ISPRS Intercommission WG III/IV (Conceptual
aspects of GIS) and sponsored by the Japan
Society of Photogrammetry and Remote
Sensing(JSPRS). Limited number of copies of
the proceedings with fourteen papers are
available from the author. The second
workshop, the International Workshop on
Global Databases, was held at Boulder,
Colorado, USA from May 30-31, 1995. In this
workshop, thirty participants had fruitful
discussions on important subjects for the
development of better global database.
Discussed subjects were:
- Data requirement
- Legend/categorizations
- Accuracy/quality
- Data availability, data access and dissemination
rights
- Map projection and data structure
- Integration of national mapping activities into
global monitoring systems & harmonization of
ongoing global mapping projects
The report of the workshop, the International
Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote
Sensing Volume XXX, Part 4W1, is available
from RICS Books.
The survey of "National and Regional
Geographic Data Bases" had unsatisfactory
results because of no budget and insufficient
personnel for the survey. Questionnaire was
sent to all Ordinary Members of the ISPRS, and
53 answers from 18 countries were received.
The questionnaire is about national data of any
remote sensing products, DEM, hydrological
data, land use/cover data, soils/geological data,
political data, roads data, population data, and
their point of contact. Since this type of survey
about existing geographic data is important, an
authorized international body with enough
budget and personnel must have a responsibility
for such a survey.
4. WHAT SHOULD WE DO?
What should we do to develop truly useful
global database? Table 1 shows problems which
prevent to develop better global database and
their measures.
Some key environmental variables such as
energy consumption, the volume of exhaust gas
from factories and water volumes by irrigation
are not exist as a global dataset. Many socio-
economic data are lacking due to national
sovereignty and technical difficulty of
measurement. Researchers in many fields have
to produce lacking datasets one by one.
Most countries have land use data, and many
projects survey local land use. However there is
Table 1 Problems and their measures for a better global database
Problems Measures
- No data for some variables Data production Specific
- No mechanism of integration of local data Establishment of new mechanism Common
- Insufficient quality Improve information sources Specific
- Unknown quality Evaluation and documentation of accuracy (Common
- Insufficient metadata Standardization Common
- Different classification system Harmonization & standardization Specific
- Different map projection Standardization Common
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Specific: problem for a specific global dataset
Common: common problem for all global datasets
856
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B4. Vienna 1996
