study outlines the concrete situation as given in the South Western German State of Rheinland-Pfalz by discussing it in the context of the evolution at higher SDI levels represented by the INSPIRE initiative at the European level and by the GDI-DE initiative at the German national level. Special emphasis is given to the integration of communal SDI s within the local SDI level. Results of efforts achieved since starting it at communal level in 2002 are illustrated by describing the case of the Rheinland-Pfalz county of Bernkastel- Wittlich. Benefits of SDI application of land tools like urban planning, land-use regulation and property registration are shown. Integration of the communal SDI into the states SDI is illustrated by describing the provision of preparatory and legally binding land-use plans created by the commune in the geoportal GeoPortal.rlp which is maintained by the state. 1/17

2 A Case Study on Local SDI Implementation in Germany Hartmut MÜLLER, Falk WÜRRIEHAUSEN, Germany 1. INTRODUCTION Over time the following classification of SDI hierarchy levels achieved acceptance (see Rajabifard et al, 1999, for instance) Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI); Regional Spatial Data Infrastructure (RSDI); National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI); State or Provincial Spatial Data Infrastructure (SSDI); Local Spatial Data Infrastructure (LSDI); and Corporate Spatial Data Infrastructure (CSDI). Concerns of higher hierarchical levels are general collaboration agreements, mutual information of stakeholders, political agreements and items alike, all for very extended geographical areas. Concrete implementation specifications regularly are to be found at the lower hierarchical levels rather than at the higher levels. Seen from a European perspective the following sections highlight the present situation concerning SDI implementation in Germany by describing some details of one local SDI as a part of the overall German NSDI. Figure 1 gives an overview of the relations of RSDI, NSDI and LSDI in Germany. INSPIRE European SDI GDI-DE SDI Germany Federation SDI Federal State SDIs Other EU Member States SDIs Commune SDIs Figure 1 SDI Germany within the European framework. Source: adapted from Schilcher et al. (2009) The lead project to construct a working Regional Spatial Data Infrastructure in the European region is the EU INSPIRE initiative which progresses continuously. At the national level 2/17

3 many efforts of the EU Member States take place to build up their own NSDI within the INSPIRE framework, according to the specific and specified needs of their respective countries. The SDI stakeholders in the Federal Republic of Germany operate under the umbrella name GDI-DE, which covers the SDI of the federation as well as the SDIs of all 16 Federal States (Figure 1). Reflecting the structure of the public administration in Germany many SDIs already are or will have to be implemented at the lower administration levels. Particularly at the lowest hierarchy level of local SDIs in Germany a very heterogeneous structure has to be stated. At local SDI level a wide range covering well functioning operational SDIs which are available in some large cities but, at the same time, a huge number of thousands of very small municipalities with few if any resources to build up an SDI can be found. 2. GDI-DE, GERMANYS NSDI Figure 2 Organisational structure of the German NSDI GDI-DE (Source: Leuven and Hall, 2007) Figure 2 shows the overall structure of GDI-DE. The structure reflects the German federal system at all levels, at the political level, at the conceptual level and at the technical level, respectively. The link between national and local SDI was established by placing representatives from states and municipalities in the different committees. GDI-DE operates 3/17

4 its own geoportal as a central SDI access point. Figures 3 and 4 present one of the countrywide available geospatial data sets. Figure 3 Geoportal Bund, Protected area information (Source: Figure 4 Geoportal Bund, Protected area information, zoomed view to the Rhein-Main area around Frankfurt (Source: 4/17

5 The following section will address the present situation of local SDI development given in the South Western Federal State of Rheinland-Pfalz, in particular emphasizing the status of SDI development reached in small communities. 3. GDI-RP, Rheinland-Pfalz LSDI 3.1 Local SDI evolution in Rheinland-Pfalz Federal States (16) Federal State of Rhineland-Palatinate Independent cities in Rheinland-Palatinate (14) Counties in Rhineland-Palatinate (24) Figure 5 Federal Republic of Germany, Federal State of Rheinland-Pfalz consisting of 24 counties The state of Rheinland-Pfalz (see Figure 5) is one of the German rural area states, with some industry but also with a relatively high economy share of agriculture and viticulture. At state level a number of ministries take care of the issues of public administration. There the Ministry of the Interior took the lead for Rheinland-Pfalz local SDI implementation within the federal GDI-DE framework. 5/17

