SNI, a good strategy to centralize the Geographic Information of Ecuador

Fortunately, Ecuador, has a government institution responsible for collecting statistical and geographical information, generated by the public service institutions. This institution is Sistema Nacional de Información, (available under: http://www.sni.gob.ec).

The Planning and Public Finance Code, in the article 33 of Registro Oficial No.306, 2010, states that the National Information System (SNI) is the organized group of elements, enabling the interaction of actors in order to access, collect, store and transform data into relevant information for development planning and public finances".

These elements include the geographic information of institutions such as the Military Geographical Institute, Ecuadorian Space Institute (formerly CLIRSEN), National Institute of Statistics and Census, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Transport and Public Works, Geophysical Institute of Escuela Politécnica Nacional, National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology, National Institute of Cultural Heritage, the Navy Oceanographic Institute, National Electricity Council, National Water Resources Council, National Secretary of Planning and Development and National Water Secretary.

Basic and thematic information is downloadable for free, in many formats, at different scales such as: 1: 50,000, 1: 100,000, 1: 250,000, 1: 500,000 and 1: 1,000,000. Additionally, information in raster format is also available, by contacting SNI.

Before the creation of SNI , in 2011 , the geographic information in Ecuador was widely dispersed and, despite being available in most public institutions that generated it, most users were unaware of its existence and this impacted on the quality, organization and use of time in a particular job. On the other hand, an institution that brings together all the information makes it easier to access accurate official information, and also avoids the wasting of time and resources in generation of information that already exists, and can be used without restrictions.

I personally believe it has been very rewarding the interaction with SNI from the two approaches, initially as part of the system and now as user. In the first case, participating in the generation of information in a public institution, whose geographical information contributes to SNI. It allowed me to broaden the outlook of the national agricultural reality, from a geographic perspective, by lifting primary georeferenced information. Secondly, now as a teacher, I often use the data provided by the system and teach about their use and importance as a source of accurate geographic information of the country.

REFERENCES

Sistema Nacional de Información. 2011. Accessed on december 1st, 2013, under http://www.sni.gob.ec

Should we share spatial information?

I believe that sharing information is positive in several aspects. It helps to encourage progress in a number of social, economic, and environmental development sectors. This saves time and resources in generation of information. In many cases, instead of producing information that already exists, the resources can be invested in improving the processes, starting from what is already done.

Likewise, I consider that access to information should be free, as long as the source is mentioned, especially if this information is generated by public institutions and is focused on education, research and development. For example, as a personal experience, I was part of a team in charge of getting spatial information and multisectoral data in a public institution. The geographical information that I generated, fed the National Information System (SNI http://sni.gob.ec/inicio), the official entity, in charge of centralizing statistics and geographic information generated by public institutions in Ecuador, and now as a teacher, I am a user of that information. I often use the data provided by SNI, to teach about use and importance as a source of geographic information of the country. My point in mentioning this example is to emphasize that many sectors can benefit from free access to geographic information.

On the other hand, I agree that the generation of information always has a cost, but that cost could be recovered with a charge for access to information in cases where the use of that information helps a commercial purpose.

Image from: http://www.unep.org/

Free access to geographic data in different formats (.csv, .shp, .gpx, and others) allows contributing to the GIS community and students of both undergraduate and graduate levels, to solve issues of local or regional development.

Finally, public policies should be designed to allow the use of spatial data among institutions. This could be supported by an inter-institutional cooperation agreement. This process will allow mutual growth and development and use of research results that can benefit the whole community. Thus, policies around this issue, allow an articulated comprehensive development focused on development. 

The free access to geographic data in different formats (.csv, .shp, .gpx, and others) allows contributing to the GIS community and students of both undergraduate and graduate levels, to solve issues of local or regional development.

GIS on Business

Definitions of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be different, but they have certain concepts that are common. As evidenced by Kennedy (2013), GIS are a vast collection of hardware, software, geographic data, people and organizational infrastructure that interact to make the handling, processing, analysis and presentation of geographic information possible to support decision-making. Lantada and Nuñez (2002), maintain that it is important to highlight that GIS have an important theoretical foundation and work based on a methodology combining principles and knowledge of other disciplines.

Bernhardsen (2002), stands that the definition of GIS is focused on the specific application for a particular job. Alcaide, Calero and Hernandez (2012), argue that, from the business point of view, the application of GIS in the study of the socio – economics, provides a powerful tool for geographic analysis that addresses many concerns in the field of property management and services.

Pick (2005) highlights the substantial component of GIS on decision making in a changing and challenging environment as the business world. The use of certain models for a specific business organization, facilitates information concerning logistics and operation, constituting an important tool of business strategy.

Marketing is probably the field where GIS have greater applicability in business. Interest in the potential offered by GIS in marketing, is growing increasingly due to their usefulness to determine aspects such as location of customers and competitors, market segmentation, population characteristics, potential branch locations, promotion, and advertising. (Toppen and Wapenaar, 1994). Alcaide, et al (2012) define the geomarketing as the set of techniques used in the analysis of the socio - economics from a geographic perspective, addressing issues related to decision-making in the operational and administrative aspects of a company.

Longley and Mateos (2005) mention some research work that had as basis geomarketing techniques. For example, the reliable estimate of neighborhood statistics, interaction between macro and micro models of human behavior, clustering techniques based on homogeneous life styles, among others. These techniques made it possible to organize the information and derive the final results of the research, demonstrating the usefulness and importance of the implementation of geomarketing.

