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Managing the Supply Chain for Reliable Spatial Information

| August 7, 2009
Spatial Data topic of the month

PSMA Australia Limited is an unlisted public company, limited by shares. It was established under Australia’s corporation’s law and is wholly owned by the State and Territory governments, and the Australian Government (collectively called Jurisdictions) each with a single share. PSMA Australia’s primary goal is to coordinate the development and maintenance of fundamental national datasets using the information resources of government and increasingly, non-government entities. 

Effectively, PSMA Australia manages a spatial data supply chain.
 
Spatial Data topic of the monthPSMA Australia is the crucial link between the supply and demand sides of the national geospatial data market. As an organisation, we eliminate the difficulties of negotiating multiple licence agreements with Jurisdictions and the problems of integrating the data into a seamless consistent national dataset. Furthermore, the existence of PSMA Australia minimises the duplication of effort within the market for organisations wishing to access national data.
 
To integrate the data into a national dataset requires substantial effort from PSMA Australia. The integration requires PSMA Australia to Collect, Standardise and Aggregate the data, before it can be released and be endorsed as a national dataset.  Additionally, PSMA Australia develops and maintains relationships with contributors, resellers and wider industry partners to ensure the supply chain and its outputs remains relevant to the end users.
 
PSMA diagram
 
Currently, we release our national datasets on a quarterly basis. This represents a significant increase from what began as an update to a single dataset every 5 years (in line with each Census) back in the early 1990s and is only achievable by maximising the application of current processes. The dependency between particular datasets has led to most items being updated in sequence, using our internal information infrastructure referred to as the LYNX platform, to manage the supply chain. The key steps in the supply chain are the  Collection, Standardisation and Aggregation the data. 
  • Collection
PSMA Australia obtains spatial data from the Jurisdictions on a quarterly basis. We pay market rates to access the data and return royalties to the jurisdictions for use of the data. The collection of data by PSMA Australia is contingent on data updates being performed by the Jurisdictions. over the previous quarter. 
  • Standardisation
When PSMA Australia obtains the data, no set of data is consistent with another. The data arrives in different formats, file types and content, all of which have to be processed to make a consistent dataset.  
  • Aggregation and Quality Assurance
The final step in processing and creating a national dataset, is data aggregation and quality assurance. Before the data is aggregated, Data Managers perform a series of quality checks to ensure the data meets the required quality standard. This includes checking the accuracy of the data, removal of duplicate and inconsistent data, and rectification of data topology.

Collectively these steps are the core components of developing a national dataset. Without them,  it could be said that the data provided to the market would be inconsistent, incorrect or just unobtainable. 

PSMA Australia is working to streamline the data management supply chain further. Some aspects of our existing software, LYNX, will be utilised whilst other components will be redeveloped. There will be particular focus on enhancing the  Standardisation and Aggregation steps in the supply chain and PSMA Australia is using cutting-edge software, 1Spatial’s Radius Studio, to support this process. 

Managing Spatial Data is a key component of PSMA Australia’s core business – developing and providing access to national datasets. We understand that for spatial data to be useful and correctly utilised in the market, we have to ensure that the development of the national datasets is done correctly.      

Michael Dixon is the Business Manager for the Product Management Business Unit at PSMA Australia Limited. He has previously filled the role of a Product Manager for several national datasets, including Administrative Boundaries, Transport and Topography and CadLite. As part of his current role, he oversees the quarterly data maintenance cycle and is also the leader of technical development for new data management processes and new data products. He has significant industry experience with a long history in local government coupled with a Masters Degree with Spatial Specialisation from UNSW.

 

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