Metadata Clearinghouse and Open Access to Geographic Data in Namibia
Ms Emma Noongo, Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Namibia
As Namibia progressively seeks to achieve sustainable development and to promote the health of its people and the environment, there is a continual demand for reliable and accessible information. In 1998, through the “Information and Communication Services for Sustainable Development” (Infocom) project, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism was mandated to define appropriate pathways for engaging and communicating geospatial information to decision-makers and to the Namibian public at large.
The project initiated various efforts to produce and make digital databases available. Over the years, a series of “Regional Environmental Profiles” have been compiled. The information compiled in the profiles is environmental in an encompassing sense, and is suitable for planning, managing, and monitoring of natural resources. Essential information on regional climate, demography, infrastructure, and governance is also provided. Nearly all data is collected with geographic coordinates so that the information can be mapped and used in spatial analysis. A national “Atlas of Namibia” (hardcopy format) and a digital “Atlas Database” were completed in 2002. The atlas provides basic reference material on the geography of Namibia, including the social, demographic, economic, infrastructural, physical, climatic, and biological features of the country.
Both the profiles and the Atlas produced enormous digital databases and the data is made available at no cost in the spirit that human development is stimulated by the unrestricted flow of information. All data is downloadable from the Ministry’s web site, and is accompanied by metadata. All data is distributed in ArcView format and accessible as zipped files. Upon request, the data is distributed on CDs. Hardcopies of the publications are sent to all state libraries in the country. A separate entity, a national metadata clearing house, accessible though the Ministry’s web site was also set up in 2003 to provide a discovery service for digital geospatial information of all types, at all levels. The metadata documents containing geospatial data are available in different agencies, making it easier to reach data distributors of specific data sets. The metadata clearing house adopted a Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) standard, which is internationally recognised.
This presentation looks at Namibia’s efforts and progress in making geospatial data available and accessible.