The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences. Vol. XXXVII. Part B4. Beijing 2008
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Committee, the strategy has been to put the IDEMex under its
umbrella. There are other committees specified by the law, of a
more executive character.
The PRONADEIG is an instrument calling for the ordering and
regulation of productive activities, establishing priorities as set
by the corresponding Consultative Technical Committee. This
program, elaborated by INEGI, has specific considerations
connected with the IDEMex. On the other hand, there is a
relationship with the National Development Plans, the main
planning document of Mexico, issued every 6 years.
One of the resolutions from the Convention was to disseminate
the idea of the IDEMex by using mainly the website of INEGI;
we are implementing this, where forums are open for feedback,
interaction between interested parties, consultation, discussion
and analysis of key issues, with the general idea to upgrade
awareness and interest about the IDEMex.
INEGI, as an institution has contributed to the IDEMex,
through a sustained geospatial information production,
development of conceptual issues related to data, continuous
metadata generation, establishment of a clearinghouse and
gateway node, and giving attention to standards compilation
and generation.
10. RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE IDEMEX, NGIS
AND CARTOGRAPHY
There are four important factors in GIS; that is, hardware,
software, dataware and liveware. Enough is already known
about HW and SW. Regarding data, it is of a growing concern
that the output from the system is only as valid as the data input.
On the other hand, while HW and SW are becoming more
powerful and cheaper, it is recognized that the most expensive
part of any GIS is the collection and processing of data and this
is not universally recognized. This fact brings to attention the
vital importance of creating or gaining access to reliable and
accurate collected and maintained spatial data, which on its part
establishes a relationship of GIS and cartography with SDI.
Another relationship with SDI is that prior to the availability of
comprehensive GIS, sample data from cartography were
important for two reasons. First, they were the only data
available. Secondly and not often recognized, they approached
the maximum amount of information a user could process
manually. With the aid of computer based GIS, decision makers
are asking for much more detailed data; but this approach is
somewhat questionable since the tendency now is to use
significant data, the most important and used one, which calls
for the concept of Core or Fundamental Data as conceived in
SDI's and metadata development.
Another requirement is that data as collected for a GIS should
be multipurpose in nature since the costs involved in collection,
indexing and storage require it to be collected once and made
available. This is also connected with SDI.
Also, in a SDI environment as related to GIS, standards have to
be set and met by the data providing community. Standardized
metadata contained in a digital file are required.
Regarding liveware, to operate a GIS people or operators are
needed, and so GIS education is necessary. Operators need to
be computer literate and understand the functions available in a
GIS. Few people today are adequately trained in all of these
areas, nor there are much of quality training programs available.
This calls for what is known as capacity building in a SDI
environment.
Capacity building as well calls for the fact that technicians can
perform some of the tasks required to operate a GIS with only a
little training, but the person who is over the operation and
whose responsibility is to take decisions, must be professionally
trained.
More attention is being paid now to geospatial information
management within the frame of a greater rationalization and
efficiency, without neglecting the productive aspects are now
more diversified and include new sceneries. To this we can add
the notion to share existing geographic information through the
IDEMex. The IDEMex represents a modem resource associated
to the management and distribution of geospatial information,
within an approach adapted to the design and implementation of
now necessary administrative schemes.
In this context, a set of necessities associated to the dynamics
characterizing geospatial information has been detected:
• To know where the information is, describe, and
standardize it,
• To share, facilitate transference, access and use
• To establish an effective understanding between
producers and users,
• To rationalize the production, and handle it with
efficiency.
The IDEMex comprises different actors, where everyone is in
charge and responsible for its own information, which implies,
from the point of view of implementation and service, the
existence of a set of distributed databases.
SDIs can occur with different geographic coverages, from
institutional and local infrastructures, to those of national,
regional and global extent. In the first case, we are adding a
new category in reference to infrastructures which can be
integrated in the level of big producing organizations handling
significant and diversified geospatial data.
There is a set of conditions which have to be considered in
connection with the implementation of the IDEMex, which are
centered in the total recognition of its importance and necessity,
as well as on the existence of a strong political will to come
with the planning and implantation and to assume the
commitments of the case, particularly the recognition on the
necessity to also make a strong effort to come to terms of
agreement between the different actors, as well as paying
careful attention to all technical, legal, administrative and of
financial character aspects including the necessary prevision for
continuous development and maintenance.
11. CONCLUSION
This paper has been devoted to explain the way we at INEGI
think of the relationships existing between Cartography, our
NGIS and the IDEMex, beginning with an account of
cartography developed through time as a communication tool
for planning of the social and economical development of the
country, then through the emergency of the GIS technology
which came to upgrade cartography and materialized in the
NGIS by setting new stages and paradigms as conceptually
defined by the Law, which are under actual implementation ,