“EFGS and the integration of Geography and Statistics" Lars H. Backer The European Forum for the Integration of Geography and Statistics (EFGS) October The EFGS 2014 Krakow Conference1

Why & How? We as civil servants, members of the academia, or citizens of democratic nations are united here for one overriding purpose: To produce systems of qualified information to serve as foundation for direct and indirect government action on all levels of public authority from local to global. This is the UN GGIM challenge October The EFGS 2014 Krakow Conference2 Thesis

Spaceship Earth (A man- environmental system on a mission) October The EFGS 2014 Krakow Conference3

Our world is on the edge (There are limits to man’s ecological footprint) October The EFGS 2014 Krakow Conference4

The mission? (the co- evolution of man and nature) October The EFGS 2014 Krakow Conference5 Pressure Impact (on artificial systems) Response ”Natural” driving forces Natural evolution Impact (on natural systems) State (of artificial systems) State (of natural systems) ”Artificial”Driving forces Man- made Evolution A C B

Information: The key to management “The second industrial revolution, unlike the first, does not present us with crushing images as rolling mills and molten steel, but with “bits” in a flow of information travelling along circuits in the form of electric impulses. The iron mills still exist, but they obey the orders of weightless bits”. Italo Calvino in the chapter on “Lightness” in his “Six memos for the next millennium” ( ) October The EFGS 2014 Krakow Conference6

How? 1.Understand real government UN GGIM needs –Provide a qualified description of how qualified information are used in the design implementation practice and evaluation of government direct and indirect action on all levels of public authority from local to global. –This should be based on real professional experience e.g. gained by civil servants and others engaged on spatial development practice. (not from “market analysis” type inquiries) 2.Design and develop an operational UN GGIM –Design, implement, support the use and evaluation of one and only one qualified system of core information to serve co- ordinated government action on all these levels of public authority from local to global. –We should not depend on “markets” to provide the systems of information needed. 3.Further the co- Production of core spatial datasets October The EFGS 2014 Krakow Conference 7

Inactive Reactive PreactiveInteractive Russell Ackoff’s Strategies of management: Ex-post Strategies For problems best left alone (Conservative “Business as usual” attitude) Statistics for accounting and benchmarking Ex-ante Strategies For critical problems the demands response (Progressive “Lets face it” attitude”) Statistics for spatial and temporal analysis Government actions (Two attitudes to management) October The EFGS 2014 Krakow Conference8

Control (Management through direct and indirect action ) 2. Design 3. Build 1. Analyse 4. Use PRAXIS SCIENCE October The EFGS 2014 Krakow Conference 9 The Virtual: The UN GGIM Atlas model of the world (Spaceship Earth) The Real: The world (Spaceship Earth) Past A: RESEARCH The present is the to a great extent the consquence of past actions on the MES Future B: VISIONS Long and short term actions to ensure desierable future state of the MES Present C : ACTION Short time actions to ensure the satisfaction of current needs A B C

The concept for a UN GGIM Atlas (for discussion) To suit the results of a qualified discourse on best practises for the hierarchical management of large- scale man- environmental systems according to the Ecological approach Narratives (Alpha- numeric texts with images) All government actions are described in terms of narratives and 4D descriptions of the Earth One shared object model (Names, codes, Attributes, Features, time) One hierarchical object modelling strategy based on core NSI & NMA datasets In Scale (over all (6) scale intervals from local to global) GGIM (Global scale) EGIM (Europe (global region)) NGIM (National scale) RGIM (Regional scale)) CGIM (Commune) LGIM (Local scale) In Scope (on the whole scope (all sub- systems)) Environment (real (physical) systems) NE (Natural environment) AE (Artificial / man- made environment) Society (Artificial systems) SS (Socio- cultural system) ES (Socio- economic system) In Time (through time to mark the iterative process) Time series at regular intervals (yearly?) Simulations October The EFGS 2014 Krakow Conference 10

Systems Theory (The world as a system of systems in space and time) The world is complex beyond human understanding. Systems theory is a strategy to reduce this complexity down to a scale and complexity that can be described understood by human beings. Task: To describe the world as a system of systems of qualified information. October The EFGS 2014 Krakow Conference11

A System of Systems (To build systems of systems of information: Objects 1) October The EFGS 2014 Krakow Conference12

Spatial and temporal data infrastructure (To build systems of systems of information: Objects 2) October The EFGS 2014 Krakow Conference13 Narratives Object models Texts References Semantic modelling (Object names and codes) Properties / Statistics Map Features (points, lines and polygons) Dynamics (objects and their relationships) Vocabularies Object / layer strategy for data Infrastructure

Scale “Systems of systems” Reduction of scale, the hierarchical approach to government has been an stablished practice as long as states have existed- for a good reason. It works. Task: To design a hierarchical data structure suited to hierarchical government practices. October The EFGS 2014 Krakow Conference14

Reduction of complexity 2: Scale (To build systems of systems of information: Scale 1) Six levels of public authority from local to global: km window/100km grids (Global scale) km window/10km grids (International (macro) regions) km window/1km grids (National regions) 4.10 km window/100m grids (Communes and urban districts) 5.1 km window/10m grids (Urban neighbourhoods) m window/1m grids (Urban blocks and localities) Human scale objects October The EFGS 2014 Krakow Conference 15

