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3 National Spatial Data Infrastructure: The Case of Brazil 2011 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW Washington DC Telephone: Internet: feedback@worldbank.org All rights reserved The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed herein are entirely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of infodev, the Donors of infodev, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank and its affiliated organizations, the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank cannot guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply on the part of the World Bank any judgment of the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Rights and Permissions The material in this publication is copyrighted. Copying and/or transmitting portions or all of this work without permission may be a violation of applicable law. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank encourages dissemination of its work and will normally grant permission to reproduce portions of the work promptly. For permission to photocopy or reprint any part of this work, please send a request with complete information to infodev Communications & Publications Department; 2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW; Mailstop F 5P-503, Washington, D.C , USA; telephone ; Internet: info@infodev.org. All other queries on rights and licenses, including subsidiary rights, should be addressed to the Office of the Publisher, The World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, D.C , USA; fax: ; pubrights@worldbank.org. Cover design by infodev Cover photo by To cite this publication: Davis Jr., Clodoveu A. and Frederico Fonseca National Data Spatial Infrastructure: The Case of the Brazil. Washington, D.C: infodev / World Bank. Available at iii

4 National Spatial Data Infrastructure: The Case of Brazil Table of Contents Table of Contents iv Preface vi Acknowledgments viii About the Authors ix Abbreviations and Acronyms x Abstract xiii 1. Executive Summary Introduction Societal context Historical perspective Current situation Lessons learned Lessons for developing countries Long-term perspectives 4 1.8Conclusions Summary of recommendations 8 2. Societal Context Country overview Demographics Economy Society Environment Government and political system Science and technology Information technology Historical Perspective Relationship among early adopters in the Brazilian GIS scene 3.1 Introduction The role of private companies 16 iv

5 National Spatial Data Infrastructure: The Case of Brazil 3.4 Final remarks Current Situation Political issues Organizational issues GIS applications Funding issues Human resources Available datasets Standards Access issues Software and network issues International issues Best Practices Examples City of Belo Horizonte: From mapping to GIS to SDI 5.2 Bahia State: IDE-BA and Geoportal Bahia 5.3 Sao Paulo State: IDEA and DataGEO Minas Gerais State: IEDE INPE: Remote sensing SDI Lessons Learned Long-Term Perspectives Conclusions Summary of recommendations Brazilian Government The Executive Branch 9. Appendices Members of CONCAR References 51 v

6 National Spatial Data Infrastructure: The Case of Brazil Preface This report was prepared as part of the infodev study Using Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Data Infrastructure for Monitoring Development Outcomes. The specific objective was to make an analysis of the potential of the use of spatial data for modeling and monitoring development outcomes and how standardization of the creation and use of geographic data can improve it. Countries with large territories and in a stage of newly advanced economic development represent both a challenge and an opportunity to the use of Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) in monitoring development. But SDIs are much more than just than an electronic map creation device. SDIs require users engaged in the creation and use of geographic information. These users need to be trained in techniques for spatial data handling and analysis. They also need to be aligned with the country s broad policies rather than just focusing on immediate problem solving. The new computer technologies represent also another challenge and potential opportunity for the use of SDI in the monitoring of development outcomes. Current data sharing techniques allow joining several different data-providing organizations, without interfering with their technological choices, production processes, or internal culture. Providing shared access to data is only a first step for SDIs, and the next step is creating information services. However, there are several obstacles to achieve wide availability of spatial data and information that can actually make a difference in complex problem-solving situations, involving multiple actors, with different (and often conflicting) world views. There is a need for more interaction among users to support cooperation, discussions, and community building. Users must be motivated to contribute and to participate, and better tools for data discovery must be developed, especially considering semantic aspects, since interdisciplinary collaboration is a necessity. In order to be effective in environmental monitoring SDIs need to take into consideration citizens, scientists and policy makers and help enabling them in the creation of development policies that will lead to sustainability. Dr. Clodoveu Davis and Dr. Frederico Fonseca prepared the report based on their first hand experiences in developing early GIS projects, which later became part of the initial Brazilian spatial data infrastructure. The report reviewed relevant studies on the Brazilian SDI, analyzed the recent legislation that created the Brazilian SDI, and interviewed stakeholders in the Brazilian GIS and SDI projects. Two early studies, Considerations from the Development of a Local Spatial Data Infrastructure by Davis and Fonseca, and Networks of Innovation and the Establishment of a Spatial Data Infrastructure in Brazil by Camara, Fonseca and others helped framing the Brazilian transformation process from a series of loosely coupled GIS projects in to a well-established SDI. The report was also able to incorporate the latest changes in Brazil s SDI scene. A recent executive order, issued in November 2008, defined and created INDE (Infraestrutura Nacional de Dados Espaciais), the Brazilian spatial data infrastructure. It corresponds to the U.S. National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), to the European INSPIRE, and, more recently, to the United Nations Spatial Data Infrastructure (UNSDI). This new initiative from the Brazilian government has the challenge to gather the successful but independent SDI projects in Brazil. The spirit of the legislation is promising and focuses on leveraging on what already exists, and on encouraging partnerships and sharing of technology and data. Although Brazil is a country that vi

