NGIS Australia, in partnership with Spatial Strategies Pty Ltd, has been selected to lead the development of an overall spatial information strategy for NSW as part of an ongoing Board of Surveying and Spatial Information (BOSSI) project.
The value of spatial information as a critical planning and decision making tool has become more widely acknowledged in recent times, as has the need for government and industry to work together in the creation of initiatives that make spatial information more easily shared and accessible.
“Without doubt, access to accurate and comprehensive spatial information will enable the NSW economy to better leverage the efficiencies to be gained from better planning and the more efficient allocation of resources’, said NGIS Principal Consultant on the project, Maurits van der Vlugt.
“Given the concerns about the current state of the NSW economy, our aim is to clearly demonstrate the benefits to be gained from a coordinated approach in managing state interests’.
BOSSI, guides and advises both government and industry on the use of spatial information and sees the development of an overall strategy as beneficial to both groups. For this reason, the NSW spatial information strategy will encompass a ‘whole-of-industry’ approach, including a governance model that provides for stakeholder engagement. A series of Stakeholder Workshops in Sydney and in regional NSW will be facilitated by NGIS to ensure input by all interested parties.
NGIS has extensive experience working within government frameworks, designing and implementing spatial data architectures and are currently working with the WA government on a similar project known as the ‘Shared Land Information Platform’ as part of an overall ‘e-Government’ strategy for Western Australia.
“BOSSI has given us a clear mandate: to create a strategy that supports the nationally agreed policies and frameworks set out by ANZLIC – the Spatial Information Council of Australia and New Zealand, aimed at achieving ‘best practice’ in spatial information. The new strategy will build upon BOSSI’s ‘Roadmap for NSW SI Strategy’ project and fits within existing NSW Government policy frameworks” continued Mr van der Vlugt.
NGIS has committed to presenting the BOSSI Spatial Information Committee with its final report at the end of September.