6 By law and other regulations administration duties and interaction processes within and between administration units are well defined in Germany. Large and small communities regularly are members of several umbrella organisations covering a more or less large number of municipalities and taking care of common needs of their members. At the communal level three communal umbrella organisations were established long time ago, firstly the Rheinland-Pfalz Association of Cities and Towns acting for 32 small to medium size cities and towns ranging from to inhabitants, secondly the County Association acting for all 24 counties of the state and, thirdly, the Association of Communes and Towns acting for over 2000 mostly small rural communes. Larger cities regularly are capable to provide sufficient resources to operate a working SDI by their own. For the vast majority of all small communes this is rarely the case. That is why the County Association decided to take the lead in order to build the capacity needed to operate the local SDI at the county level and, at the same time, to provide the needed services for small communes. The county administration offices roughly spoken consisting of 300 to 500 employees are intended to act as the central service points for the communal SDI components of the local SDI. SDI service centers allocated to the county administration offices in future shall provide all SDI related services by running all processes needed to connect the communal level in itself and with the state level. 3.2 Local SDI developments at Rheinland-Pfalz communal level Geospatial basic data agreements between stakeholders As in most states of Germany, there is only one state authority in Rheinland-Pfalz that provides all geospatial basic data for the entire state. In the past, in line with established practice in Germany, every single local authority in Rheinland-Pfalz had to pay a separate license fee to this provider for every geospatial basic data set they needed. The result of this policy was that because of budgetary restrictions, the use of even publicly available topographic, land tenure, and real estate data, to name just a few categories, was problematic even in state and local administration offices. In 2002, Rheinland-Pfalz state authority on spatial data signed a contract with the three umbrella organizations of all public local authorities to give the local authorities license to use all public data available in the different spatial data bases, including real estate cadastre information like parcel numbers, location, type of property, and ownership, cadastral boundaries, landscape parcels, type of land use, buildings, special topographic features, house numbers, etc. Users have access to Digital Landscape Models (DLM) and Digital Topographic Maps (DTK), to Digital Terrain Models (DGM) and to Digital Orthophotos (DOP), see Figures 6 and 7. 6/17

7 Figure 6 Geospatial basic data countrywide available in Germany, Real estate record (left), Real estate map (right), Source: Landesamt für Vermessung und Geobasisinformation Rheinland-Pfalz Figure 7 Geospatial basic data countrywide available in Germany, Digital orthophoto (left), topographic map (half left), digital height model (half right), digital landscape model (right). Source: Landesamt für Vermessung und Geobasisinformation Rheinland-Pfalz Status of SDI evolution at communal level In the years after it had come into force the signed agreement as described in the previous paragraph turned out to be one of the decisive success factors which, from that time on, boosted SDI development remarkably. The County Association, for instance, established a steering committee which over several years ran projects with pilot authorities in order to prove the benefits of SDI by performing and documenting best practice studies. The 7/17

8 documentation consists of templates of questionnaires, of requirement specifications and so on to be used and to be adapted by other bodies according to their specific needs. The result of those efforts to establish a working SDI was assessed in the years 2009/2010 by performing an extended survey to review the central administration offices of 22 of the 24 state counties. To keep time and effort for the survey at a reasonable level, a list of selected indicators (see Table 1) regarded to be most important was specified as a framework to assess the status of SDI evolution reached at present. Availability of qualified personnel (employee with a high level GIS qualification) Degree of availability of digital geospatial basic data Degree of availability of digital geospatial thematic data and of metadata Information retrieval of digital geospatial basic data as a part of daily routine of service personnel Information retrieval of digital geospatial thematic data as a part of daily routine of service personnel Powerful computer hardware available Powerful computer network available Broad use of Desktop GIS in different departments interacting with each other Broad use of external web services in different departments Provision of web services for external users Availability of a WebGIS intranet Availability of WebGIS internet access for general public use Availability of WebGIS internet access for professional use Table 1 List of SDI assessment indicators Following a one day visit of all administration offices under review marks were given for all indicators according to the following list. 0 not available 1 implementation scheduled 2 partly implemented 3 fully implemented Figure 8 shows the overall results of the assessment process. In all reviewed units SDI implementation at least is in progress. Some of the reviewed county administration offices already reach more than 80 percent of the maximum rating to be reached, in that way proofing their well developed SDI capabilities. Others still hold their position below the 50 percent mark, in that way showing their need of further efforts to improve their SDI capabilities. 8/17

