Representation of coastal and marine environment in spatial data infrastructures to the integrated coastal zone management

摘要

The Brazilian government has been developing since 2008 the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), following a growing worldwide trend to organize, catalog and manage spatial data. The main purpose of this infrastructu re is to facilitate sharing and access of spatial data, optimizing the work that uses such data and reducing survey associated costs. In the context of public management, several planning areas require geospatial information, with highlight to the Integrat ed Coastal Zone Management (ICZM), which needs the support of both terrestrial and marine information. This paper aims to show how coastal and marine environments, particularly in the ecological aspects relevant to the ICZM, have been represented in nine selected NSDIs: Infraestrutura Nacional de Dados Espaciais (INDE) of Brazil, Sistema Nacional de Informacao Geografica (SNIG) of Portugal, Infraestructura Colombiana de Datos Espaciales (ICDE) of Colombia, Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI), Aus tralian Spatial Data Infrastructure (ASDI), Infraestructure de Datos Espaciales Espanola (IDEE) of Spain, Infraestructura de Datos Espaciales de la Republica de Cuba (IDERC) of Cuba, Sistema Nacional de Coordinacion de Informacion Territorial (SNIT) of Chi le and the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) of United States. The comparative analysis between the Brazilian initiative and other international initiatives was made using as reference the categories of ecological information presented in the "Handbook for Measuring the Progress and Outcomes of Integrated Coastal and Ocean Management," published in 2006 by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. Almost all observed NSDIs follow the ISO19115 standard as a reference to the metadata themes, except the ICDE Colombian initiative, which differs slightly. The Portuguese SNIG and the Spanish IDEE follow the European directive named Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE); the CGDI Canadian initiative adopt the North Atlantic Profile (NAP) and the ASDI Australian initiative uses the metadata profile of the Australia New Zealand Land Information Council (ANZLIC). INSPIRE, NAP and ANZLIC are regional directives who adopt thematic categories in conformity with the ISO19115 standard. In Brazil, a committee subordinated to the National Cartographic Commission was formed to structure geospatial metadata. Thematic categories were included in the Brazilian INDE based on ISO19115 standard and according to Brazilian reality. In this sense, geographic names catalogs help the standardization process and facilitate information retrieval. NSDI (EUA), CGDI (Canada) and INDE (Brazil) were initiatives that better provide access to documentation referring to NSDI, as the geospatial met adata profile or a presentation document. Considering the strategic importance of coastal and marine environments to Brazil, the publication of the present study results is expected to contribute to the development of Brazilian INDE.