Scope “Science mapping”. The division of responsibility has been with us for centuries. This is the soul of the reductive approach to science Task: To accumulate core datasets needed for an operational management of major men- environmental sub- systems. October The EFGS 2014 Krakow Conference16

The layer approach (To build systems of systems of information: Scope 2) The Inspire Annexes The Inspire Annexes An example: A project for the develop the Man-made environment. 1.Will focus on the task at hand that is to improve mainly physical man-made structures. 2.Will have to consider (seriously) the impact of (and the consequences for) on the broader context ( the natural environment, the economic system, and the socio- cultural system.) Focus : SS: Sociocultural system –Layer ((maps &statistics) theme 1) –Layer ((maps &statistics) theme 2) –Layer ((maps &statistics) theme...n) Context : ES: Economic system –Layer ((maps &statistics) theme 1) –Layer ((maps &statistics) theme 2) –Layer ((maps &statistics) theme...n) NE: Natural environment –Layer ((maps &statistics) theme 1) –Layer ((maps &statistics) theme 2 –Layer ((maps &statistics) theme...n) BE: Man-made environment –Layer ((maps &statistics) theme 1) –Layer ((maps &statistics) theme 2 –Layer ((maps &statistics) theme...n) October The EFGS 2014 Krakow Conference17

Synthesis (To build systems of systems of information: Scope 1) October The EFGS 2014 Krakow Conference18 SSESBENE Major sub- systems Society (S)Environment(E) Natural Environment (NE) (Structures & Processes) Artificial Environment (BE) (Structures & Processes) Socioeconomic Systems (SS & ES) (Structures & Processes)

An integrated system of core dataset (To describe societies as SC and SE systems) October The EFGS 2014 Krakow Conference19 Day time population on km grids (Tandem 2004) Night time population on km grids (Tandem 2004)

Spatial analysis (Delineations) October The EFGS 2014 Krakow Conference20 Day & Night time population on km grids. Relief map (Tandem 2004) Day & Night time population on km grids. Delineations (Tandem 2004)

A joint NSI and NMA GGIM strategy (To serve the GGIM with qualified core information) Geo- Statistics NSI “Geo- spatial” datasets (core data) and their SDI harmonisation processes (sets of rules) The Tandem projects (I & II) Iteration 1 (2002 & 2003) Iteration II (2004 & 2005) The Geostat projects (1 – 6) Iteration 1: Geostat 1A (2009 & 2010 (closed)) Iteration 2: Geostat 1B (2011 & 2012 (closed)) Iteration 3: Geostat 1C (2013 (in process)) Iteration 4: Geostat 2 - (2014 & 2015 (contract not yet signed)) Iteration 5: Geostat 3 - (2016 & 2017 (not discussed)) Iteration 6: Geostat 4 - (2018 & 2019 (not discussed)) The 2020 round of EU Censuses October The EFGS 2014 Krakow Conference 21

Co- production of integrated core datasets 1. Design: One shared Semantic modelling (based on the identification of critical objects to be modelled) 2. Production 2A. GEO- STATISTICS Production of object Attributes (object attributes in time) 1.Input 1.Data Capture 2.Data processing 1.Geobase (A spatial Database system for statistics) 2.Geo-referencing (top- down, bottom- up and hybrid) 3.Compilation of core datasets (The EU Geostat grid dataset) 4.Confidentiality and clearance of other sensitive issues 3.Output 1.Dissemination (Distribution methods, Business model etc.) 2B. GEO- GRAPHICS Production of object Features (object features in space) 1.Input 1.Data Capture 2.Data processing 1.Geobase (A spatial Database system for statistics) 2.Geo-referencing (top- down, bottom- up and hybrid) 3.Compilation of core datasets (The EU Geostat grid dataset) 4.Confidentiality and clearance of other sensitive issues 3.Output 1.Dissemination (Distribution methods, Business model etc.) 2C. Aggregation of integrated datasets (for use on all 6 levels of public authority from local to global (The UN GGIM Atlas) 1. Local datasets (It on this level that all concrete action is designed, planned and implemented)) 2. Commune level datasets 3. Regional datasets 4. National datasets (National datasets the source for most higher- level bottom- up datasets) 5. European datasets 6. Global datasets 3. Use. (Case studies (Narratives on all levels of public authority from local to global) 4. Evaluation October The EFGS 2014 Krakow Conference 22

Summary We seek: 1.One Inter- government set of practices for managing large scal man- environmental systems (e.g. the ecological approach) Seek agreement on the general method (best practices) used by government for managing complex man environmental systems. 2.One UN GGIM Atlas concept to serve all types of projects on all levels of public authority Seek agreement on a shared concept (best practice) for a qualified system of core spatial (& temporal) information to serve government action on all levels of public authority from local to global. 3.One shared Spatial Data Infrastructure suited for modelling with real- world objects according to the UN GGIM Atlas concept. –Seek a shared SDI that will work for all parties involved. October The EFGS 2014 Krakow Conference 23

Thank you for your attention! Lars H. Backer October The EFGS 2014 Krakow Conference24