7 National Spatial Data Infrastructure: The Case of Brazil relies often on the Federal government for development projects, GIS is an exception. Projects at the local and state level are many and thriving. The report shows how the new legislation might help the creation of new projects and improve the use of current ones. The report helps understanding the long-term establishment and sustainability of SDIs in Brazil. It highlights the fact that the perception of SDI stakeholders is fundamental to the management of political and technical development of the Brazilian SDI. The report also analyzes the potential impact of new web technologies on SDIs. In order to achieve sustainability, SDI projects must ensure that information providers fund their own projects but must also be willing to share their results. This aspect is novel for public sector budgeting in Brazil, and might be one of the keys for the success of the Brazilian SDI. vii

8 National Spatial Data Infrastructure: The Case of Brazil Acknowledgments This report could not be written without the collaboration of numerous colleagues and friends, most of which we met throughout our 20 years in the Brazilian GIS community. Some of these professionals and academicians currently occupy key positions in GIS-related organizations, in various capacities. Within that group, we specially thank the colleagues in institutions such as INPE, IBGE and others, that provided us with their valuable insights and information, personally or by responding to our requests for interviews and data. We will not list their names here for fear of forgetting someone, and we will present these acknowledgments personally whenever an opportunity arises. We will only mention Gilberto Câmara, the Director of INPE and our long time academic partner, stating that parts of this report stem from previous joint work. We also wish to thank infodev, especially Tim Kelly, team task leader of the overall Using GIS and SDI for Monitoring Development Outcomes report; The Korea Trust Fund on ICT for Development, for sponsoring this project; Marisela Montoliu Muñoz, for the opportunity of getting deeper in the foundations of Brazilian SDI; Bruce McCormack and Paul Scott, for their insightful and detailed revisions; Samhir Vasdev, for reviewing and preparing this document for publication; and all reviewers whose suggestions were deeply appreciated. Finally, we thank Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais and Pennsylvania State University, home of our academic lives. Clodoveu A. Davis Jr. Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais, Brazil) and Frederico T. Fonseca Pennsylvania, United States viii

9 National Spatial Data Infrastructure: The Case of Brazil About the Authors Clodoveu Augusto Davis Junior received his B.S. degree in Civil Engineering in 1985 from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil. He obtained M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science, also from UFMG, in 1992 and 2000, respectively. He led the team that conducted the implementation of GIS technology in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and coordinated several geographic application development efforts. Currently, he is a professor and researcher at the Computer Science Department of UFMG. His main research interests include spatial data infrastructures, geographic databases, urban GIS, spatial data infrastructures, and multiple representations in GIS. Frederico Torres Fonseca is the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies and an Associate Professor in the College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State. Fonseca s research is focused in three areas: Geographic Information Science, Information Science, and Information Systems, with an emphasis on Ontology-Driven Geographic Information Systems. He got his Ph.D. in Spatial Information Science and Engineering in 2001 at the University of Maine. He received the 2006 Researcher Award by the University Consortium of Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) for the foundational work on ontologies in GIS. ix

