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SAEON adopts the standards developed by ISO/TC 211
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Antony Cooper, Convenor: ISO/TC 211 Working Group 7, Information Communities
CSIR, PO Box 395, Pretoria, 0001, South Africa. Phone: +27(12) 841 4121. Email: acooper@csir.co.za -
Avinash Chuntharpursat, South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON)
PO Box 1758, Pretoria, 000, South Africa1. Phone: +27(12) 392 9367. Email: avinash@saeon.ac.za
In a world where the user is bombarded with a variety of technological solutions and each alternative looks as attractive as the other, it is crucial to ensure that these various solutions are interoperable so as to optimise the use of the technology for the benefit of the user.
The International Organization for Standardization was established in 1946 and is the world's leading developer of international standards. The short form of the organization’s name is ISO, derived from the Greek word ΙΣΟΣ (isos), meaning equal.
ISO is a network of the national standards institutes of 157 countries (including Standards South Africa), with only one member per country.
It has a Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, that coordinates the system. ISO’s principal function is to develop technical standards which add value to all types of business operations. They contribute to the dissemination of technology and making the development, manufacturing and supply of products and services more efficient, safer and cleaner. They make trade between countries easier and fairer.
ISO is a non-governmental organization (NGO), but unlike organizations in the United Nations system (such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)), its members are not just delegations of national governments, but include the private sector, academia, NGOs and others. This helps ISO to act as a bridging organization in which a consensus can be reached on standards meeting the needs of society as a whole, and not just governments.
ISO standards are designed to be implemented worldwide
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ISO standards specify the requirements for state-of-the-art products, services, processes, materials and systems, and for good conformity assessment, managerial and organizational practice. ISO standards are designed to be implemented worldwide. They have important economic and social repercussions, as conformance to them can be legislated in member countries. ISO standards also provide cheap access to current technologies. Indeed, a recent German study showed that from a macro-economic perspective, standards made a greater contribution to the German economy than did patents or licences, and standards enabled their export-oriented companies to open up new markets [Deutsches Institut fuer Normen (DIN), 2000, Economic Benefits of Standardization – Summary of Results. Beuth Verlag, Berlin].
ISO develops standards primarily through Technical Committees (TCs). There are currently over 200 active ISO TCs, developing standards for fields from screw threads through food products and air quality to exhibition terminology. Perhaps the best-known ISO standards are the ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 families of management system standards, developed by ISO/TC 176, Quality management and quality assurance, and ISO/TC 207, Environmental management.
ISO/TC 211, Geographic information/ Geomatics, began in 1994. It has had almost 60 projects to date, developing standards in the ISO 19100 series. Currently, ISO/TC 211 has published 25 International Standards, 4 Technical Specifications, 3 Technical Reports, 3 Review Summaries and 3 Corrigenda. Some of the better known standards in the series that might be of immediate interest to the SAEON community include:
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ISO 19110:2005, Geographic information – Methodology for feature cataloguing
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ISO 19111:2003, Geographic information – Spatial referencing by coordinates
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ISO 19112:2003, Geographic information – Spatial referencing by geographic identifiers
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ISO 19113:2002, Geographic information – Quality principles
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ISO 19114:2003, Geographic information – Quality evaluation procedures
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ISO 19115:2003, Geographic information – Metadata
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ISO 19128:2005, Geographic information – Web Map Server interface
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ISO 19131:2007, Geographic information – Data product specifications
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ISO/TS 19138:2006, Geographic information – Data quality measures
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ISO/TS 19139:2007, Geographic information – Metadata – XML schema implementation
ISO for Geographic information – Metadata
Of particular interest among the recently published standards should be ISO 19131, which is a “mirror” standard for the very well-known ISO 19115:2003, Geographic information – Metadata. ISO 19131 specifies the parameters required for a data set, using the metadata elements defined in ISO 19115, such as spatial and temporal referencing systems, spatial and temporal extents, themes, and desired quality. The user can then easily match the metadata of the delivered data set against the data product specifications, to determine if the data set meets their needs.
The technical content of all the ISO 19100 standards has been encoded in UML (Unified Modelling Language) models, and all these models have been combined into one massive UML model, to enable them to be harmonized with one another. Similarly, the formal terminology from all the standards have been combined into a terminology spreadsheet, to ensure that all the terms across all the ISO 19100 standards are harmonized. Needless to say, these are very useful, as they help to ensure that the standards do not conflict with one another.
The 24th Plenary of ISO/TC 211 was hosted by Italy and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO) in Rome, Italy, on 30 May and 1 June 2007, preceded by Working Group, Project Team and other meetings. Significantly, this was the third Plenary co-hosted by a liaison organization, reflecting the value of the ISO 19100 standards to their communities. The 25th Plenary is scheduled for Xi’an, China, on 1 and 2 November 2007.
In implementing a holistic data management system SAEON seeks to adhere to the ISO standards. More on this will be published in forthcoming articles.