9 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Figure 8 Status quo of local SDI implementation at communal level of German state Rheinland-Pfalz 2009/ The case of County Bernkastel-Wittlich Bernkastel-Wittlich, the second largest county of German federal state Rheinland-Pfalz, covers an area of about square kilometres with a population density of about 100 inhabitants per square kilometre. In that way Bernkastel-Wittlich represents quite well the German rural areas. The county consists of 106 small municipalities which form a number of 7 associated communes plus 2 small towns. The county administration body consists of a number of about 400 employees organized within 20 departments which all have to fulfil their specific tasks. In the following paragraphs some of the departments will be named to show in which way they profit from and how they deliver their input to a working SDI. To demonstrate the practical aspects of local SDI implementation we will describe the current status reached in the county, being one of the two most advanced counties of the state of Rheinland-Pfalz with regard to SDI implementation (see ranking in Figure 8). The central county administration located in Wittlich is responsible to care about the needs of the citizens in many fields of life: education, sports, civil protection, nature conservation, preservation of ancient monuments, building inspection, motorcar permit, social welfare, youth matters, decrees, to name a few of them. In many of those fields the staff of the administration office already benefits considerably from a ready to use SDI. Starting in the year 2003 an extensive internal review of users needs, thoroughly elaborated requirement specifications, tender of required hardware and software systems, engagement of a fulltime working academic GIS administrator, continuous training of service personnel and constant support of the political head of the county authority over time lead to the currently reached status. Further SDI development is needed and at present is in progress to improve access to the SDI, in particular for the general public as well as for the business sector. 9/17

10 Emphasis of the following explanations will be placed on the availability of geospatial basic and thematic data, on realized applications and on used software. Application of land tools like urban planning, land-use regulations and property registration will be shown. Integration of preparatory and legally binding land-use plans into the state s local SDI as well as other practical results will be demonstrated. Use of Geospatial Basic Data across County Administration Departments One of the often posed questions in the office is who owns which parcel? This question can be answered very quickly by querying the geospatial basic database as provided by the Surveying Authorities (see section 3.2.1). Therefore, this application is widely acknowledged within the administration office and is used very frequently. Technically spoken, the information has to be retrieved from the automated land survey register (ALK) and from the automated register of real owners (ALB), see Figure 9. Figure 9 Information retrieval from automated land survey register (ALK) and automated register of real owners (ALB) Applications in the Department of Buildings and Environment Figure 10 shows how habitats and reserves can be retrieved both in graphical and textual form by using a feasible Wep Map Service. In that way any person in charge has the information showing protected areas instantly available. If any and in which way a specified area has a protected status is an indispensable information which is crucial for many spatially related decisions. 10/17

11 Figure 10 OGC Web Map Service WMS Protection areas (left), direct link to the describing textual information (right) Citizens have to apply for a building permit to erect a new or to change an existing building. Permits will be granted only if the application is in accordance with the land-use regulations which are defined by the planning authorities in the course of a democratic participatory well defined process. Legally binding land-use plans provide for the base to compare applications for building permits with the legal land-use regulations which are valid in the area under discussion. Figure 11 shows how this check can be done very easily by using a Web Map Service WMS which is linked to the software used for the administration of building permits. Figure 11 Interactive Processing of building permit applications by using OGC Web Map Service WMS providing for legally binding land-use plans 11/17

12 Applications in the Health Department Health prevention is one of the tasks of a public administration. Actions have to be taken as fast as possible in case of an avian influenza case, for instance. To minimise processing times in an emergency case it is highly desirable to get a list of possibly affected locations of domestic animals on stock at a push of a button. Geocoding of locations in conjunction with standard GIS analysis functions like buffering and intersection of spatial datasets provides for the solution of the information problem. Figure 12 shows a simulated avian influenza case together with possibly affected locations. Figure 12 Simulation of avian influenza case and resulting possibly affected locations Applications in the Planning Department Potential locations for wind power stations have to meet certain criteria, like a minimum distance from built areas and from roads, they do not have to be within areas which are preserved for other purposes, etc. The examination of potential locations can be sped up considerably by having the needed spatial information laid down in maps and textual documents available (see Figure 13). 12/17

13 Figure 13 Examination of potential locations for wind power stations 3.4 Integration of commune SDI into GDI-RP federal state SDI As it was explained in previous sections, in Germany the process of building its national SDI takes place under the name GDI-DE. At the local level the 16 German Federal States implement their own SDI s by using corresponding acronyms like GDI-RP, which represents the local SDI of the Federal State of Rheinland-Pfalz, for instance. Commune SDI s are to be closely linked within the local SDI of their respective state territory. Figure 14 demonstrates the information flow within the future integrated European SDI as defined by the INSPIRE initiative by showing an already operational use case. The geoportal of Rheinland-Pfalz GeoPortal.rlp provides for access to spatial information on the complete territory of the federal state. GeoPortal offers the opportunity for federal state agencies, municipal authorities and private companies to make their data and services accessible for the whole community of internet users. Geospatial data are available at the involved institutions in a wide range of formats, partly still in paper form, or, if digitally available, filed in a considerable number of different file formats. Standards like the ones developed by Open Geospatial Consortium OGC are available. Use of those standards is needed to provide and exchange spatial information. 13/17