10 National Spatial Data Infrastructure: The Case of Brazil Abbreviations and Acronyms AR Arquitetura Referencial de Interoperabilidade dos Sistemas Informatizados de Governo Referential architecture for interoperability of government information systems CISL Comitê Técnico de Implementação do Software Livre Technical Committee for the Implementation of Free Software CONCAR - Comissão Nacional de Cartografia National Committee of Cartography CNPQ Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico the Brazilian Science Foundation CPqD - Centro de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento em Telecomunicações Telecommunications Research and Developmente Center CPRM Companhia de Pesquisa de Recursos Minerais the Brazilian Geological Survey DBDG - Diretório Brasileiro de Dados Geoespaciais INDE s central data catalog EMBRAER - Empresa Brasileira de Aeronáutica S.A. Brazilian Aeronautics Company EMBRAPA Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária The Brazilian Agency for Agricultural Research E-Ping a set of directives for interoperability among Brazilian government organizations e-pmg Padrão de Metadados do Governo eletrônico A metadata standard for e-government FatorGIS a media company that started out in 1993 publishing a small magazine on GIS FOSS Free and open source software GeoBrasil GIS conference series which started running in 2000 GI Geographic Information GIS Geographic Information Systems GIS-BH The GIS project of the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil GIS Brasil GIS conference series which run from 1993 to 2004 GPS Global Positioning System GSDI Global Spatial Data Infrastructure IBGE Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics IDE-BA Infra-estrutura de Dados Espaciais da Bahia the spatial data infrastructure of the state of Bahia IGA Instituto de Geociências Aplicadas Institute for Applied Geosciences x

11 National Spatial Data Infrastructure: The Case of Brazil INDE Infra-estrutura Nacional de Dados Espaciais the Brazilian spatial data infrastructure INPE Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais Brazilian National Institute for Space Research INSPIRE Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community, the European SDI project IT information technology MDS Ministério do Desenvolvimento Social e Combate à Fome Ministry of Social Development and Fight against Hunger MMA Ministério do Meio Ambiente Ministry of Environment MGB Perfil de Metadados Geoespaciais do Brasil Brazilian spatial metadata profile MPOG Ministério do Planejamento, Orçamento e Gestão Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management MundoGEO a GIS media company, which is a spin-off of FatorGIS and includes a webportal and a conference series. NSDI American National Spatial Data Infrastructure ODF The Open Document Format for Office Applications is an XML-based file format for representing electronic documents OSS Open Source Software PRODEB Companhia de Processamento de Dados do Estado da Bahia Bahia state s information technology company PRODABEL Empresa de Informática e Informação do Município de Belo Horizonte S/A Information and Informatics Company of the city of Belo Horizonte Protocolo Brasília an agreement among departments of the Brazilian government to establish the use of ODF, the Open Document Format, as the standard for document sharing PUC Rio Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro PUC SP Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Sao Paulo Catholic University of São Paulo R&D Research and Development REBATE a spatial information technologies research network composed by public and private sectors and led by the Federal University of Bahia SDI Spatial Data Infrastructures SEI Superintendência de Estudos Econômicos e Sociais da Bahia Social and economic studies organization from the state of Bahia SERPRO Serviço Federal de Processamento de Dados The Federal Information Technology Company SMA-SP Secretaria do Meio Ambiente do Estado de São Paulo São Paulo State s Environment Secretariat SLTI Secretaria de Logística e Tecnologia da Informação Secretariat of Logistics and Information Technology xi

12 National Spatial Data Infrastructure: The Case of Brazil SPRING GIS software developed by INPE SOA Service-oriented architecture SUS Sistema Único de Saúde Unified Health System TecGraf the Computer Graphics Group at the Catholic University in Rio de Janeiro TerraLib an open-source GIS component library developed by INPE and TecGraf UFMG Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Federal University of Minas Gerais Unicamp Universidade Estadual de Campinas Campinas State University UNSDI the United Nations Spatial Data Infrastructure VCGE Vocabulário Controlado do Governo Eletrônico Controlled vocabulary for electronic government XML Extensible Markup Language XSL Extensible Stylesheet Language, a set of recommendations for defining XML document transformation and presentation xii