Azaz (2011) cites some cases of organizations that successfully apply geomarketing techniques. Within these organizations there are, for example, fast-food restaurants like Burger King and McDonald's that use GIS market analysis, selection and location of franchises and demographic characterization. Similarly, companies such as Texaco, used GIS to explore potential areas for the location of new stations.

For the reasons mentioned above, GIS are a powerful tool for business success.

REFERENCES

Alcaide, J., Calero, M. and Hernández, R. (2012). El Geomarketing y los SIG, en Geomarketing: marketing territorial para vender y fidelizar más. ESIC. Madrid, España. pp. 37 – 81.

Azaz, Lofty. (2011). The use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Business. International Conference on Humanities, Geography and Economics. Pattaya. pp 299 – 303. Accessed on July 13, 2013, in:  http://psrcentre.org/images/extraimages/1211200.pdf

Bernhardsen, Tor. (2002) Geographical Information Systems and Geographical Information, on Geographic Information Systems: An Introduction. 3rd. ed. Wiley. New York, NY., EEUU. pp. 1 – 25.

Kennedy, Michael D. (2013). Some Concepts that Underpin GIS, on Introducing Geographic Information Systems with ArcGIS : A Workbook Approach to Learning GIS. 3ra. ed. Wiley. New Jersey. NJ. EEUU. pp. 3 - 88.

Korte, George. (2001). An Overview of the GIS industry and GIS Software, on The GIS Book: How to Implement, Manage, and Assess the Value of Geographic Information Systems. 5th. ed.  On Word Press, Santa Fe, NM, EEUU. pp. 39 – 46.

Lantada, N. and Nuñez, A. (2002) Introducción a los Sistemas de Información Geográfica, en Sistemas de Información Geográfica. Prácticas con ArcView. UPC. Barcelona, España. pp. 13 - 33.

Longley, P. and Mateos, P. (2005). Un nuevo y prominente papel de los SIG y el Geomarketing en la provisión de servicios públicos. GeoFocus (Editorial), Nº 5. pp. 1-5. Accessed on July 13, in http://geofocus.rediris.es/2005/Editorial_2005.pdf

Toppen, F. and Wapenaar, H. (1994). GIS in Business: Tools for Marketing Analysis. EGIS. Accessed on July 7, 2013, in http://libraries.maine.edu/Spatial/gisweb/spatdb/egis/eg94204.html

Pick, James. (2005). Concepts and Theories of GIS in Business, on Geographical Information Systems in Business. IGI. Hershey, PA, EEUU.

Successful GIS Course concludes in UTN

In the Geomatics Laboratory of Universidad Técnica del Norte (UTN), the "GIS applied to Agriculture" Course was successfully developed. The course was aimed to students of Agricultural Engineering. The course’s main objective was to present the applications of Geographic Information Systems, Global Positioning Systems and Remote Sensing Systems to agriculture.

The contents covered during the course were:

1. Introduction to the application of GIS in Agriculture.

2. Georeferenced information and use of GPS.

3. Satellite images and aerial photographs

4. Access and database generation 

5. Geospatial information processing

6. Digital Elevation Models.

7. Contour intervals 

8. Terrain slope

9. Mapping soil nutrients (N, P, K)

10. Infrared image process for use in crop management.

11. Use of vegetation indices to characterize crop areas.

12. Management of climate, soil, and topography to analyze and predict crop yields

ArcGIS 10.2 (3D Analyst, Spatial Analyst, Image Analyst, Image Classification, and others) was the main software used during the course, as well as Map Source and ERDAS Imagine 2014. Over 30 students attended this course.

THE POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS OF CARTOGRAPHY (Based on the article “LA CARTOGRAFÍA: ENTRE CIENCIA, ARTE Y MANIPULACIÓN” by Philippe Rekacewicz, 2006)

Maps are representations of the perception of the territory. Although they are often interpreted as a reflection of reality, maps show only what the cartographer wants to show. The cartographer might fall into two common mistakes of cartography: delete or highlight specific details of the territory. These errors occur frequently in cartography and sometimes they have caused a series of misunderstandings at a diplomatic level, which have sparked controversy among territories and disagreements between their governors.

The neat and artistic presentation of many maps may be the reason why many readers have interpreted as

Image from: civicmediatacticaldesign.wordpress.com

an accurate representation of the territory, especially if the map has the guarantee of an organization, institution or the State. Finding an appropriate standard to cartographically represent the territory is a real challenge. There are no rules or experts or authorities on the subject. The cartography production is conceived as a combination of cultural, historical and geographical aspects of a territory, which are reflected in a map. A map is the result of combining, in an appropriate way, the exact sciences (accurate quantitative and qualitative information) and art (colors, textures and shapes) in a representation that is functional, satisfying its primary objective of accurate information transmission.

Undoubtedly, access to information has always been synonymous of power. For this reason, maps over time, have occupied an important place and formerly were treasured as the greatest secrets of State, as a way to protect the resources. The loss or theft mapping was considered as a large-scale disaster. That has not changed significantly. At present, countries still have reservations about the cartographic information of strategic, economic or military interest.

The development of technology has allowed mapping to have the tools for more precise mapping and time optimizing. This aspect may not be comparable to the time it took to the first cartographers to create those pieces of art filled with ornaments, and very carefully prepared, yet not a very close representation of the real territory.