1 About the Do-It-Yourself Manual

The CANRI Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Manual provides comprehensive information on CANRI:

The primary theme of the DIY is enabling direct technical participation in CANRI.

Since the DIY documentation is focussed on giving you information sufficient to "do-it-yourself", you might well imagine that "how to do it" is a known and stable set of procedures. However, the reality is that online spatial technology is evolving so rapidly that authoritative documentation is impractical.

The DIY has been designed with a flexible structure that can be continuously updated to provide the latest and most useful information to the CANRI technical community as it becomes available.

Our main objective with the DIY is to produce documentation that meets the CANRI community's needs. To do this effectively, we need to hear from you. Please contact the Business Development Manager on (02 9895 7808) or email canri@canri.nsw.gov.au to provide feedback on the document.

1.1 Who should read this document

The DIY Main Documentation has been prepared with the following core user groups in mind:

Section	Of special interest to	Highlights
1: About the DIY Documentation	All	Explanation of the DIY Main Documentation
2: CANRI at a Glance	All	Description of the program context and benefits analysis
3: Getting started with CANRI	Agency and Organisational decision makers	Strategic planning, process overview and decision support End-to-end: CANRI participation in four steps
4: Answer Finder	All	Our collection of Frequently Answered Questions, this section with cross-links to detailed information.
5: CANRI from a Technical Perspective	Web Application Mgrs IT Support Staff	CANRI architecture Component descriptions, references and usecases
6: Applications: Solutions for your end-users	Web Application Mgrs IT Support Staff	Putting the value of CANRI at your user's fingertips. Options for end-user interfaces
7: Managing Metadata	Data Custodians	Using MET Online and the MEM to specify data product and service listings in the NRDD and CANRI Catalog
8: Guide to Data Serving	Data Custodians IT Support staff	Setting up and registering OpenGIS compliant data servers for the CANRI network
9: Testing: Conformance and Interoperability	Web Application Mgrs IT Support Staff	Introduction to testing for OpenGIS compliance and CANRI interoperability

1.2 Summary of References

Following is the DIY Reference Schedule for 3^rd party and modular documentation resources. If you're looking for quick access to a specific product or component, these links take you to the central reference for each package.

Caution: Products and components are typically maintained by 3^rd party developers, who produce and maintain the associated technical documentation. These resources will vary in both style and semantics from this document. Please be aware of these variations and interpret carefully.

1.3 Distribution package

Selected reference documents are distributed with the DIY Main Documentation in a single package (diy_distpack.zip), which is available online at: www.canri.gov.au/diy/

Note: There are a number of web links in the documentation. You must be connected to the internet to access these links.

1.4 Glossary

The diversity of technical dialects involved with CANRI ensures that at some point we all trip up against unfamiliar jargon. The CANRI Glossary is our ongoing attempt to de-jargonise and clarify terms commonly used in the framework. There's a copy of the Glossary distributed with this document. The online (and most current) version is available at: http://www.canri.nsw.gov.au/glossary.html

The Glossary is a document in progress: we need your input. If you can't find a term in the glossary, or think we should change the way we talk, send a note to the CANRI-Talk mailing list and let's speak the same language.

1.5 Further reading

If you're completely new to the world of geospatial information, it's probably a good idea to do some reading and experimenting as soon as possible.

If you're a manager or policy decision maker, getting a handle on the importance of spatial information is a good starting point. You might want to browse the industry magazine for articles that discuss business strategic issues for geospatial information. [GeoWorld]

If you're a data custodian, web developer or IT staffer, you'll want to understand how web-based GIS is implemented. Spatialnews is a more technically-focussed publication. [Spatialnews]

And finally, if you're looking for a good rave about how geospatial data is relevant to the development of a more healthy society, consider the musings at the GeoServer Project.

1.6 Current CANRI Contacts

CANRI is managed by the collective natural resource agencies of NSW through the NRIMS Steering Group. The Department of Land and Water Conservation, as lead agency, coordinates the CANRI Program.

Neil Bennett Acting Chair, CANRI Program Board Ph: 02 9895 7700 Fax: 02 9895 7834 Email: nbennett@dlwc.nsw.gov.au PO Box 3720 Parramatta NSW 2124	Jonathan Doig, Program Director Chair, CANRI Program Implementation Group Ph: 02 9895 7781 Fax: 02 9895 7834 Email: jdoig@canri.nsw.gov.au PO Box 3720 Parramatta NSW 2124
Mike Thompson Convenor, CANRI Community Reference Group Ph: 0500 888 876 Fax: 02 4872 1319 Email: miket@nature.net.au	Cecilia Tram, CANRI Business Development Manager Ph: 02 9895 7808 Fax: 02 9895 7834 Email: ctram@dlwc.nsw.gov.au PO Box 3720 Parramatta NSW 2124 PO Box 3720 Parramatta NSW 2124
	William Leader, CANRI Project Officer Ph: 02 9895 7296 Fax: 02 9895 7834 Email: wleader@canri.nsw.gov.auPO Box 3720 Parramatta NSW 212

You can also contact the CANRI committees and groups to find out more about CANRI activities, or to discuss how your organisation might become involved.


Community Access to Natural Resources Information	...the power of shared information