NATURAL RESOURCES DATABASE- Background
The use of Earth Observation (EO) data from the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) series has received a great impetus through the national missions of NNRMS launched from 1983 onwards, wherein projects on mapping and inventory of forests, wastelands, land use, surface bodies, wetlands, infrastructure etc. have been successfully carried out. These map layers have also been integrated along with other collateral data using GIS technology to provide different planning and development scenarios under the project “Natural Resources Information Systems” (NRIS). Thus, ISRO/DOS has a large number of data on natural resources that could be used in different fields for various applications. Typically, it was felt that the following to be addressed for efficient use of such valuable databases.
- Users need to know about data availability through a well defined repository and catalogue of such data.
- Efficiently source the data and provide mechanism of smooth access.
- Evolve clear data access policy including data security aspects for the users/researchers to obtain data download for applications.
- Matching(interoperability) the data sets with other data sets or making it compatible for a particular hardware and software with respect to universal standards.
In order to make the data sets available to a variety of users, many issues are identified to be addressed and specific actions taken to overcome them too. They are:
Data inter-operability: There is a need to characterise data coming from different sources and represent the data in a clear and unambiguous manner intelligible to all. This is basically an issue of standards. The standards should encompass format, content and the updating frequency. The standards for format should address the framework and the file structure for the data. The framework will again include standards for projection and the datum. The standard for content should address issues related to legend and accuracy.
- System Inter-operability: The data that is being generated by a particular software and hardware should be usable by any other hardware and software without any intervention or burden on the user i.e. the issues pertaining to System inter-operability should be defined.
- Metadata: The information of the available data, i.e. what is available, where is it available, the source of generation, its complete description including the date, cost, accessibility etc. should be well defined and made available to users.
- Data quality: The quality of the data should be characterised by the data generator in a format that is universally acceptable to the user community.
Repository of Natural Resources Database
NRDB is central to the realisation of Natural Resources Repository (NRR) which is primarily aimed at creating and maintaining a systematic archive of all the digital spatial data holdings of thematic and base maps generated using remote sensing images and promote/ encourage its use for government, academia, planners and even to meet societal needs. The various activities through which the NRR is realised are:
- Generate and update a systematic spatial database of Natural Resources information through the NR Census Project.
- Maintain standardized Natural Resources Database (NRDB) of all the NNRMS spatial information as core of the Repository.
- Position the spatial information Services from the repository, which will be able to serve the needs of government, researchers, planners and other users.
- Operate and maintain a NNRMS portal, which will provide a single interface to the repository and its services.
Scope and Objectives of NRDB:
Establishment of NRDB is critical and central activity for realisation of NRR. NRDB is visualised to be a collection of data sets on natural resources collected over past several years under NNRMS. It is envisaged to consist of databases of spatial information created under NNRMS tied through common standards and accessible through a common search engine over a secured network. The access to these databases can be canalised through NNRMS portal.
The scope of NRDB is to organise and maintain a standardised GIS database of all the NNRMS spatial information and position spatial data services from the database to serve the needs of ISRO/DOS users and NON-DOS users coming from government, academia, planners and other users.
The objectives are:
- Facilitate evolution of a data exchange and distribution policy for NNRMS.
- Evolve common procedures and design for organisation and maintenance of NR database, using the NNRMS standards.
- Facilitate Definition and implementation of procedures, processes and tools for data quality vetting and database validation prior to incorporation into NRDB.
- Define and implement procedures and tools for organising the in-coming data sets, as per NRDB design structure, and populating the data servers.
- Develop and implement the tools for data services through NNRMS portal.
- Develop and implement tools for generating metadata and uploading this to metadata server(s).
- Create network of database servers using INTRANET.
- Support implementation of NNRMS portal (realized and managed at ISRO-Hq) functions on data clearing house and e-commerce.
- Develop Indigenous GIS solutions to cater to the needs of operational NRDB.
NRDB is visualised to be achieved through the following major tasks: Which are elaborated in the subsequent chapters of the present document..... More
