The Expanding Role of GIS in Business and Government

Spatial Data Infrastructure for Economic and Community

DevelopmentRemarks by

Prof. Joseph Ferreira, Jr. MIT, jf@mit.edu

Wharton Impact Conference, August 21, 2002 Joseph Ferreira, Jr. MIT <2>

Technology-driven Issues and Trends

• How ‘place’ is recorded,

• The usefulness of Administrative Records (AR),

• Changes in metropolitan information infrastructure,

• Implications for economic and community development

Wharton Impact Conference, August 21, 2002 Joseph Ferreira, Jr. MIT <3>

How ‘place’ is recorded

• Old Way (1:250,000 scale)– County, city, SMSA, census tract– Standardized, federal datasets (Census, USGS,…)

• New Way (1:25,000 scale)– Census block and block-group, zip, Tiger– Geocoding addresses, Mapquest, GDT,…

• Next Way (1:2,500 scale)– Parcel, person, building, feature– GPS location, Ankle braclet, Community asset,…

Wharton Impact Conference, August 21, 2002 Joseph Ferreira, Jr. MIT <4>

Usefulness of Administrative Records

• Traditional study strategy– Special surveys: census, activity report,

phone survey,…– Customized, cross-sectional ‘snapshot’

• Administrative Record alternative– Transactional records: registry of deeds,

building permit, DMV, housing court,…– Event-driven, hard-to-(re)use, voluminous

Wharton Impact Conference, August 21, 2002 Joseph Ferreira, Jr. MIT <5>

Changes in Metro Information Infrastructure

• Rapid growth of standardized, spatially disaggregated, georeferenced data

• Progress in regional consistency (e.g., parcel data for metro Portland, OR, with consistent land use, zoning, valuation)

• Progress in Federally-supported ‘framework datasets’ (State & NSDI efforts, Enviromapper)

• Critical mass of networked, graphics/GIS capable workstations and Web servers

Wharton Impact Conference, August 21, 2002 Joseph Ferreira, Jr. MIT <6>

Changes in Metro Information Infrastructure - BUT

• Hard to cross-reference all the data

• Many access/sharing/privacy issues

• Data centers can’t keep up (too much data, too many updates)

• E-government and Mapquest-like services are good but limited ‘automation’ efforts

• Must shift from ‘data center’ to ‘web services’ infrastructure

Wharton Impact Conference, August 21, 2002 Joseph Ferreira, Jr. MIT <7>

Chaining Web Services

• Chained Web Services (virtual data centers)

• Isolated Data Centers

Wharton Impact Conference, August 21, 2002 Joseph Ferreira, Jr. MIT <8>

Implications for CSS

• Virtual data centers (portals) can:– Tap administrative records more easily – provide cost-effective customized value-added

• But, they require different expertise, sophistication, partnerships

• And new methods for data access, privacy protection, cross-referencing, funding

Wharton Impact Conference, August 21, 2002 Joseph Ferreira, Jr. MIT <9>

Next Steps and References

• Organizational efforts and urban ‘testbeds’• Next-Generation Community Statistical Systems

conference: http://www.shimberg.ufl.edu/conference.html

• Paper: “Information Technologies that Change Relationships between Low-Income Communities and the Public and Non-profit Agencies that Serve Them” http://web.mit.edu/sap/www/colloquium96/papers/7ferreira.html