Geospatial Capabilities for the next decade - eResearch Australasia 2021 BoF
Channel: Australian Research Data Commons - ARDC
Date: 2022-02-22

Recorded:  11 October 2021
Contributors:
 - Dr Sanjeev Kumar  Srivastava
 - Professor Allison  Kealy
 - Dr Lesley  Wyborn 
 - Dr  Michael  Rigby
 - Ms Melanie  Barlow
 - Dr Jens  Klump
 - Mr Kheeran Dharmawardena
 - Mr Simon  Costello
Presentation slides - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5722698

Geospatial data products have long been created to satisfy a broad range of stakeholders, forming data layers used across various domains in government, academic and industry sectors.

The future era of large-volume geospatial data infrastructures is excitingly set to transform this domain with new capabilities poised to change the way data is processed and delivered, potentially leading to datasets or collections that are customised to specific user requirements on-demand. While this should make it easier for an end-user, there are concerns that such an approach may actually decrease FAIRness and potential value through the use of opaque data processing algorithms and limiting access to minimally-processed underlying datasets. Such issues may ultimately complicate the use of data in fundamental research and defensible decision making required by government and policy agencies where transparency is critical.

Keeping Australian government, academia and industry at the forefront of innovation in Australia requires collaborative geospatial research infrastructures that enable access to all forms of data, including high-volume geospatial datasets, as well as open software and computing infrastructures for processing. The current phase of National Research Infrastructure planning provides an opportunity to explore what geospatial capabilities are needed within Australia that can both meet fundamental research needs and still be leveraged by the commercial geospatial industry and government agencies.

In this BoF the Geospatial Capabilities Community of Practice will explore this issue with representatives from government, academia and industry to help identify the key capabilities that can be harmonised across all sectors of the Australian geospatial community.

For further information, visit https://conference.eresearch.edu.au/events/geospatial-capabilities-for-the-next-decade-scale-sector-and-pathways-for-collaboration-and-utilisation-of-spatial-data-infrastructures/

Presentation slides are available here - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5722698