13 National Spatial Data Infrastructure: The Case of Brazil Abstract This report makes an analysis of the potential of the use spatial data for modeling and monitoring development outcomes in Brazil. The report focuses on spatial data infrastructures (SDI) to support standardization of creation and use of geographic information. The report addresses the challenges and opportunities for the establishment of a SDI in Brazil. The following areas are covered: policy issues and legislation; organizational issues; GIS applications; funding issues; human resources; available data sets; standards; access issues; software; and international issues. The report also describes some best practices at the national, regional and local levels. It includes the early SDI experiences of INPE at the federal level, the initiatives at the states of Bahia, São Paulo and Minas Gerais, and the city of Belo Horizonte at the local level. The report analyzes the latest changes in Brazil s SDI scene. It discusses the potential strengths and shortcomings of a recent executive order, issued in November 2008, that defined and created INDE (Infraestrutura Nacional de Dados Espaciais), the Brazilian spatial data infrastructure. INDE is an attempt to gather the successful but independent SDI projects in Brazil. The spirit of the legislation is promising, since it focuses on leveraging on what already exists, and on encouraging partnerships and sharing of technology and data, while establishing a no cost and open access policy. Although Brazil is a country that relies often on the Federal government for development projects, GIS is an exception. Projects at the local and state level are many and thriving. The report shows how the new legislation might help the creation of new projects and improve the use of current ones. The report helps understanding the long-term establishment and sustainability of SDIs in Brazil. It highlights the fact that the perception of SDI stakeholders is fundamental to the management of political and technical development of the Brazilian SDI. The report also analyzes the potential impact of new web technologies on SDIs. In order to achieve sustainability, SDI projects must ensure that information providers fund their own projects but must also be willing to share their results. This aspect is novel for public sector budgeting in Brazil, and might be one of the keys for the success of the Brazilian SDI. Finally the report makes recommendations indicating which areas need funding and where are the strengths that should be encouraged, also providing arguments for the generalization of Brazilian initiatives by other countries. The report indicates that INDE is a promising initiative that might help Brazil s path towards development. In a large country with many pressing environmental issues, geographic information made broadly available and competently used is a fundamental tool towards achieving the millennium development goals. xiii

14 1. Executive Summary 1.1 Introduction This report was prepared as part of the infodev study Using Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Data Infrastructure for Monitoring Development Outcomes, covering the situation in Brazil. The specific objective was to make an analysis of the potential of the use spatial data for modeling and monitoring development outcomes and how standardization of creation and use of geographic data can improve it. 1.2 Brazil: societal context (overview) Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world, the largest in South America, with over 8.5 million square kilometers, which is about 47% of South America. As a frame of reference, Brazil is larger than the continental U.S. and almost twice the size of the countries that compose the European Union. The country is divided into 26 states and the Federal District, and over 5,500 municipalities. Population exceeds 190 million people. Brazilian economy has been on the rise for the last years, and the country has suffered little impact from the recent international banking crisis. Brazil is a traditional source of commodities, but hosts healthy industrial and agricultural sectors as well. The energy matrix stands out for its large share of renewable sources, including hydropower and bio fuels. The economic stability period led 12.8 million Brazilians out of absolute poverty conditions, but illiteracy is still high and improving the general education indicators are a major challenge. The public health care system is unified in the whole country, but is seen as insufficient and of lowquality (over a fifth of the population has a private health plan or insurance), even though it takes up 4.8% of the GDP. Brazil hosts large social inequalities, with uneven income distribution, although inequality has been slowly decreasing throughout the last decade. The country s Human Development Index reached in 2007, ranking 75 th worldwide. More than half of Brazil s territory is covered in forests; the country has the world s largest rainforest, the Amazon. Intensive enforcement of environmental laws and policies has managed to reduce the rhythm of deforestation of the Amazon, from over 27,700 km 2 in 2004 to less than 7,500 km 2 in The country has declared a total of 18.7% of its territory as protected areas. Furthermore, 12.4% of the territory is delimited as Indian reservations. Brazil holds 12% of the world s surface freshwater supplies, in several important basins besides the Amazon. Brazil is a federal republic, ruled by a president that is both chief of State and leader of the government. Dilma Rousseff is the current president, having taken office in The legislative branch is bicameral, with 81 Senators (3 per state) and 513 members of the House of Representatives. General elections take place regularly every two years, alternating local and state/federal races. About one quarter of Brazilian homes have a microcomputer. In 2008, there were 21 telephone ground lines and 78 mobile phones per group of 100 citizens, along with 9.6 million land-based broadband Internet connections. Such connections are unevenly distributed throughout the country, following the inequalities in social indicators. A plan to expand and disseminate broadband accesses has been issued recently, but its implementation has not started so far. As in the case of physical infrastructure, widespread quality Internet access remains a challenging problem. 1.3 Historical perspective The adoption of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) in Brazil begins in middle 80s. The transition from pure GIS projects to a broader view that led to SDI (Spatial Data Infrastructures) is hard to pinpoint. Because the number of government institutions involved in GIS since the beginning, some of the SDI aspects, especially on data organization and sharing/distribution were present in many early GIS projects. 1