14 Figure 14 Cascading Services linking EU Regional level, National level and Local level SDI s Figure 15 Preparatory land-use plan provided by county administration as a Web Map Service within federal Rheinland-Pfalz state SDI (Source: 14/17

15 Figure 15 shows a preparatory land-use plan of the pilot authority Bernkastel-Wittlich which is provided in the Geoportal.rlp as a Web Map Service. In that way, valid planning regulations can be accessed by any interested person. The combination of land-use regulation and appraisal issues is of particular interest. From Figure 16 it can be seen how such a combined view to an area of interest may look like. In this way potential investors can retrieve valuable information needed as input for their decision processes. Figure 16 Provision of preparatory land-use plan and land values within federal state SDI (Source: 4. CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER WORK SDI implementation at the local level on the one hand is closely related to and is able to fulfil many basic needs of citizens and public administration by providing huge amounts of basic spatial data. On the other hand careful SDI design and implementation at the local level is an indispensable prerequisite for establishing a working SDI at all higher level. Consideration of standards, mainly those defined by OGC makes it possible to integrate local SDI bricks smoothly into an overall SDI. Many questions concerning semantic interoperability, metadata specification and maintenance are still not answered in a sufficient way and, therefore, remain as a challenge for future work. 15/17

16 5. REFERENCES EU Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2007 establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) Official Journal of the European Union L108 Volume 50, Grünreich, D., 2009, The German NSDI (GDI-DE). Eighteenth United Nations Regional Cartographic Conference for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, October Germany Grunreich.pdf Leuven, K. U. and Hall, M., 2008, Spatial Data Infrastructures in Germany: State of play Country report on SDI elaborated in the context of a study commissioned by the EC (EUROSTAT) in the framework of the INSPIRE initiative (Under Framework Contract REGIO/G Lot 2), Müller, H., Siebold, M., 2008, Good-Practice Example of a German Regional SDI as a Component of the Future INSPIRE Framework. Surveying and Land Information Science, The National Society of Professional Surveyors, The American Association for Geodetic Surveying, and The Geographic and Land Information Society, Volume 68, Number 2, June 2008, pp Müller, H., Wuerriehausen, F., 2009, Geoportals as a general-purpose tool to support the development. FIG Commission 3 Workshop on Spatial Information for Management of Sustainable Urban Areas, Mainz, Germany, 2-4 February Olfat. H., Rajabifard, A., Qureshi, F. M., Daneshpour, S. A., 2009, Facilitating Urban Management through Local SDI, Case study: the Municipality of Tehran, GSDI 11 World Conference, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, June Rajabifard, A, Chan, T. O. and Williamson, I.P., 1999, The Nature of Regional Spatial Data Infrastructures, Proceedings of AURISA '99, November 1999, Blue Mountains, NSW, AURISA 99: CD-ROM. Schilcher, M., Fichtinger, A., Jaenicke, K., Kraut, V., Stahl, J., Straub, F., 2009, INSPIRE, Fundamentals, Examples, Test Results. Von St. Vith, Stefan, 2009,:Local SDI Implementation at County Level in Germany. FIG Commission 3 Workshop on Spatial Information for Management of Sustainable Urban Areas, Mainz, Germany, 2-4 February /17

17 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES Hartmut Müller got his diploma and doctoral degree at Karlsruhe University. After 8 years of research he turned into the marketing and software development departments of international enterprises for 6 years. Since 1991 he is a professor at Mainz University of Applied sciences. Since 1998 he is a member of the board of i3mainz, Institute for Spatial Information and Surveying Technology. In the DVW German Association of Geodesy, Geoinformation and Land Management he is the chair of working group 2 Spatial Information and Spatial Data Management. Falk Würriehausen holds a diploma in Geodesy. Since 2008 he is a research co-worker at the i3mainz Institute for Spatial Information and Surveying Technology of Mainz University of Applied Sciences. CONTACTS Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hartmut Müller, Mainz University of Applied Sciences Lucy-Hillebrand-Str. 2, D Mainz, GERMANY phone mueller@geoinform.fh-mainz.de, Dipl.Ing. Falk Würriehausen, Mainz University of Applied Sciences Lucy-Hillebrand-Str. 2, D Mainz, GERMANY phone wuerriehausen@geoinform.fh-mainz.de, 17/17