3 Getting started with CANRI

In Section 3 we will look at benefits analysis, technical options and a couple of case studies. This overview of CANRI should be helpful for decision makers looking for options and technical newcomers looking for high-level clues.

If you're encountering CANRI for the first time, the technology and concepts can seem overwhelming. Don't give up! CANRI is actually a pretty straightforward idea. With a bit of study you'll be able to see exactly how CANRI can benefit your organisation. You'll also understand how your participation helps all NSW natural resource stakeholders to manage the state's information resources in an effective and empowering manner.

3.1 End-to-end: 4 Steps for information sharing

So let's focus on what CANRI actually does. It's important to see CANRI as an "enabling framework", which is a nice piece of jargon that basically translates to: CANRI helps agencies design and deploy an end-to-end relationship with the NRIMS information-sharing network. [more info about CANRIs strategic plan and projects]

Step 1: Data Product design

The first step toward creating our information-sharing network is to decide what data products will be provided (ie, provided either via the web or under some other arrangement).

You will need to decide what data can be shared, under what conditions and with whom. This is the process of "data product design" (a data product can be maps and/or geo-referenced data).

Product design involves concepts that are probably familiar to any data custodian already. [more info about data product design especially for CANRI]

Note: if you don’t have a data product, but want to use the data available through CANRI in your website or intranet, go straight to Step 4: Applications.

Step 2: Registering in the catalog

Once the data products have been developed, the next step is to let everyone know about it. This is handled by registering your data products in an online catalog. NRIMS and CANRI provide such a catalog for NSW, called the Natural Resources Data Dictionary (NRDD). The NRDD is part of a national network of catalogs which comprise the Australian Spatial Data Dictionary (ASDD). [more info about the NRDD]

Registering a data product involves providing two types of metadata (information about information is called "metadata"):

The metadata required by CANRI is based on the Australian standards for resource and service description.

The metadata for your products can be managed online through the Metadata Extension Manager (MEM) and MET Online interfaces. You'll need to contact the CANRI Technical Officer establish an account if your organisation doesn't already have one. [more info about managing metadata]

You can see what your metadata records look like online by using the Natural Resources Audit (NRA) which is an online search and browse application sitting on top of the NRDD. [more info about the NRA]

If your data products are not intended for online delivery, this registration process completes the story. Agencies who wish to make use of your data are able to use the information in the NRDD to contact you and arrange for access to the dataset under whatever terms are negotiated.

Step 3: Data serving

Most agencies, however, will want to provide online access to their data products. This involves arranging for some form of web-based data serving. CANRI's information sharing network is based on spatial data exchange standards that are established by the international OpenGIS Consortium (OGC). To be available to the CANRI network, data must be served using the OpenGIS standardised protocols. These standards define very simple (yet powerful) GIS functionality such as "getMap" and "getFeature". [more info about the OpenGIS protocols and related standards]

If your organisation already has a spatial web server, you can probably locate an OpenGIS connector (or "wrapper") that allows your particular software to handle OpenGIS standard requests. Some spatial web server products communicate natively in OpenGIS protocols, so a wrapper isn't required. [more info about spatial webservers and wrappers]

With the advent of the OpenGIS Web Feature Service protocol, a wide range of non-GIS packages can be used to serve data in a spatial context. For example, the data behind the SoEDirect application is sourced from a WFS server connected via SQL Server to MSAccess and MSExcel resources.

Many data layers can be hosted on a single web server. The server details for each data product is recorded in the "availability" section of the product's metadata record.

Alternatively, if you're not set up to serve spatial data on the web, you can negotiate a hosting agreement with an agency that provides OpenGIS compliant data servers. For example, the NSW DLWC hosts a number of databases on behalf of CANRI partner agencies. [more info about DLWC hosting]

Step 4: Applications − Putting data to work

For many organisations, the real payoff from CANRI happens at the end-user application. This is where the user is able to interact with the live dataset via some form of functional interface. Applications can be standalone, working with data hosted on your network, but in this context we'll look at applications that make use of other datasets via the CANRI information-sharing network. In fact you don’t even need to serve data to create an application that leverages the value the CANRI. [more info about applications]

There are practically unlimited possibilities for custom-built applications that make use of CANRI. But until now developing an application from scratch has involved considerable investment of resources in needs analysis, technical design, code development and maintenance.

Fortunately, as OpenGIS standards are integrated into more commercial software packages, the process of application development will be simplified to a matter of configuration options. So participants are increasingly able to focus on meeting user needs with standard software rather than getting bogged in deep technical development. [more info about application vendors]

3.2 Completing the picture: CANRI's role

As you can see from this overview, most of the responsibility for creating data products, registering them, serving and providing a viewing application rests with your organisation. CANRI provides supporting intellectual resources, advice and guidance to improve the effectiveness of your efforts.

In practical terms, we can see that CANRI provides technical "enablement" through carefully placed services such as the NRDD catalog facility. These services are the tangible expressions of the CANRI framework.

CANRI is a cooperative response of the State’s natural resource agencies to the changing demands for their information, as recognised in the policy imperatives and reform strategies of the NSW Government.

