THE Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC) has teamed up with the Republic Geodetic Authority (RGA) of Serbia to create a National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI).
Spatial data, also known as geospatial data, is defined as information about a physical object that can be represented by numerical values in a geographic coordinate system. Generally speaking, spatial data represent the location, size and shape of an object on planet Earth such as a building, lake, mountain or township.

“The specific area of cooperation that we are exploring is to get support to create what we call a National Spatial Data Infrastructure, which is essentially a platform of policies and standards and arrangements between institutions to leverage geospatial information,” said Manager of GLSC’s Information Systems Division, David Cole, during a press briefing, on Wednesday.

GLSC is mandated to create such a system and the commission has already finalised a roadmap towards the development of such an infrastructure in Guyana. The roadmap for development of the NSDI is in line with the United Nations (UN) Geospatial Information Management Framework.

In outlining some features of the roadmap, Cole said: “our roadmap lays out several key areas to look at and capacity and education are strategic areas…we want to create mechanisms where we can better use geospatial data to make decisions to address challenges and issues we have.”

In addition, through the roadmap, the commission is also working towards making additions to the technological side and improving standards and policies.
With the roadmap in place, Cole explained that RGA will now lend support to develop certain aspects and components of the NSDI. Director of the Centre of the Serbian Geospatial Information Management, Darko Vucetic, has been in Guyana over the past week and has been engaging in discussions with key agencies.

“We are formalising concrete means and we are leveraging various expertise from across the world to get the NSDI done,” Cole pointed out, adding that GLSC has also sought support from the University of Twente in Netherlands in this area.

The aim is not to duplicate or plagiarise what those countries have done, but to adopt the best practices and basis that will guide the commission.

“We will soon have our own guide… a National Geospatial Information Policy which is currently being looked at by Cabinet… this is important, especially with the prospect of a changing economy and Guyana’s first oil production,” Cole said.

Guyana will now use Serbia’s experience for further guidance on the development of the data infrastructure. Cole noted that both the GLSC and RGA have a similar mandate to serve their respective countries and leverage geospatial data information for the development of the respective countries.

“We have much that we could learn from RGA and Darko is here this week, exploring and learning and having fruitful discussions on how we can formalise cooperation between our two agencies,” said the manager.

Vucetic said geospatial data right is very important for unlocking the power and potential of countries.

“We will do our best to share experience and knowledge which we collected in the last couple of years and try to support you,” said the Serbian expert, adding that Serbia will guide the commission and help it to establish E- Government procedures and promote better decision-making based on the geospatial data.

Serbia has leverage on geospatial data the extent that services which usually take months to complete can now be done in a matter of days. Guyana hopes to replicate this through the partnership.