Setting the scene: the insights of GIScience in the knowledge society

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Setting the scene the insights of GIScience in
the knowledge society

• Yola Georgiadou
• April 29, 2009
• CODIST.1 UNECA Addis Ababa

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CODIST.1 Issues for discussion

• What do you see as the main gaps, bottle-necks
  and challenges for the uptake of GIScience
  Technology by African policy makers and what
  deserves priority attention?
• What are the key elements about GIScience
  Technology for enhancing policy decisions by
  African nations?
• What type of quick wins do you see to stimulate
  the usage of GIScience Technology ?

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CODIST.1 Issues for discussion

• What do you see as the main gaps, bottle-necks
  and challenges for the uptake of GIScience
  Technology by African policy makers and what
  deserves priority attention?
• What are the key elements about GIScience
  Technology for enhancing policy decisions by
  African nations?
• What type of quick wins do you see to stimulate
  the usage of GIScience Technology ?

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GIScience and Technology
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SDI research
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SDI research
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Earth from Apollo 8 -- Dec 22, 1968
http//earthobservatory.nasa.gov
The Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the
Natural Environmental Policy Act, and the first
Earth Day all came about within a few years of
this picture being seen for the first time.
(Gore, 2006)
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Remote Sensing (geoICT) -- Policy

• Search in ISI web of science
• -- 300 articles 1991 - 2008
• -- ltremote sensing OR earth observation AND
  policy gt
• -- claim potential of Remote Sensing in
  Environmental Policy
• -- early 1990s 1 of RS papers refer to policy
• -- in 2007 2 of RS papers refer to
  policy

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Global air quality map of NO2 levels
(Source ESA and Heidelberg Univ., 2004)
A map with a shocking message for the Dutch
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Question

• I know that the publication of NO2 maps in 2005
  provoked a strong public reaction because they
  showed that concentration levels of NO2 above the
  Netherlands were too high
• Is it known to you whether the information has
  led to policy change in the Netherlands with
  respect to NO2 emmisions?

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Reply

• Such a question is naturally not easy to answer
  objectively
• I do not think that the NO2 map has had direct
  influence on policy rules and goals .
• Also air quality policy goals have not been
  sharpened
• It is possible that the map has contributed to
  more willingness to accept measures but, I cannot
  substantiate this claim

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CODIST.1 Issues for discussion

• What do you see as the main gaps, bottle-necks
  and challenges for the uptake of GIScience
  Technology by ALL policy makers and what deserves
  priority attention?
• What are the key elements about GIScience
  Technology for enhancing policy decisions by
  African nations?
• What type of quick wins do you see to stimulate
  the usage of GIScience Technology ?

Policy Research in Africa by African scholars
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CODIST.1 Issues for discussion

• What do you see as the main gaps, bottle-necks
  and challenges for the uptake of GIScience
  Technology by African policy makers and what
  deserves priority attention?
• What are the key elements about GIScience
  Technology for enhancing policy decisions by
  African nations?
• What type of quick wins do you see to stimulate
  the usage of GIScience Technology ?

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Research within the policy cycle
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Problem identification ozone hole

• History
• 1970 BAS field record ozone ?
• 1975 US congress concerned but reluctant to ban
  CFCs
• 1975 NASA commissioned ? TOMS
• 1978 TOMS no hole detected
• 1985 BAS field record ? ? ozone
• 1985 TOMS ? size ozone hole
• 1987 Policy response Montreal protocol ban CFCs
• Conclusion
• Others (BAS) identified problem
• EO revealed spatial extent
• EO strong argument to ban CFCs

Sourcehttp//earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/Re
moteSensingAtmosphere/remote_sensing5.html
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Implementation beach nourishment Netherlands

• Problem coast erodes, beaches lose sand
• Policy maintain beach for coastal defense
• Intervention supply sand beach nourishment
• EO LIDAR measure sand deficit of beaches
• Market Government requests, private industry
  delivers

Source Van Der Vlag (2006)
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ControlCompliance EU regulations

• EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
• EU subsidizes agriculture
• Member states obliged report compliance to EU
• EU penalizes in case of non compliance
• Satellite imagery combined with parcel based
  information accepted as evidence of compliance
• Initially only control fraud subsidies
• Today also controling environmental directives
  (erosion, landscape etc.)

Checking compliance to environmental directives
aiming to avoid slope erosion. From ESA
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CODIST.1 Issues for discussion

• What do you see as the main gaps, bottle-necks
  and challenges for the uptake of GIScience
  Technology by African policy makers and what
  deserves priority attention?
• What are the key elements about GIScience
  Technology for enhancing policy decisions by
  African nations?
• What type of quick wins do you see to stimulate
  the usage of GIScience Technology ?

Research within the policy cycle
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Research within the policy cycle
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CODIST.1 Issues for discussion

• What do you see as the main gaps, bottle-necks
  and challenges for the uptake of GIScience
  Technology by African policy makers and what
  deserves priority attention?
• What are the key elements about GIScience
  Technology for enhancing policy decisions by
  African nations?
• What type of quick wins do you see to stimulate
  the usage of GIScience Technology ?

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Authoritative geo-information voluntarism
PRODUSER PRODUSAGE
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Mashups
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OpenStreetMap.org
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"Crowdsourcing" Maps
Kenya
India
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Authoritative geo-information voluntarism
(Example Zanzibar)
PRODUSER PRODUSAGE
Human Sensor Web
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NO WATER? sms no to 4411 ---------------- DIRTY
WATER? sms dirty to 4422
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June 2008 No water 1 10
Web server Processing
June 2008 Dirty water 1 10
NO WATER? sms no to 4411 ---------------- DIRTY
WATER? sms dirty to 4422
Google community
SMS alert community
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CODIST.1 Issues for discussion

• What do you see as the main gaps, bottle-necks
  and challenges for the uptake of GIScience
  Technology by African policy makers and what
  deserves priority attention?
• What are the key elements about GIScience
  Technology for enhancing policy decisions by
  African nations?
• What type of quick wins do you see to stimulate
  the usage of GIScience Technology ?

In situ policy research
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1. In situ research E.g. Zanzibar

• Values
• How to evaluate the quality of prodused data?
• Practices
• How exactly does data produsage affect water
  provision in Zanzibar?
• How are data produsage practices becoming
  socially embedded and scaled-up in Zanzibar?
• Rules
• Which policies need to be in place to reinforce
  (reward) good produsage practices?

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2. With whom and where?

• Cooperation with African Public Administration
  and Governance scholars
• Indigenous innovation and solutions

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CODIST.1 Issues for discussion

• What do you see as the main gaps, bottle-necks
  and challenges for the uptake of GIScience
  Technology by African policy makers and what
  deserves priority attention?
• What are the key elements about GIScience
  Technology for enhancing policy decisions by
  African nations?
• What type of quick wins do you see to stimulate
  the usage of GIScience Technology ?

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people using geo-information
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Questions?