Nature management and Data management

1
Nature management andData management

• Gudrun WallentinFlorian FischerAustrian Academy
  of SciencesResearch Unit GIScience

2
Nature and Data an old issue?
Alexander v. Humboldt 1769 - 1859
3
Paradigms of Nature Protection
1850
1950
1900
2000
(Brüggemann, 2003)
4
Paradigm Shift for PA Management
1962 1962 2003 2003
central administration individual PA strict categories part of a system, corridor various involved parties, alliances
protection as single purpose managed like an island embedded in the region additional social and economic purposes
state financed scenic beauty increasingly cultural, scientific, economic reasons financed by diverse resources
managed by experts, academics preservation also renaturation, rehabilitation interdisciplinary teams, cooperation
planning without the local population reactive management, short planning interval adaptive management, long-term perspective management for / including the local population
5
Integrated Management needs

• an integrated view across various themes (?
  Spatial information)
• easy solutions to exchange and process spatial
  information

6
What is special about spatial?

• Spatial information integrates informationen from
  various themes by geo-reference
• Spatial informationen allows a differentiated and
  comparative view on PAs

7
Five goals of PA management

• Nature Protection
• Recreation
• Education
• Research
• Sustainable Development

8
Need for spatial information I
Nature protection All activities that conserve
or enhance the state and the dynamics of natural
landscapesNeed for spatial informationSurvey
and monitor the state of species and
biotopes.(as-is analysis)Defining
nature-priority areas, e.g. Nature2000 network
(spatial planning)
9
Need for spatial information II
Recreation All activities that facilitate or
intensify the recreational value of a protected
areaNeed for spatial information Directing the
visitor distribution to maximise the
recreational value, and to minimise detrimental
impact (visitor management)
10
Need for spatial information III
Education All activities directed towards a
visitor that inform, rise awareness and stimulate
critical thinking to evoke nature-friendly
behaviourNeed for spatial informationVisualisat
ion is a commonly understandable, often used and
powerful tool in environmental education
(geovisualisation)
11
Need for spatial information IV
Research All activities to document and monitor
the state of a protected area and to contribute
to decision making and problem solvingNeed for
spatial informationProtected areas are an
explicitly spatial approach to nature
conservation. Thus research activities in
protected areas mostly have and can be connected
by its geo-component (location matters).
12
Need for spatial information V
Sustainable development All activities that
contribute to a sustainable coexistence of man
and nature in the region of a protected area
Need for spatial information Bringing
everything together top down or with public
participation (location connects domain
expertise)
13
Need for Datamanagement in PAs

• Describing the status-quo
• Planning and zonation of Protected Areas
• Management to meet conservation targets
• Decision-making to assist public authorities,
  stake-holders and politicians in their work (e.g.
  EIA)
• Monitoring to document changes and control the
  success of management measures
• Information/Involvement of the public
  (participation) e.g. database for Biodiversity in
  the Haus der Natur, Salzburg
• Reporting to financiers, state authorities, other
  managers, Alpine Convention, EU

14
Reality check NP Berchtesgaden

• Spatial data is stored in a file-based GIS
• 450 different themes
• Research in cooperation with/by external
  institutions
• Takes into account the various tasks of NP
  administrations
• Integrated data-model for NP administration is
  needed

15
NP Berchtesgaden Data-Structure

• Need to incorporatespatio-temporal data
• Enhancement ofattribute data
• Easy exchange ofdata

16
Reality check NP Bavarian Forest

• Information flow to differentresearch
  institutions
• Information flow between research and
  practitioner and the general public
• Basic geodata from the BavarianMapping Agency
• Aim Use GIS in all areas of management, also for
  non-specialists
• Processing and distribution of research results
  for different markets (researchers, forest
  practitioners, politics, general public) is not
  without problems.

17
Needs for data exchange
Research
NGO
Administration
General public
Practitioner
Consultant
Politics
18
The administrative perspective
Administration
19
Affordances on spatial data in nature-management

• Accessibility to information about nature for
  everybody
• Availability of free data to ensure public access
  to public data
• Data Harmonisation to combine and compare data
  from different sources and across borders
• Semantic data modelling to add meaning to the
  provided data
• Geoprocessing tools to retrieve information from
  data
• Adaptive level of scale and detail to answer the
  question at hand
• Usability of the geoportal to facilitate the
  effective use also for non-experts
• Time series to monitor change
• Possibility of interaction to enable public
  participation

20
Problems of data exchange and data retrieval

• Different formats and different vendors
• Lost in conversion lost in translation
• Search for available data is almost impossible
  for external partners
• Data quality
• Data usability
• Data transfer by email, compact disk?
• Regular integration of external data in own GIS
  system is necessary
• Updating and versioning

21
INSPIRE Implementation a chance

• Geo-Webservices
• Standards
• Harmonisation of data sets
• Common Application Schemes
• Individually extensible
• Matching on different user needs
• Geoportal (as Geospatial One-Stop)

22
Thank you for your attention!

• www.oeaw.ac.at/GIScience
• Gudrun.Wallentin_at_oeaw.ac.at
• Florian.Fischer_at_oeaw.ac.at