GIS Curriculum Development and the Education Practice in Japan

Morishige OtaKokusai Kogyo Co., Ltd.

University of TokyoMember of the OGC Global Advisory Council

Special Thanks to GIS Development

March 2004Vol.8, Issue 3

Reprintedin the Newsletterof ISO/TC211on April 2004

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Outline

1. Japanese experience of geospatial information sharing

2. GIS&T Body of Knowledge (BoK) and Curriculum Development, and the Education Practice in Japan

3. Consideration as a member of OGC Global Advisory Council

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1. Japanese experience - The Earthquake

GISs have been introduced in Japan since late 70s.

The Great Hanshin Earthquake hit on January 17, 1995.

It was difficult to get and share maps of life lines, cadastral information, and city planning, because buildings of city halls and other public organizations were broken and there was no mechanism to share geospatial information.

Central government established the meeting of various ministries to share geographic information in July, 1995.Private companies established NSDI Promoting Association (NSDIPA) in October, 1995.

NSDIPA entered into MoU between OGC on 1997. Database Promotion Center under Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry entered into MoU between OGC on 2000.

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1. Japanese experience – Integrated GISMinistry of Internal Affairs and Communications established the committee for Integrated GIS for local governments in 1996.Integrated GIS: GIS network realizing spatial data sharing even if node systems are different among departments Citizens

City planning Dep.Road administration Dep. Water & Sewage Dep.Revenue Dep.

Buildings

ParcelsRoad boundaries

interface

Water pipe

standardized data exchange

Image of information sharing in the city government

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1. Japanese experience – NSDI Act

On May 2007, Basic Act on the Advancement of Utilizing Geospatial Information (NSDI Act) was enacted by the Japanese National Diet.

Article 16: Development of FGD (Fundamental Geospatial Data) The State Government shall issue technical standards with regard to the development of FGD, in order to disseminate the use of GIS by promoting the sharing of FGD.

Article 17: Interoperability of FGD in Geospatial ServicesThe State and local governments shall make efforts to maximize the interoperable use of existing FGD .....

Article 13: Development of Human ResourcesThe State Government shall take necessary measures in order to develop human resources that are equipped with expertise and technologies for Advancement of Utilizing Geospatial Information.

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2. Education – BoK Development

1. The Research of Sustainable Collaborative Web Library for the Contents on GI-Science (GISc) Standard Curricula

- Chair: Prof. Atsuyuki Okabe (University of Tokyo)- From 2005 up to 2007

Output:- GIS&T Body of Knowledge (BoK)

2. Education Method and Learning Material Development of Geospatial Thinking Based on GISc Standard Curricula

- Chair: Prof. Yasushi Asami (University of Tokyo)- From 2009 up to 2013

Envisioned outputs:- Improved edition of GIS&T BoK- Course materials (textbooks, slides, sample curricula)- Software tool focused on the GIS&T Education

7http://curricula.csis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/stgis2011/

Funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology

2. Education – BoK DevelopmentWhy we need new GIS&T Body of Knowledge?The number of expert is not enough at least in Japan, despite the construction and maintenance of SDI are urgent issues.

To answer the social demand, BoK for GIS education should be improved, because we need not only GI-Sciences but Geospatial Information Technology (GIT) for the construction of SDI.

S&T Geo-sciences IT

GISc GIT

Info. Infra. DataSoftware DevicesIT-Standards Experts

SDI Geo-dataGI-SoftwareGIT-Standards User I/F GIT Experts

Geospatial services

People

GIS&T

Society

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GIT standards such as OGC standards are constructed on knowledge of GIS&T, and most of them are consistent with others. Thus, we can see these standards as a systematized gateway to reach knowledge of GIS&T.

2. Education – BoK Development

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1. Introduction2. Modeling and formalization of the real world phenomena3. Spatial data acquisition4. Spatial data transformation and management5. Spatial analysis6. Visualization7. GIS and society

2. Education – BoK Development

The tentative framework of Japanese GIS&T BoK

2.1. Model and Schema (UML)2.2. General Feature Model, Application Schema, and Instantiation by XML2.3. Spatial Schema2.4. Spatial Referencing by Coordinate2.5. Spatial Referencing by Geographic Identifier2.6. Temporal Schema and Temporal Reference System2.7. Coverage Schema

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Introduction to Standards

2. Education – Practice

Purpose: Students understand overall picture of GIT

Target: 2nd and 3rd year undergraduate students in Urban Engineering Department at the University of Tokyo

Course: 14 lectures, 4 short exercises and 1 examination

Keywords: Basic knowledge of Object Oriented ModelingInteroperability of geographic dataUnderstanding Geographic Information StandardsConceptual Modeling using UMLGeographic Data Instantiation using XML

Since 2008,

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2. Education – Practice

1. Introduction2. Spatial thinking and conceptual modeling3. Formal description of models4. General feature model5. Application schema and instance model6. Spatial schema (1)7. Spatial schema (2)8. Temporal schema9. Reference systems10.Place and its description11.Coverage12.Spatial analysis13.Portrayal14.Spatial data acquisition

14 lectures held in 2010

https://public.me.com/otamorishige/Folder: GIT_LecturesFile: GIT_Lectures.zip

You can download the tentative course material in English from this URL.

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3. Consideration - Observation

- partners closely with universities and research organizations worldwide.

- focuses on transferring knowledge to developing countries and regions.

- works with national governments that are funding university and research communities.

- helps private sector organizations respond to the national/regional/local government requirements.

OGC

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3. Consideration – Current situation

Countries with poorly developed SDI can learn about international best practices through OGC.

Multinational commercial organizations can make their medium and long-term efforts by OGC support.

However, SDIs are at different stages of development, and market conditions and institutional arrangements vary significantly ( e.g., Population, Climate, and SmartGrid)

3. Consideration – Action

- support the utilization of Standards in national/regional/local governments and private sectors.

- identify the education requirements and support efforts to construct GIS&T BoK, and the curriculum design.

- disseminate University Curricula and Open Source Software especially to developing regions.

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OGC will

3. Consideration - Conclusion

We need the education for the people involved in SDI.

Planners must design a plan so as to share geo-data, avoid overlapping investment, and ensure security and privacy.

System integrators must ensure safety, efficiency, and liability associated with SDI and application integration.

Data suppliers must supply data in compliance with standards and ensure accuracy and currency.

Standards are more than rules. Standards are useful to educate SDI stakeholders.

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Thanks for your attention!

You can download the tentative course material in English from this URL.

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https://public.me.com/otamorishige/Folder: GIT_LecturesFile: GIT_Lectures.zip