Spatial Data Infrastructure Frameworks to Support Decision-making for Sustainable Development

Sustainable development requires the resolution of many spatial decision problems in regard to managing the rights, restrictions and responsibilities between people and land. Most spatial decision problems are multicriteria in nature, involving economic, social, environmental and political dimensions and competing values. However, the process of multicriteria decision-making is not well established or effectively integrated into contemporary frameworks for spatial analysis or infrastructure. The need to support decision-making to address the multiple issues concerning sustainable development creates a growing need to organise data across disciplines and organisations through development of spatial data infrastructures (SDI). The principle objective for developing SDI is to achieve better outcomes from spatially related economic, social and environmental decision-making. To this end there has been significant evolution in the approaches taken to implement and support frameworks for spatial data use and access, involving product-based approaches as well as those emphasising the communication process (process-based). The product-based model for SDI development has been a popular approach for many initiatives. This model has been the domain of managing and automating the availability, access and integration of spatial information. This approach has been advantageous toward the coordination of datasets and standards to support the derivation of information for decision-making. For SDI to evolve to support multicriteria decision-making, processbased approaches to developing SDI frameworks also offer important advantages. Decision-makers face challenges to establishing linkages between data, information and decision-support technologies in many contemporary SDI initiatives. Significant advantage stands to be gained from developing SDIs to support the means for the promotion, Spatial Data Infrastructure Frameworks to Support Decision-making for Sustainable Development Feeney, M, Rajabifard, A and Williamson, I Page 2 discovery and access to decision-support technologies, facilitated by SDI models emphasising the communication process. This paper presents the application of product and process-based models as two approaches to SDI development, based on reviews of the concept and nature of these models. Product and process-based models contribute to and help build current understanding about the importance of an infrastructure to support the interactions of the spatial data community. The capacities of current SDI to support decision-making are assessed with respect to SDI development from both product-based and process-based approaches within Australia. SDIs that address support for spatial multicriteria decision problems are investigated for initiatives within State jurisdictions. The frameworks by which product and process-based models can meet the mandates of SDI development for the jurisdiction are proposed, and factors contributing to the success of the models are discussed with regard to the support of multicriteria decision-making for sustainable development.