Public Health: GeoConnections Opportunities

1. Public Health: GeoConnections Opportunities NBLA Workshop, November 2005

2. Social, economic & • physical environments • Early childhood • development • Personal health practices • Individual capacity & • coping skills • Human biology • Health services Profiles of: (Populations, Regions, Communities) HGIS (Different Levels of Geography) Spatial Epidemiology of: Health Diseases Services Platform Analytical Tools • Disability • Morbidity • Mortality • Others Health: Priority Setting Services Planning Management

3. State of spatial information…

4. Barriers to GIS • Technical bar set too high • Data very expensive, difficult to obtain • Lack of standards meant data difficult to layer, share

5. National response: GeoConnections GeoConnections: A $60 million federal/provincial/territorial initiative launched in 1999 to build the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI) by 2004 • Objectives: • Increase the amount of geospatial data, information and services available on-line • Ease data integration issues through the use of data standards • Promote the development of innovative infrastructure technologies through private sector partnerships • Simplify the conditions for geospatial data use and resale

6. Spatial Data Infrastructures • A worldwide enterprise, SDIs are being developed in over 100 countries; • Using the Internet, they harness the power of geomatics by enabling sharing of interoperable spatially correlated data; • Now evolving from centralized warehouses to fully distributed networks.

7. Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure = Canadian SDI Comprised of: • Core technologies • Framework reference layers (GeoBase) • Domestic/International standards to make data interoperable and then to share it • Policies that reduce ‘siloing’

8. 1. Core Technologies: Index/Search Engine

9. Administrative Boundaries Geographical Names of Canada Landsat-7 Orthoimage Data National Road Network (NRN) Canadian Digital Elevation Data (CDED) Canadian Geodetic Network 2. Framework reference layers GeoBase – standardized framework data, maintained in partnership, and accessible at no cost to users and without redistribution restrictions

10. 3. Standards • Data standards that allow layers to be shared from distributed sources • Metadata standards that allow data to be described • Technology standards that allow data to be shared from closes point to source over Internet

11. 4. Policies • Policies that address common approaches to licensing data that allow redistribution • Policies that allow for sharing while respecting privacy & security • Policies that address barriers due to exorbitant pricing

12. Applications…

13. Take home message • SDIs are complex worldwide undertakings; • Canada is a leader in SDI development • New Brunswick Lung Association is a Canadian leader in SDI application

14. Federal Budget 2005 “Under the program, governments, the private sector, academia and non-government organizations have partnered to develop the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure, bringing together data previously held by different organizations and orders of government. Budget 2005 provides $60 million over five years for GeoConnections to continue this work and to support decision making on a broader range of issues, particularly health, public safety, sustainable development, the environment and issues of importance to Aboriginal people.”

15. CGDI Overview… The Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI): • Allows users to access data and information from it’s closest point to source, thereby maintaining currency, avoiding versioning and minimizing duplication. • Allows providers to maintain control over their data and information, sharing it with the people who need it but with privacy and security safeguards in place. The CGDI is a distributed, not centralized, solution. The CGDI is designed to address barriers to accessing and applying geomatics information.

16. Population Health Ecology Health Services Utilization Health/Disease Surveillance Health Impact/Risk Assessment Population Health Spatial Data Infastructure Chronic Disease Management Population Health Need Assessment Planning & Evaluation Spatial Epidemiology Of Disease

17. Demand driven information from closest to source SATELLITE IMAGE FROM NASA DATABASE STREET NETWORK DATA FROM FEDERAL GOVT DATABASE CONTOUR DATA FROM PROVINCIAL GOVT DATABASE GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM

18. GeoConnections II Focus Over the next five years, GeoConnections will be end-user driven to: • Build applications that serve specifically targeted communities of practice; • Provide framework and other thematic data required by these communities of practice; • Maintain, operate and expand the core infrastructure and standards, as required by users; • Support consistent geomatics policy development federally and nationally to reduce duplication and improve use of the CGDI

19. GeoConnections Opportunities • Support for web-based applications that draw upon a distributed information base • Support for linking distributed content needed by these applications • Support for fora that address standards and policy issues

20. What are the questions???

21. For additional information or discussion, contact: Applications: Nina Wesch GeoConnections Telephone: (613) 992- Facsimile: (613) 947-2410 Nina.Wesch@nrcan.gc.ca