15 There were a set of leading institutions which have played an important role in pioneering GIS technologies in Brazil. These early adopters ( ) combined R&D in spatial information with the production and dissemination of spatial data. They formed a collaborative network that was instrumental to ensure that such a large country could benefit from spatial information technologies. The network was successful because it combined expertise in different areas of spatial information technology. From 1994, the growth in the number of adopters and the increase in the private market for software, hardware and services determined the path towards maturity of the GIS market. Among the many participants in the development of the Brazilian SDI, there were some key organizations, originating from different sectors of the economy with varying missions. One of them is INPE (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais), the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research, is a major research institute funded by the federal government, who successfully create and disseminate their own software since Another one is PRODABEL (Empresa de Informática e Informação do Município de Belo Horizonte S/A Information and Informatics Company of the City of Belo Horizonte), is a information technology company owned by a local government which has developed one of the most successful urban GIS projects in Brazil, in the early 1990s. Both experiences are described in greater detail in the main report, under Best Practice Examples, along with other significant initiatives. Brazil has been largely successful in setting up qualified institutions that produce and distribute spatial data. The collaborative network of early adopters was instrumental in ensuring that such a large and diverse country could benefit from the widespread adoption of spatial information technologies. This collaborative network was successful because its members were able to (1) combine specialized expertise in different segments of spatial information technologies and (2) view knowledge as a public consumption good. 1.4 Current situation The current situation of SDI in Brazil is defined by a recent executive order (Decreto No , de 27 de novembro de 2008) that defined and created INDE (Infraestrutura Nacional de Dados Espaciais), the Brazilian spatial data infrastructure. It corresponds to the American National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), to the European INSPIRE, and, more recently, to the United Nations Spatial Data Infrastructure (UNSDI). As required by the executive order, an action plan has been created for the development and dissemination of INDE (CONCAR 2010). The plan follows the traditional definition of a SDI, along the lines set forth by the American Federal Geographic Data Committee, which says that SDIs consist of not only data and technological tools, but also involve people, policies, and standards. More specifically, the plan defines INDE s objectives as creating metadata catalogs, integrating and sharing geospatial data created and maintained by different Brazilian government institutions so that the data is easily found, browsed, and used through the Internet. In the spirit of a traditional SDI, it states clearly that the data and metadata are to be created and maintained by their original producers. INDE is being implemented under the supervision of CONCAR (Comissão Nacional de Cartografia), the Brazilian National Committee of Cartography, which is under the Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management (MPOG, Ministério do Planejamento, Orçamento e Gestão). CONCAR congregates representatives from 17 of the 24 ministries, two secretariats of the President s office, the cartographic services of the Brazilian military, and a representative from the class association of the aerial surveying companies. IBGE (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística - Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) is the executive institution that technically and administratively supports CONCAR. IBGE is responsible for creating, implementing and maintaining the SIG Brasil Web geoportal, which should provide access to all of INDE s geospatial data and services. The portal will host the central data catalog, which is called Diretório Brasileiro de Dados Geoespaciais (DBDG). Data should be free (no cost) to any registered user. INDE is already operational, at Other SDI creation initiatives are taking place at the state and local levels. The main report 2

