YES
AGENCY/ORG NAME NIGIS (Northern Ireland Geographic Information System)
MAILING ADDRESS Colby House, Stranmillis Court, Belfast, NI BT09 5BJ
E_MAIL tsteenson.osni@nics.gov.uk
TELEPHONE 44 1232 255785
FAX 44 1232 255700
PRIMARY CONTACT Trevor Steenson, Secretary, NIGIS
NIGIS is a multi-partner initiative to develop a common infrastructure to improve radically the accessibility and usefulness of geographic information held by government departments and public utilities.
The common basis or hub of the system is Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland's topographic database to which all other spatial data may be referenced. At largescale (1:1250 and 1:2500), multi-attributed vector data is organised into 180 themes ranging from transport networks, rivers, buildings, administrative boundaries, parcel perimeters and geodetic control. The data also contains "hooks" (grid reference or addresses linked to grid references of properties, etc) whereby the information held in other databases may be interfaced. More than 80% of the largescale digital topographical database has been created with completion expected by the end of 1999/2000.
At smaller scales, themes include roads, elevation, administrative boundaries, rivers and lakes, soil survey and CORINE land use.
In addition to the framework information, a wide range of other thematic spatial datasets are being made available through NIGIS and relevant standards.
Access to core topographical data is by application to The Digital Sales Department at Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland.
Government policy aimed at delivering more services electronically has recently been introduced so methods of access may be extended in the foreseeable future. A metadata service is also available to highlight datasets that are 'fit for purpose'.
The use of the data available within the NIGIS arena is subject to individual owners' copyright restrictions. For certain datasets, data protection issues may also be a factor.
This is achieved through the NIGIS Liaison Committees which under the leadership of OSNI plays a key role in the co-ordination of member organisation developments by ensuring that incompatibilities due to lack of awareness between partners are avoided. The work of the Liaison Committees is fundamental to the integrated approach and a key factor in NIGIS development. Relevant standards are adhered to and indeed for certain groups of users these are mandatory.
Information from OSNI's digital topographic database (the NIGIS base data), with a few exceptions, is leased on an annual basis. Leasing entitles customers to updates annually or more frequently if required. Pricing has been determined as a factor of the cost of maintaining the topographical archive and of making the data available.
Other datasets within the NIGIS arena are available subject to local agreements and copyright restrictions.
The membership of the two NIGIS Committees consist of a mixture of Government bodies, public utilities and companies with commercial interests. The topographical data is available for purchase and use in commercial ventures subject to legal restrictions (copyright, royalties etc). As a result of both of these, Commercial companies have an influence in the structure of the data and on the time tabling of data availability.
Not applicable
All new maps of Northern Ireland produced since 1950 are based on the Irish Grid. The grid is metric and appears on all published maps and plans in the form of squares that provide a single reference system for the whole island. Thus the same grid reference identifies the location of any given point on any scale of map. By adopting the use of the Irish Grid for all geographically linked data, NIGIS has facilitated the exchange and sharing of otherwise independent datasets.
All information within NIGIS containing personal information or information that could identify individuals or groups of individuals is subject to the Data Protection Act.
YES
A recent policy change by the DOE (Department of the Environment) in Northern Ireland (NI) requires the department to take actions to progress the development of Geographic Information Systems (e.g. having a common electronic format for holding names and addresses and to take account of the need for data sharing). The DOE is the biggest government department in NI. The NI Central Information Technology Unit takes a role of policing relevant standard use within NI government departments.
Funds which have been budgeted for NIGIS have taken the form of time donated by organisations/companies for staff to participate in the NIGIS committees and various pilot studies and working groups. OSNI supply a secretary (part time) to NIGIS.
The membership of NIGIS comprises representatives of Government (Lands, agriculture, planning, environment, surveys, housing, census ), Public and Private Utilities, Telecommunications, Transport, Local Government and Emergency services. As contacts and the uptake of GIS continues to develop, invitations are issued regularly to other interested parties to join/contribute.
a. METADATA - YES
b. CLEARINGHOUSE - NOT YET
c. DATA STANDARDS - YES
d. CORE DATA - YES
Although funds have not been specifically set aside, many research and development projects have been undertaken and funded by organisations in 'kind'. A number of funded project pilot projects have been carried out by different NIGIS users to further their aims.
NIGIS has adopted several British Standards and promotes their use for both data collection and exchange. Examples of this are BS7567 "Electronic transfer of geographic information (NTF)", the UK Standard Geographic Base, and BS7666 "Spatial datasets for geographic referencing". Participation in related committees and sub-committees ensures that developments in CEN and ISO standards are monitored.
YES.
Through metadata, NIGIS is linked to MEGRIN's GDDD.
YES
National Geospatial Data Framework (NGDF).
The long term vision of NIGIS is to further develop a common infrastructure to improve the accessibility and usefulness of geographic information held by government departments and public and private utilities. It is envisaged that each partner will be responsible for their own databases and control availability of and access to them.
Effective Delivery and Communication Systems.
NIGIS partners will be responsible for their own databases and control their availability to other users on agreed terms. There will be a need for users to transmit information internally as well as externally therefore effective communication links are essential.
Files containing complex topographic information are typically large making high speed reliable telecommunication links essential. Since NIGIS was formed in 1983 the bandwidth available to users has increased enormously and transmission times have reduced accordingly. These improvements must continue.
Written material may be obtained from:
Mr Trevor Steens
on contact details as per question 4 or from OSNI's website: