1. THE GHANA ENTERPRISE LAND INFORMATION SYSTEM (GELIS) AS A COMPONENT OF NATIONAL GEOSPATIAL POLICY
GRAHAM DEANE and ROBERT OWEN, Airbus Defence and Space
BENJAMIN QUAYE, Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Land Administration Project
21st March 2017

2. Overview of Presentation
Starting in 2011, Ghana’s Second Land Administration Project (LAP2) has, amongst other things, been given the responsibility for developing a consolidated National Geospatial Policy (NGP) This is based on a draft NSDI policy drafted in 2013, together with a Survey and Mapping Policy, also created in 2013, and a Geodetic Reference Network Policy created in 2014 The National Geospatial Policy (2016) sets the scene for developing a National Spatial Data Infrastructure At the same time, LAP-2 is developing the Ghana Enterprise Land Information System (GELIS), also based on a number of previously developed foundations and components This paper explores how the implementation of GELIS is contributing to the development of an NSDI fro Ghana and laying the foundations for a comprehensive framework of data sharing for the Government, key stakeholders and citizens.
21st March GELIS as a component of National Geospatial Policy

3. NSDI Globally Benefits becoming widely acknowledged and accepted
Infrastructures being implemented globally
“Around 50% of the 54 African countries have formally taken steps to develop their national geo-information policies” (Andre Nonguierma - United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Oct 2014)
Benefits
Reducing duplication
Allowing awareness and knowledge of what is available
Encouraging more efficient use of data
Encouraging data sharing
Encouraging adoption of standards
21st March GELIS as a component of National Geospatial Policy

4. The Current Situation – Ghana Projects
Many projects and initiatives becoming aware of NSDI benefits
Ghana Agriculture Online GIS Platform
Street and Property Addressing
Millennium Cities Initiative
Accra – Resilient City (Rockefeller Foundation)
Smart Cities Challenge (IBM)
Future Cities Alliance for Greater Accra
Open Data for Ghana
Commercial Agriculture Project
Tourism maps
21st March GELIS as a component of National Geospatial Policy

5. The Current Situation – Ghana Organisations
Agencies aware of benefits and key players in SDI
Environment Protection Agency – has created an environmental SDI with interoperable data and a data sharing agreement
Ghana Statistical Service – a long history of using GIS to create national datasets (e.g. Districts / Enumeration Areas)
National Information Technology Agency – key for infrastructure, standards and geospatial delivery
National Development Planning Commission – key for coordinating high level, cross-government development and economic programmes
Survey and Mapping Division (of Lands Commission) –the main geospatial data provider and the national mapping agency, central to the development, improvement and accessibility of geospatial data

6. National Geospatial Policy Components
21st March GELIS as a component of National Geospatial Policy

7. Consolidation of Policies
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8. Geospatial Data – Fundamental Datasets
21st March GELIS as a component of National Geospatial Policy

9. Key elements in achieving an NSDI
21st March GELIS as a component of National Geospatial Policy

10. GELIS in the Framework of an NSDI
21st March GELIS as a component of National Geospatial Policy

11. GELIS is Capturing Data
Overhead scanners now installed at SMD with OCR, metadata capture and QA procedures developed
The expanding volume of archived documents is a major storage and data security problem
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12. GELIS is building a capacity
21st March GELIS as a component of National Geospatial Policy

13. Conclusions
The fundamentals of GELIS fit into the framework of an NSDI
Data capture is preserving the archive, widening the potential availability of data and introducing QA, standards and maintaining the metadata
GELIS software is at the first stage of development, with budget restrictions reducing the current scope; but the fundamentals are in place for building the comprehensive system that the Lands Commission needs for the future
GELIS links with other initiatives such as the Client Service and Access Units (CSAU) software that the LC have been developing, and other software systems, such as LUPMIS, already being used in Ghana
GELIS develops the process of implementing the geospatial policy, building on previous success stories and moving along the road to a spatially enabled society
21st March GELIS as a component of National Geospatial Policy

14. Thank you