16 discusses details on these projects, under Best Practices Examples. Funding for INDE and for most other SDI development projects comes mostly from budgetary resources, but in a few instances initial resources come from a small part of development projects financed by the World Bank, especially on physical infrastructure construction. Charging for data access or use is relatively rare in Brazil nowadays, and this is reinforced by the executive order that created INDE, which mandates free data access. Other SDI projects follow suit. INPE has also an open access policy regarding its extensive library of remote sensing images. This policy not only provides scientists and NGOs from anywhere in the world with much needed data, but it also enables independent verification of deforestation numbers. All the necessary standards for SDI implementation are in place, with national versions developed and promoted by CONCAR and its affiliated institutions, especially IBGE. Along with mapping (cartography, geodesy, surveying) standards, there are regulations in place regarding geospatial metadata and a broad interoperability architecture, called e-ping. E-ping establishes the use of XML, XML Schema, UML, XSL and other well-known Web standards, fosters a gradual shift towards service-oriented architecture, and provides an architectural model for government systems. E-Ping adopts the most important Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards, and recommends the adoption of others. In 2003, a free software strategy was included as part of the national e-government policy. This action came as a result from a previous movement by state and municipal administrations, which perceived in the increasing availability of highquality free software an opportunity for rationalizing expenditure in IT. Currently, the free software initiative is led by a committee (CISL Comitê Técnico de Implementação do Software Livre, Technical Committee for the Implementation of Free Software), which meets periodically and publishes its deliberations on the Web. The initiative also maintains a portal for the promotion of public software, i.e., software that can be shared among governmental organizations and branches, at every level. One of the strongest communities in the public software portal supports i3geo, an assemblage of geospatial software geared towards the dissemination of spatial data over the Web. The main components of i3geo are PostGreSQL, MapServer and a Webbased viewer. I3Geo is very well known throughout the country, and is being employed in numerous projects. INPE developed and maintains TerraLib, an open source library for GIS and associated applications, which is the base of other products. 1.5 Lessons learned and insights gained Nowadays, GIS technologies are widely available, both as proprietary and free software. International standards are guiding both the development of such software and the organization of large repositories of geographic data, which can be searched and discovered with the help of metadata, which in turn are also governed by international standards. The current combination of technological tools and international standards is showing in practice that SDIs can be envisioned, designed and implemented to cover a broad range of scales, from global to local, based on the same fundamental architecture. As to people, the report shows that Brazil has a diversified and capable academic sector, with a worthy presence in world science, and therefore the country is capable of educating people in all required subject related to SDI. There is, nevertheless, a strong market pressure on highly specialized professionals, resulting from the recent increase in economic growth. The most interesting part of the SDI equation regards policies. Coherent and effective policies are only possible in a context of institutional maturity. Taking Brazil as an example, we observe that the creation of INDE was possible because various conditions were met. First, there is a national geography/cartography/statistics bureau (IBGE) in place, with a long term involvement in geographic information and a vision on the demands for GI from the government and the society in general. IBGE, in turn, is part of a broader arrangement of cartographic institutions, all of which have undergone a transition from conventional mapping to GIS technologies in the last two decades. When CONCAR, led by IBGE, 3

17 set forth the initiative of creating INDE, provisions were made to allow the participation of the most important institutions in the process, and the resulting action plan has arisen from consensus, rather than from a centralized planning decision. In a sense, one can say that institutional maturity led to the kind of cooperation and agreement necessary to create something like INDE. Of course, the initiative is in its initial steps, and much remains to be seen as to the reality of funding INDE s operation and to the actual usage of the information provided in the infrastructure. IBGE is currently undertaking an initiative to disseminate INDE in GIS-related events countrywide, and is offering support for the establishment of local or thematic SDIs that are to become part of the national infrastructure. CONCAR and IBGE are working with the objective of encouraging GISenabled organizations to move towards SDI and to join INDE. If the installation and configuration of INDE-compatible server becomes simple enough, many more geographic information sources can join the bandwagon, in turn increasing the importance of INDE to the society. It is important to ensure that not only governmental or official data sources are allowed in; there must be openings for other types of organizations to join, making available then, for instance, research data, community-oriented points of interest, commercial locations, and others. 1.6 Useful lessons for developing countries Naturally, Brazil s territorial extension and large population preclude the immediate application of many of the lessons listed in this section to other developing countries. However, all institutional concerns apply. SDI requires a solid array of functioning institutions to be successful, especially those that cover critical GI aspects such as cartography and data collection. Institutional maturity is a requirement if SDI policies are expected to work. Since SDI is best seen as a cooperative endeavor, geographic data producers need to agree on standards and effectively enforce them if the infrastructure is expected to work. Furthermore, developing countries need to count on a reasonable supply fo competent professionals, which will accumulate and disseminate the necessary technical knowledge. Administrators are also needed, in order to plan the implementation of something as complex as an SDI, while locating and ensuring sufficient funding. As to standards, probably, most countries will be comfortable adopting ISO and OGC international standards for their SDIs. Of course, the wide variety of OGC-compliant free GIS and SDI software available today also contributes to this decision. The Brazilian policy that establishes the preference for free software in the public sector is also easily replicated in developing countries, but governments should be aware that the economy in software licenses will probably have to be invested in training of competent support and development people. Considering the most urgent data needs, global sources of free GI, such as the digital globe Web sites, can easily be used to leverage projects. Some companies, such as Google, also offer products that can be used with other data sources, such as traditional cartography or existing remote sensing imagery, along with or instead of their publicly available data. There are numerous reports of online, data creation or improvement projects cooperatively developed by volunteers, as in the case of OpenStreetView. These kinds of initiatives can be easily integrated into an SDI, even though data quality has to be assessed by specialists. While the no-cost policy used in Brazil may not appeal to institutions that intend to recover part of the data development costs by charging for data access, this is a subject that needs to be carefully debated, considering the target country s conditions, legislation, and bureaucratic practices. Also on funding, the development of SDI with a small share of larger sources engaged in the implementation policies seems to be a good idea, especially if it is used to monitor the outcomes of the development project itself. 1.7 Long-term perspectives Overall, current SDI-related initiatives share the vision of providing useful information to the society, thus considering such information to be a public good. Although most of the required legal framework for data publication is currently in place, some SDI creation initiatives seem to be 4

