Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI)

Social challenges, environmental issues, and economic downturns all take cooperation to solve.

Working together to map and document the earth helps create a structure for managing knowledge. Using GIS solutions to create a spatial data infrastructure (SDI) ensures that data and resources are available to the organizations and stakeholders that need them. From large countries to small nations, everyone benefits from documented public works and utilities, protected environments and biodiversity, correctly assessed resources, and completed strategic planning.

Making countrywide geographic data available throughout the nation with a spatial data infrastructure (SDI) is one way the country continues to grow. An online geoportal created with GIS technology makes this possible. The geoportal makes it easier for citizens, government, and private-sector users to find and access vast quantities of geographic information and related services.

SDI can be defined as an "umbrella" of policies, standards and procedures under which organizations and technologies interact to foster more efficient use, management and production of geospatial data. It is an enabling framework for the cooperative and participatory production, management and dissemination of geographic information. It enables planners and decision makers and the general community to find what spatial information products exist, where they exist, how to get access to them and how to use them. Therefore the goal of a spatial data infrastructure is to ensure that users will be able to acquire and use adequate, complete, reliable, and consistent data sets when they need them.

It provides an ideal environment in which all stakeholders (both users and producers of spatial information) can cooperate with each other cost effectively to better achieve their targets.