Increasingly we will need to use each other's data in sophisticated analysis, decision support and community consultation contexts. This requires seamlessly integration and linking between our information products, as well as controls for data for security, quality and currency.

CANRI helps coordinate technical policy amongst participating users so that they can maximise the combined value of their natural resource information assets to the benefit of all.

3.3 Case studies: CANRI in the real world

DLWC: River Information Internet System (RIIS)

River flow information is managed through several state agencies with incompatible technical platforms. High public and agency demand for an integrated view of this information led DLWC to propose a River Information Internet Service (RIIS) that exploits the CANRI framework.

The RIIS initiative involved a number of priority outcomes, including the delivery of:

By establishing an interoperable application with CANRI recommendations, DLWC wish to knit together a network of about 650 remote monitoring sites. Data from the telemetered sites is used to: monitor water releases from dams; act as early Flood Warning; and to monitor discharge of water into the river system.

This information is invaluable to researchers, agribusiness operators, environmental specialists and water regulators. DLWC and associated agencies receive numerous requests for this data via traditional channels, and have borne the resulting overheads of managing these requests.

A CANRI-compliant online mapping facility was seen as the most appropriate solution.

The RIIS project surveyed existing data sources and delivery mechanisms. It was found that all NSW water agencies planned to publish near real time water information, and most had little internet infrastructure. An arrangement was made to host all the data on DLWC's public web server.

Each data layer was registered with the NRDD using the MEM administration interface.

With the data now available to the network, a viewing application needed to be considered. After assessing options, it was decided to configure an existing client-side Java applet to provide a user interface. Although this arrangement might look like a "data warehouse" solution, it's important to note that the centralisation is provided solely for convenience while the participants upgrade their infrastructures. The RIIS architecture, using CANRI concepts, will function as a truly distributed, heterogenous network when it is fully deployed.

The applet sends simple requests (layers and extent) to DLWC's licenced copy of MapBroker.

After a pro-forma check with the CANRI catalog, MapBroker sends the appropriate requests for a basemap image and GML formatted data to the RIIS map and data servers.

MapBroker combines the returned image and data (re-projection), passing a single packet back to the viewing applet.

The RIIS site is currently in its second build, and is providing services to an increasing range of user groups:

Nature Conservation Council NSW: PartnerPlus

The Nature Conservation Council of NSW (NCCNSW) is an umbrella organisation that represents a diverse membership of community and non-government environmental groups. These groups are concerned with communicating environmental issues to their members and the public, which in turn participate with the groups to develop an accurate picture of environmental conditions on the ground. These groups often engage in field-level research that produces useful natural resources data, combining the power of basic scientific analysis with broad public participation.

NCCNSW recognised the need for an interactive internet tool through which remote users could collaborate using shared information and documents. Many groups have no data serving infrastructure, and few have any access to base data such as topography and administrative boundaries.

Since each group needed their own branded interface and data hosting facility, NCCNSW initiated a project to provide a "map application builder" tool which would deliver these benefits via the CANRI framework.

A major part of the PartnerPlus program is based on a commercial product developed by Social Change Online, the WebMap Composer (WMC). The PartnerPlus program adds modular extensions for map and data file upload and automated catalog management to the basic WMC.

NCC map administrators are able to upload maps and make them available to the MapServer spatial GIS. MapServer provides native connectivity for OpenGIS WMS requests. NCC map administrators may also upload spatially referenced tabular data to make it available to a Web Feature Server engine designed by Social Change Online. This data can then be represented as features on an online map with attached data.

Once uploaded, both map and data layers are automatically registered in the PartnerPlus internal catalog. NCC map administrators can then configure a viewing extent and interface template, accessing these and other CANRI map layers, and save the combined package with a filename. The end-user is able to access these map applications through normal links embedded in HTML pages. They may typically be used to support a member group’s campaign objectives.

3.4 Participation summary: options and opportunities

Following is a summary of opportunities for DIY participation in the CANRI framework:

Your desired participation	What's involved
Publicise the existence of a data product
List data in the NRDD	The ANZLIC metadata form includes a section that asks for details of dataset availability. You can make your data available only offline, or accessible in various manners via an online service as below. This is the starting point for all data serving. A dataset only becomes visible to CANRI applications once it is registered in the NRDD, which is the ANZLIC metadata repository.
Provide data access to the network
Upload data to 3^rd party host	Arrange to share facilities with a CANRI partner. There are several hosting options available. See the Data Serving section for more details.
Serve data from your server	You need to have an OpenGIS compliant web server or connector visible to the internet. Either maps or feature information can be served.
Provide viewing/interaction
Use a 3^rd party service	Arrange for privileged access to a web application with the application's host. Eg, members of the Nature Conservation Council are able to use the centrally-hosted PartnerPlus facility to create publicly-available map viewing applications.
Licence and host a CANRI-compliant web map application on your own server	Select a technical solution and establish it in your network (internet or intranet).
Develop and host your own application	Specify the user interaction and build accordingly. Respect the OpenGIS standards and CANRI recommendations.

3.5 Funding your CANRI-compliant project

CANRI receives funding requests annually. Application forms and guidelines are available on the website

CANRI is only able to approve a fraction all applications. Generally, you should investigate all other funding sources and potential collaborators in order to meet your budget requirements.


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