18 politically held back by the lack of legislation that mandates the publication of non-sensitive data, as in U.S. s Freedom of Information Act. However, a promising bill on open access to public information (currently in the Brazilian Senate, after being passed by the House in April 2010), presents an opportunity to change this situation 1. The bill applies to every branch of government (federal, state, municipal), along with non-profit private entities that receive public funding. Curiously, there is not much concern as to the assessment of the impact of SDIs. Beyond requirements towards recording the number of accesses, current projects carry no special provision towards dimensioning the demand for spatial data and its rate of growth more accurately. The lack of such information can lead either to over- or underspecified computational infrastructures. The use of cloud computing resources can provide an alternative solution for the computational infrastructure. Financially, information producers have the intent of supporting the costs of SDI creation and maintenance, and there is no foreseeable intention of charging for access. On the contrary, some initiatives, including INDE, specifically require open and costless data access. Some projects count on World Bank financing for starting up, and promise a reasonable maintenance plan with their own resources. This is in line with older GIS initiatives in Brazil, most of which never charged for data. It also reflects in part the cooperative nature of some GIS initiatives, in which costless spatial data interchange has been taking place since the early 1990s, covered by cooperation agreements and other legal instruments. This is a sensible perspective, since it simplified agreements and facilitated cooperation, but budgeting for data providers must be analyzed considering also the services rendered to other organizations and to the society. Information infrastructure is a big challenge, since access to potentially large volumes of data online requires broadband connections. A plan has been issued by the government to pursue rapid improvements in that direction, but so far 1 PLC 41/2010 Lei Geral de Acesso à Informação (General Law on Information Access). Available at concrete actions have not been taken. In discussions with potential SDI users, some of them expressed concerns on their capacity to hire fast enough Internet links, and would like to have a backup plan, involving data replication. The potential impact of networking limitations on SDI usage remains to be seen. We see the need for better coordination among governmental agencies in charge of SDI development and e-government initiatives. For instance, there is currently no mention of INDE or public geographic information in the Brazilian e-government program, and INDE s portal does not mention e-government initiatives either. Although we agree that there has been little time to promote such integration, we see it as a natural and necessary step in both initiatives, especially when the bill on information access passes in Congress. As established by INDE s creation decree, the participation of federal institutions is mandatory. However, the decree does not include any kind of penalties for non-compliance thus making participation optional in fact. Nevertheless, the participation of other federal geographic information providers should raise the need for motivation, more than enforcement. The forthcoming legislation on information access can provide a valuable incentive, considering that SDI is arguably one of the best ways to disseminate geographic data in a large scale, and the existence of INDE may render other alternatives less interesting or economically less viable. In that respect, there is reason to believe that INDE may be called upon to provide better visibility for the efforts of participant institutions, as a way to generate political return for their efforts. On the other end of the spectrum, user demand for continued service is frequently a source of stabilization for many technology-related projects. There is ample evidence in GIS projects that beyond the point in which information and services become critically important for some groups of users, the chances for achieving sustainability improve dramatically. 1.8 Conclusions The major result in the Brazilian SDI policies is the recent creation of INDE (Infraestrutura Nacional de Dados Espaciais), the Brazilian spatial data 5

