28 G I S AT T H E C O R E O F S D I s Collaboration Through GIS and a Regional SDI GeoSUR Opens Geographic Information for Use Throughout South America Highlights „ The GeoSUR Regional Map Service was developed with the support of the EROS Center using ArcGIS Server. „ The ArcGIS Server Geoportal extension provides quick access to geospatial resources throughout the region. „ GeoSUR offers a cutting-edge, on-the-fly topographic processing service. Sustainable development means meeting the needs of the present while preserving the environment for future generations. Creating an economy in a country that is in tune with basic ecological support systems doesn’t stop at country borders. Rivers traverse borders, roads must connect various cities, and forests transcend country boundaries. South America, with its bountiful natural resources, will benefit from a collaborative effort to manage its many precious resources and maintain healthy living conditions for its people. “There is a need in South America to make important development decisions—decisions that impact the lives of thousands, sometimes millions of people— using sound and accurate scientific information,” says Eric van Praag, regional coordinator of the GeoSUR Program. “Much of this information can be expressed geographically and can be put into formats and represented in ways that decision makers understand and can readily use.” Ensuring that geographic information is readily available is the mission of the GeoSUR Program, a regional initiative to integrate and disseminate spatial data in South America. GeoSUR was originally developed under the aegis of the Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA), which promotes the development of transportation, energy, and telecommunications infrastructure from a regional viewpoint. Since the program’s inception in 2007, GeoSUR has grown to serve a large audience interested in development objectives, both regionally and within individual countries. GeoSUR has three main components: a geoportal, a network of map services, and a regional topographic processing service. GeoSUR portal home page. GeoSUR Portal Makes Updating and Finding Spatial Data Easier GeoSUR has developed, with support from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, the first regional portal providing access to geographic data and services from all South American countries (www.geosur.info). Launched in October 2009, it provides a point of entry to the map services and metadata catalogs operated by GeoSUR’s partner agencies. GeoSUR chose the ArcGIS Server Geoportal extension software to build the portal because it provides an efficient platform to integrate the diverse and changing geospatial resources located throughout the region. Standardization (ISO) standards and protocols to reach interoperability of its various geo- GeoSUR serves an audience interested in regional development objecservices. Participating tives on the continent of South America. agencies have the liberty of choosing the hardware and software platforms Topography Mission (SRTM) 30-meter dataset for sharing data with the network, provided they for South America with Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer use regionally recognized standards. Most map services in the network contain geo- (ASTER) GDEM and GTOPO30 data and cregraphic data at the national level, but there are two ated a set of seamless derived datasets that include regional services available today: the GeoSUR hillshade, shaded relief, slope, and aspect for the region. Regional Map Service and the Condor Service. Advanced users can directly access these The GeoSUR Regional Map Service is geared toward infrastructure developers, offering access models from ArcGIS Desktop by accessing the TPS GIS geoprocessing service (tps.geosur.info/ arcgis/services). From within ArcMap, local data GeoSUR provides training and technical assistance can be used with this service to more precisely exto all partner agencies. tract the derivative products and simply integrate them into the application. To further streamline The regional portal provides access to the meta- to spatial data on existing IIRSA and Andean the TPS service, users can integrate them in local data holdings of all the participating agencies. It Development Bank (CAF) infrastructure projects ModelBuilder applications and Python scripts. “Important development decisions are often keeps a central metadata database that is periodi- and on themes that impact infrastructure developcally updated by an automatic harvesting mecha- ment, such as roads, ports, airports, railroads, oil taken without the proper use of geographic nism that fetches metadata from the participating pipes, rivers, protected areas, land use and land information and modeling techniques that are agency’s catalogs. The portal also contains a map cover, and topographic relief. The service was now becoming widely available,” says Santiago viewer that allows the user to retrieve, open, and developed with the support of the EROS Center Borrero, secretary general of the Panamerican view layers available in partner map services. The using ArcGIS Server. All regional data in the Institute of Geography and History (PAIGH). network architecture is decentralized to keep the service is available for download at no cost. The Condor Service allows visitors to view GeoSUR: An Eye on Spatial Data for data updated and close to its producers. Currently, there are more than 20 map services linked to environmental data of the Andean countries useful South America the portal and more than 3,000 metadata records for planning infrastructure projects. The service GeoSUR is coordinated by CAF and PAIGH, with includes an early assessment tool focused on technical assistance from the USGS EROS Center available on its database. identifying environmental risks and opportunities and the national mapping agencies of Colombia, for projects in the planning phase. The Condor Chile, and Ecuador. Participating agencies inNetwork of Regional and clude, but are not limited to, national geographic map viewer is available at esriurl.com/c3. National Map Services institutes and national environmental agencies A great variety of national and regional spatial data from the region. In total, more than 22 national is available through GeoSUR, including political- On-the-Fly Topographic Processing Service administrative divisions, soils, topography, eco- GeoSUR offers a Topographic Processing Service agencies have agreed to participate in the GeoSUR systems, hydrography, biodiversity, water bodies, (TPS), the first of its kind in the developing world Program, with more expected to join. GeoSUR provides training and technical asgeology, cities and towns, elevation models, land that provides access to digital elevation model cover, aerial photos, ecological regions, satellite (DEM)-derivative products that can be gener- sistance to all partner agencies as they develop the ated on the fly for any location in South America. map services and metadata catalogs to be linked imagery, and infrastructure. This information is available through a decen- Users can run the service models using an assorted to the GeoSUR Geoportal and the Regional Map tralized network of map services currently being set of DEMs at different resolutions, including Service. GeoSUR specialists are on call to offer created by the GeoSUR participating agencies, 1 kilometer, 90 meters, and 30 meters. The avail- technical assistance that agencies may need, both with each agency committing to the development able TPS models include elevation profile, slope remotely and on-site. GeoSUR also sponsors of a Web Map Service (WMS) and a metadata classification, dynamic watershed delineation, peer-to-peer communications among participating catalog. Once a map service is developed, the map hillshade, elevation classification, aspect, and specialists. service administrator creates an ISO 19119 meta- raindrop trace. The service is part of the GeoSUR data record for it and registers it on the GeoSUR Regional Map Service, available at the GeoSUR More Information portal (www.geosur.info). All TPS-derived data For more information, contact Eric van Praag, portal for public viewing. regional coordinator, GeoSUR Program (tel.: GeoSUR emphasizes the use of recog- can be downloaded free of cost. Before launching the service, the USGS 58-212-209-6554, e-mail: evanpraag@caf.com), nized Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC), and International Organization for EROS Center filled the voids in the Shuttle Radar or visit www.geosur.info.