8/14/2019 Unlocking the Data

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/unlocking-the-data 1/1

The edge Spring 2008 13

A user perspectiveAccess to quality information that’sfiltered to provide the data youneed, when you need it is probably onthe top ten wish list for manycoastal professionals. And a sharedinformation system that’s regularlyupdated and easy to access canpotentially save money, time andresources for all those involved in thelong term. Enter the local informationsystem (LIS) – an IT-enabled systembuilt to support the efforts of localmanagers, such as engineers, planners,tourism officers, harbour masters andenvironmental managers.

For those willing to form a network formanaging coastal information, then aLIS may be a suitable option. But it’snot without its pitfalls.

“An important, but little recognisedfact is that information systems canand often do fail because the lessonslearnt in the field of informationscience and information systemsare simply not applied”, says TimStojanovic of MACE who was chargedwith developing LIS across six pilots aspart of the Corepoint project. “Wewanted to produce a set of structuredguidelines informed by LIS projectsacross Europe and the latest thinking

in the information system discipline tostop people repeating past mistakes.”

In working with the six organisations,MACE was keen to adopt a user-ledapproach for developing informationsystems at the outset. Says Stojanovic,

“We found that people generally startfrom three possible places. The first iswhere those involved are excited firstand foremost by the technology. Thiscan lead to some really positive, novelsolutions but I’ve also seen a lot of money spent on tools where there’sbeen little real application. There’s adanger that you can becomebewitched by technology. The secondapproach is a data-led one – simplyasking the question: what are theresources out there and how can wecatalogue them? The problem withthis approach is that people becomeoverwhelmed by it – there’s simply no

real rationale for structuring theinformation. The last approach, andone we favour, is the user-led one –developing a series of questionsrelating to a real need.”

“Through this approach, theorganisations we worked with wereable to develop clear and distinctneeds for their information systems.Sefton Council, for example, wanted

Unlocking the data

Producing a methodology for those interested in implementinglocal information systems (LIS) at the coast was a key aim of

the Corepoint project. Six pilots later, the guidelines have beenproduced and are about to be sent out to 50 projects aroundEurope already looking at the possibility of using suchsystems. So, what are the secrets of a good LIS?

“Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information on it.”Samuel Johnson (1709 – 1784)

Southport

Birkdale

Ainsdale

Formby

Hightown

Sand dune topographic data

from Formby to Ainsdale

Mersey Estuary

Liverpool Bay data–Tide gauges– Bottom drifters–Wave modelling

Coast Wide Data– Historical photographs and

video footage of the coast– Water table monitoring– Soils– Sediment sampling– O/S data from 1850 to

present day– Aerial photography from

1945 to 2006– Storm data

Land Reclamation extents and dates

Data sets availablefor the Sefton Coast

A total of 2,600 datasets wereidentified by Sefton Council, such

as 18th century charts showingwhere the shoreline was andaerial photographs from the1940s. Providing a properly

catalogued system tomakethe data available was

where the LIS came in.

Salt marsh extentand levels

Beach profile data fromline 1 at Crosby to line30 at Marshside

Beach topographic survey

Dune toe survey

Tide pole data Weather station data

Training walls – datesof intervention,location and action

Dredging locations,dates and quantitiesof materials dredged

and dumped

Chartdata showing thepositions of sand banks andchannels for the Ribble andMersey Estuaries

Training walls –dates of intervention,location and action

to look at coastal change, while Corkwas interested in land use planningand development control decisionsand the Fal Estuary in Cornwallfocused on nature conservation andenvironmental quality.”

What resulted from the six pilots was astructured, seven point methodologyfor LIS development (see opposite).

While the guidelines are set to providean excellent grounding for thoselooking to set up an LIS, the ultimatesuccess will inevitably come down tofunding for the development of suchwork. Even within the Corepointproject, money available was limitedwith some pilots only able to completephase 1 of the work. For thoseorganisations without the necessaryresources and time, an LIS project isprobably not the best way forward.

“The crazy thing is many organisationsinvolved, probably spend tens of thousands of Euros collecting andstoring data that may only be used afew times”, comments Stojanovic.“What’s really needed is the vision anddrive to share information. It’s really acentral theme for true ICZM. Thebenefits could be huge if we all beginto share.”

Guidelines for implementingLocal Information Systemsat the coastThe methodology produced by MACE aspart of the Corepoint project is a greatstarting point to help avoid previousmistakes in developing a usable localinformation system. The detailedmethodology points to seven key steps:

1 Justify information systems –It takes money, time and commitmentfrom collaborators to build aninformation system. So it’s important tobuild a case to justify why LIS is useful.

2 Have clear purposeYou cannot answer all questionsrelevant to coastal management in oneattempt. Instead, focus on some key

purpose/s for the system so coastalpractitioners can clearly identify thesystem with a particular part of theirwork.

3 InvolveusersBe user-led, not data-led – relate yoursystem to the work of coastalpractitioners.

4 Solve technical obstaclesInformation systems can only workwhere a variety of technical obstacleshave been solved – these obstaclesrelate both to policy and technicalissues.

5 Deploy appropriate technologyThere are many technologies out thereso choose carefully to spend limitedfinance wisely.

6 Check for quality assurancePut checks in place to avoid the‘rubbish in – rubbish out’ syndrome.

7 Implement and trainInvolve users from beginning to end toensure familiarity with the system andwillingness to provide data to populateit as well as belief in the product.

The final, comprehensive, step bystep methodology is availableonline at:http://crc67.ucc.ie/corepoint/wp46

A working LIS for Sefton

One of the teams MACE worked withwas fellow Corepoint partner, SeftonCouncil. Says Graham Lymbery of thecouncil, “Wealread y had experience of putting together a type of database inthe early eighties when computerpower was limited, so the databaseitself was a collection of documents ina number of cardboard boxes.”

“We wanted to store and interpret thisexisting coastal change data in such away that it could more easily beupdated in the future andcommunicated to other users, such asland-managers or researchers.

“We originally wanted the LIS to beavailable online but the costs, for us,

were prohibitive. Instead the system isnow maintained through a gatekeeper(an information manager) and wemake the reports generated from itavailable online.

“We in the coastal defence teammanage the LIS because it is the datawe need for undertaking analysis. Weare still adding to the informationboth through digitisation of materialsuch as aerial photos and old recordsand through new data capture. For us,the LIS is extremely useful. We’vefound it provides a starting point formuch of our analysis thatsubsequently informs policy and itdoes so in a credible way – credibilityis very important.”

Ribble Estuary