GIS Curriculum Development and the Education Practice in Japan

1. GIS Curriculum Development and the Education Practice in Japan Morishige Ota Kokusai Kogyo Co., Ltd. University of Tokyo Member of the OGC Global Advisory Council

2. Special Thanks to GIS Development March 2004 Vol.8, Issue 3 Reprinted in the Newsletter of ISO/TC211 on April 2004

3. Outline Japanese experience of geospatial information sharing GIS&T Body of Knowledge (BoK) and Curriculum Development, and the Education Practice in Japan Consideration as a member of OGC Global Advisory Council

4. 1. Japanese experience - The Earthquake • GISs have been introduced in Japan since late 70s. • The Great Hanshin Earthquake hit on January 17, 1995. • It was difficult to get and share maps of life lines, cadastral information, and city planning, because buildings of city halls and other public organizations were broken and there was no mechanism to share geospatial information. • Central government established the meeting of various ministries to share geographic information in July, 1995. • Private companies established NSDI Promoting Association (NSDIPA) in October, 1995. • NSDIPA entered into MoU between OGC on 1997. • Database Promotion Center under Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry entered into MoU between OGC on 2000.

5. 1. Japanese experience – Integrated GIS Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications established the committee for Integrated GIS for local governments in 1996. Integrated GIS: GIS network realizing spatial data sharing even if node systems are different among departments Citizens Image of information sharing in the city government standardized data exchange interface Road administration Dep. City planning Dep. Revenue Dep. Water & Sewage Dep. Buildings Water pipe Parcels Road boundaries

6. 1. Japanese experience – NSDI Act On May 2007, Basic Act on the Advancement of Utilizing Geospatial Information (NSDI Act) was enacted by the Japanese National Diet. Article 16: Development of FGD (Fundamental Geospatial Data) The State Government shall issue technical standards with regard to the development of FGD, in order to disseminate the use of GIS by promoting the sharing of FGD. Article 17: Interoperability of FGD in Geospatial Services The State and local governments shall make efforts to maximize the interoperable use of existing FGD ..... Article 13: Development of Human Resources The State Government shall take necessary measures in order to develop human resources that are equipped with expertise and technologies for Advancement of Utilizing Geospatial Information.

7. 2. Education – BoK Development • Funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology • 1. The Research of Sustainable Collaborative Web Library for the Contents on GI-Science (GISc) Standard Curricula • - Chair: Prof. Atsuyuki Okabe (University of Tokyo) • - From 2005 up to 2007 • Output:- GIS&T Body of Knowledge (BoK) • 2. Education Method and Learning Material Development of Geospatial Thinking Based on GISc Standard Curricula • - Chair: Prof. Yasushi Asami (University of Tokyo) • - From 2009 up to 2013 • Envisioned outputs: • - Improved edition of GIS&T BoK • - Course materials (textbooks, slides, sample curricula) • - Software tool focused on the GIS&T Education http://curricula.csis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/stgis2011/

8. 2. Education – BoK Development Why we need new GIS&T Body of Knowledge? The number of expert is not enough at least in Japan, despite the construction and maintenance of SDI are urgent issues. To answer the social demand, BoK for GIS education should be improved, because we need not only GI-Sciences but Geospatial Information Technology (GIT) for the construction of SDI. People Society Geospatial services SDI GIT-Standards GI-Software User I/F Geo-data GIT Experts Info. Infra. IT-Standards Software Devices Data Experts GIS&T GISc GIT IT Geo-sciences S&T

9. 2. Education – BoK Development GIT standards such as OGC standards are constructed on knowledge of GIS&T, and most of them are consistent with others. Thus, we can see these standards as a systematized gateway to reach knowledge of GIS&T.

10. 2. Education – BoK Development The tentative framework of Japanese GIS&T BoK Introduction Modeling and formalization of the real world phenomena Spatial data acquisition Spatial data transformation and management Spatial analysis Visualization GIS and society Introduction to Standards 2.1. Model and Schema (UML) 2.2. General Feature Model, Application Schema, and Instantiation by XML 2.3. Spatial Schema 2.4. Spatial Referencing by Coordinate 2.5. Spatial Referencing by Geographic Identifier 2.6. Temporal Schema and Temporal Reference System 2.7. Coverage Schema

11. 2. Education – Practice Since 2008, Purpose: Students understand overall picture of GIT Target: 2nd and 3rd year undergraduate students in Urban Engineering Department at the University of Tokyo Course: 14 lectures, 4 short exercises and 1 examination Keywords: Basic knowledge of Object Oriented Modeling Interoperability of geographic data Understanding Geographic Information Standards Conceptual Modeling using UML Geographic Data Instantiation using XML

12. 2. Education – Practice 14 lectures held in 2010 Introduction Spatial thinking and conceptual modeling Formal description of models General feature model Application schema and instance model Spatial schema (1) Spatial schema (2) Temporal schema Reference systems Place and its description Coverage Spatial analysis Portrayal Spatial data acquisition You can download the tentative course material in English from this URL. https://public.me.com/otamorishige/ Folder: GIT_Lectures File: GIT_Lectures.zip

13. 3. Consideration - Observation OGC - partners closely with universities and research organizations worldwide. - focuses on transferring knowledge to developing countries and regions. - works with national governments that are funding university and research communities. - helps private sector organizations respond to the national/regional/local government requirements.

14. 3. Consideration – Current situation Countries with poorly developed SDI can learn about international best practices through OGC. Multinational commercial organizations can make their medium and long-term efforts by OGC support. However, SDIs are at different stages of development, and market conditions and institutional arrangements vary significantly ( e.g., Population, Climate, and SmartGrid)

15. 3. Consideration – Action OGC will - support the utilization of Standards in national/regional/local governments and private sectors. - identify the education requirements and support efforts to construct GIS&T BoK, and the curriculum design. - disseminate University Curricula and Open Source Software especially to developing regions.

16. 3. Consideration - Conclusion We need the education for the people involved in SDI. Planners must design a plan so as to share geo-data, avoid overlapping investment, and ensure security and privacy. System integrators must ensure safety, efficiency, and liability associated with SDI and application integration. Data suppliers must supply data in compliance with standards and ensure accuracy and currency. Standards are more than rules. Standards are useful to educate SDI stakeholders.

17. Thanks for your attention! You can download the tentative course material in English from this URL. https://public.me.com/otamorishige/ Folder: GIT_Lectures File: GIT_Lectures.zip