Rachel Bruce, JISC Programme Director on how Digimap fits into the JISC vision

Hi. Yes, Lorraine and has already said and so has Peter- I’m Rachel Bruce, I’m from JISC and I work in JISC innovation group so just to say a little bit about what innovation means within JISC – we’re very much to do with the research and development aspects within the JISC and also gathering requirements for ICT infrastructure for education and research. So that’s very much our focus. I thought it worth while just to re-visit the JISC vision. This is actually from our new strategy which was recently published, and it’s a re-articulation of our vision, but I think, slightly differently, we talked previously about world class ICT infrastructure but here I think its very much about commitment to wide spread access to information resources anytime, anywhere, and looking at technology and information at the heart of education and research, and insuring that the UK has innovative and world class educational research. Part of that is obviously making sure that we have fit for purpose services – delivered by the likes of EDINA – and part of that has very much been about the geospatial infrastructure that EDINA delivers in hand with Mimas.

I think way back when Digimap started, and of course Peter has gone through this history, its been quite a long time but I think there was a lot of perhaps you could say that geospatial data was really the preserve of research specialists, and I think we’ve really started to see a sea-change where people have started to see and recognize that geospatial information is part of our everyday lives and can really make a difference. So here, ‘Walking Through Time’, which also has been developed at the University of Edinburgh in the School of Art, its a smart phone application which allows the user to, well basically walk back in time by seeing the historic Landmark data wherever they are. So they are able to apply that to, and go through, and compare that to the present time. There are loads of different applications for that so its actually being developed in view of using it terms of architectural use, but of course it can be used in tourism as well and I think its just an example really of how geospatial data is now being used in far more innovative ways, and of course EDINA have also worked on this with the School of Art.

However, we have to think about those high end research requirements and I think the ESR strategy and these key research questions that come out in the ESRC strategy really show us how geospatial data is so important. So of course across the world we are looking at global economic performance, we’re looking at health and well being and how can we actually ensure sustainability in a responsible way in terms of the environment and then also issues around social diversity and population dynamics and of course here security conflict and justice. So geospatial information is absolutely key to addressing those research questions and making sure that geospatial information is available for researchers within the UK to help address those is essential and part in parcel of the geospatial services that are delivered via EDINA. And here is the geospatial infrastructure that EDINA delivers. Well, here it is represented in some screenshots anyway. So it’s not just Digimap, there are also different aspects and services delivered via EDINA such as Go-Geo!, and that’s something that’s come out of the innovation programmes within JISC, which is being developed by the team at EDINA, and that actually allows you to have an access point and all different types of information according to geographies. And then down in the right hand corner is Unlock, which brings together a set of different services which you to parse geo data and also interrogate data and add the contextual information that you can then take out of that parsing to other sets of data enabling us to do more. So quite a range there. And again as I think Lorraine pointed out, we’ve always got these sustainability issues because we’ve got more and more requirements coming on board, but I really think we are delivering a fine set of services to UK HE.

So, we are now in a position I think with more bandwidth, more data, more possibilities and people actually recognizing the potential of geospatial data. And as Lorraine pointed to we’ve got our group of colleagues on the geospatial working group who worked up a vision back in 2007 which I think is still very relevant but has been taken further through some of the work that EDINA have done looking at defining an academic spatial data infrastructure. And the geospatial working group now intends to take that further working in partnership with others such as the research councils. I think it’s important to think of what do we need to do to deliver a geospatial infrastructure that’s fit for purpose and so we need to work with international partners and in collaboration with those partners. And of course David is now back at New Zealand Landcare Research but he will have been key in actually scoping this project which the JISC has funded between EDINA and New Zealand Landcare Research which is looking at linking up global infrastructure for geospatial data sets and I’m sure there are lots of licensing issues there, there must be loads *laughs* so a big mine of things and barriers to get over, but if we don’t do that we’ll never move forward and so that innovative work in collaboration globally I think is absolutely essential.

Ok, so a little bit of history here. Again, if we go back to Digimap, the reason why we are here today: one over zealous programme director – I don’t know if you could guess who he is – back in November 1997, I think he’s been mentioned a few times already today, undertaking his review of the Digimap project as it was then in terms of use, and…. he was fairly satisfied, he got to see some mapping data and then everything crashed, then he tried again and he got blank screens, but then he was able to download some more data. Then in the end, as he says here: “I spent so long just twiddling, staring at an unchanging screen wondering if anything was happening or if it was broken”, and his conclusion was we really have to do something if we’re going to be able to get any users at all, although I have to say he did come in with a solution and say is there any way we can cache this data and put it into a cache so that people can use it within their local environment. This is slightly paraphrased at the end: “I begin to wonder whether network delivery is possible”, but in actual fact it is of course Chris Rusbridge – the ever diligent programme director back then. He admits now he should have been saying ‘My goodness, this is so innovative. And its only been a year, at least I was able to get some data!’ so, you know, with hindsight! *laughs*. But of course without that kind of analysis we’ll never move forward either.

However, moving on, there we are saying are we ever going to get any users back in 1997, and then this is an e-mail from Lorraine Estelle in January 2008 announcing the hundred thousand Digimap Ordnance Survey collection users, so it really has made progress. And of course, owing to those sorts of things I was saying or alluding to in terms of increased bandwidth and the movement of technology has also enabled this. It’s been due to hard work, all of those different conversations and partnerships which Peter spoke about, the work of JISC collections, the work of the data providers which has really enabled us to deliver this service. Like Lorraine, I was asked to talk about our ongoing commitment. I hope I’ve made it clear that we do see geospatial information as absolutely key to research and learning within the UK. As Lorraine mentioned, we are in economic times which make some of this a bit of a challenge and I think what that really means is that collaboration is going to be ever more important, and so those global partnerships that we are entering in – so it’s probably helping that David’s in New Zealand *laughs* - are really going to play a key part in us being able to address the requirements for research and learning. So I will just end on that point, but I think I’d also like to say that the Digimap service really has been transformational, and I think that everybody really should be proud, everybody that has played a part in that. From the Dave Cooks and the Alex Coleburns and their expectations – my goodness – and Chris Rusbridge and Peter Burnhill and David and James and everybody at the EDINA team, and all of the data providers. And also the MIMAS role, which was quite funny going back to the old emails because of course it was MIDAS wasn’t it? And I was thinking who are MIDAS? Oh goodness it’s MIMAS! So yes! There is a long history, but has been transformational and I think a lot has been achieved and I’m really pleased that we’re all here today to celebrate it, so thank you.