Building Effective Data Portals Using

Standards Compliant ArcGIS Platform

Marten Hogeweg

Satish Sankaran

Finding Data

Data Portals

Spatial Data Infrastructure

catalogsMetadata catalogs

Geo-Portals

Portals

Open Data

Data catalogsData Clearinghouse

Geohub

Registry

Repository

Open Data

http://opendata.arcgis.com/

Geoportals & Metadata Catalogs

http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/geoportal/live-user-

sites

6

Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI)

• Coined in 1993 by the US National Research Council

• Global Spatial Data Infrastructure, GSDI Cookbook

- An SDI denotes the relevant base collection of

technologies, policies and institutional arrangements that

facilitate the availability of and access to spatial data.

- It provides a basis for spatial data discovery, evaluation,

and application for users and providers within all levels of

government, the commercial sector, the non-profit sector,

academia and by citizens in general.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatial_data_infrastructure

Progression of Geospatial Initiatives led by FGDC

www.fgdc.gov

https://geoplatform.maps.arcgis.com/home/

SDI

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatial_data_infrastructure

SDI / MSDI around the world

Open Data - (typically) All about Supporting Open Government

Agencies shall take the following actions to improve the management of information

resources throughout the information’s life cycle and reinforce the government’s

presumption in favor of openness. (taken from the Policy Requirements section)

InformationProcessing

DataStandardsMachine

Readable

Metadata

OpenLicenses

OpenFormats

Interoperability

Accessibility

EnterpriseData Inventory

PublicData Listing

EngageCustomers

http://project-open-data.github.io/policy-memo/

Privacy

Confidentiality

Open Data Portals

dataportals.org/

p://dataportals.org/

What makes a Data Portal?

• Datasets

• Metadata

• Services

• Indexing and Search

capabilities

&

Other stuff

Service Standards

WMS, WMTS, WFS

WCS, KML, CS-W

WPS, KML, SOS

Data Format

Standards

Shapefiles , CSV ,

GeoJSON, GML

Atom / GEORSS

Image Formats

Metadata & Catalog

Standards

Dublin Core

ISO , FGDC ,

RDF , Linked Data

CS-W , OpenSearch

DCAT / GeoDCAT -AP

Standards & Specifications in the World of Data Portals

ArcGIS - Building Geospatial Portals

• ArcGIS Online

• ArcGIS Online + Open Data

• ArcGIS for Server with Portal for

ArcGIS

• ArcGIS for Inspire

• Esri GeoPortal Server

Building Effective Data Portals@martenhogeweg

Communities Become Smarter When They Share DataLeveraging the Value of Shared Information

States

FederalAgencies

Schools

NGOs

LocalGovernment Citizens

Businesses

Data Sharing Is Key to Success

• Share as much as possible

• Provide access to authoritative data

• Provide access to current data

• Make data widely accessible

• Ensure data is machine readable

• Use open formats and API

Share

Discover

EvaluateApply

Improve

If You Can’t Find It, You Can’t Use It

Data Portals Improve Access . . .

arcgis.com

geoplatform.gov

data.gov

data.gov.uk

…

Open Data Portal Context

Geospatial Platform

Geoplatform.gov

Data.gov

EPA

DHS

DOJ

GSA

FCC

DOT

DHHS

NOAA

DOI

Census

NASA

…

GeoSUR (Latin America)

GeoSUR

Mexico

Bolivia

Chile

Brazil

Argentina

Uruguay

PeruEcuador

Panama

Venezuela

INPE

Paraguay

. . .

Group on Earth Observations

GEOArcGIS Online

WMO WIS

GBIF

IOOS

GCMD

SeaDataNet

EuroGEOSS

EnviroGRIDSGSFC-DAAC

EEA-SDI

SAEOS

INPE

PANGAEA

… not the portal

The Issue IS the Issue

Primary Focus Area for Data Sharing Initiatives

Environment

Economic

National Security

National SecurityPrepare, Respond and Recover

• Requires:

- Make Better Decisions

- Faster Decisions

- Ensure Unity in Action

• Provide:

- Common Operating Pictures

- Incident Response Plans

- Standard Map Products

National

IntelligenceDisaster

Management Fire / RescueLaw

EnforcementDefense Health

Private

Enterprise Utilities

EconomicInnovation, Transparency, Accountability, & Austerity

• Requires:

- Promoting Innovation

- Responding to FOIA request

- Justifying Policy

• Provide:

- Open Data Access

- Transparency Websites

- App Challenges

Census Commerce Planning FinanceLand

Administration Health Industry Education

EnvironmentResiliency, Measure, Report, Verify & Predict

• Requires:

- Make Better Decisions

- Enforce Policy

• Provide:

- Reports on the Environment

- Indicators

Foundation

Data Land

Cover/Use Geology Environmental Statistics Health Industry

… or do they?

Open Data Portals Evolve

Evolving Views on Data Portals

• Application focus• IT standards• Interoperable

GIS Portals

Clearinghouses

• System-oriented• Data focus• Geo-standards• Top down

File Transfer

• Ad hoc• Data focus• FTP transfer• Bottom up

Web GIS

• Services Oriented

• Focus on Content

• Integration in Business Process

• Apps

… or does it?

Size Matters

100sLocal Government

1,000sState Government

47,000ArcGIS Open Datasets

200,000Data.gov

100,000,000sNOAA, NASA, GEOSS…

An Effective Data Portal?

Experiences Common Across Catalogs

• Search Results Not Useful (precision)

• Search Results Not Complete (recall)

• Incomplete Descriptions

• Not Working Links

• Catalog Not Up-to-date

- BLM and BLM on Data.gov

• Download NEXRAD Anyone?

• Serverize Your Data!

• License Your Data!

• User Experience Design

- GEOSS Portal

- Unclear Web Site Navigation

A Different Approach

I Told You So…

I Told You So…

An Effective Data Portal is Not Just a Data Portal