19 infrastructure. INDE relies on two organizations, IBGE (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística), the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, and CONCAR (Comissão Nacional de Cartografia), the Brazilian National Cartographic Committee. Brazil is a large country with a healthy economy and a number of challenges. One of them is how to distribute resources equally and prioritize the most needing regions. Geographic information and its distribution through SDIs can play a decisive role in this process. The Brazilian SDI scene is characterized by the play between two tendencies: centralizing and decentralizing. Brazilian funding structure forces local and state government to depend too much on federal funds. However, as we reported here, the most successful GIS and SDI projects to date come from local and state agencies. Therefore, in order to keep this balance and at the same time extract the best from it, this report recommends that World Bank funding should prioritize local and state initiatives. We also recommend that this funding should not be made through the federal government. Nevertheless, funded projects should strictly follow the recommendations and requirements set by INDE. This way the funding will support both strengths in the current Brazilian scenario: the newly crafted legislation that created INDE and the successful independent SDI projects, while at the same time reinforcing a bottom-up strategy for creating and disseminating INDE. Current strategies by interested agencies that piggyback GIS and SDI in funding for larger projects seem to work well, because they reinforce planning and management with a very small share of development funds that are provided for improving physical infrastructure and major public services. IBGE has been slowly but steadily pushing itself into the new information age. All data for the 2010 census were collected in the field using handheld computers, and today most of the census results are available in digital form. IBGE also managed distribute the geographic features related to census data. CONCAR is doing its job of creating and maintaining Brazilian cartographic standards. Of course it is a challenge for both institutions, the former 73 years old, the latter 44 years old and recently renovated, to keep up with the Internet and its constant changing scenario. SLTI, which is apparently more agile, since it was born in the new era, is promoting new standards such as e-ping, a set of directives for interoperability among federal government organizations, which are fundamental for the success of INDE. E-Ping needs to be more widely known and studied, including its geographic data section. In a market where technology is constantly changing, government agencies and private companies struggle to adapt themselves to these changes, including staffing of their technical team. Hiring cartographers and geographers for map making activities will not solve their problem. They need experts in spatial analysis and in spatial databases. These experts should know how to take advantage of the increased availability of data as INDE is being established. The government agencies that are the early adopters of GIS technology are usually the main providers of qualified personnel for the market, but government is in turn very slow in the hiring process, and it can be very difficult for governmental agencies to compete with the private market s salaries. It is important to find mechanisms for funding the creation of short and long term education program in GIScience area. They should complement the current offerings that already offer a good foundation in the associated sciences. Besides that, students should also be funded directly and indirectly through encouragement of possible promotions in their professional careers. So studies to make this happen in government agencies need to be developed. A model similar to what is currently used to encourage scientific production in Brazilian universities might be used. Any funding program should be encouraged to follow the human resources guidelines suggested in INDE s initial plan and future updates. Considering the software scenario, Brazilian GIS applications evolved from a few users based on mainframe computers and expensive software to widespread use of personal computers and inexpensive or free and open source software. The proliferation of GIS applications although positive in spreading the idea and increasing local knowledge also brought lack of standardization and duplication of efforts. Many digital mapping 6

20 applications were developed at IBGE, EMBRAPA, INPE and other federal agencies, along with state level initiatives such as Minas Gerais and Bahia, and successful local GIS such as Belo Horizonte and others. The development of Brazilian computer science leveraged the development of GIS expertise and applications. Some Brazilian universities and institutes help end users in the development of their GIS applications. This is done usually through foundations linked to the academic institutions. Large government agencies are able to rely on their internal IT infrastructure but many local governments lack this kind of support. Brazil has a strong tradition in software development. Although less known than China and India, the Brazilian software industry develops much of the software used in Brazil, including GIS applications such as SPRING, TerraView and i3geo. The most important results in GIS software were achieved by INPE, through its open source GIS library TerraLib, an open-source GIS component library used internationally. The Brazilian geographic information community would greatly benefit from the availability of such a general, open source GIS library. This would have a direct impact on the use of GI in development projects and environmental monitoring and protection. It is necessary to improve on and fully establish the basic library so that further uses and applications can follow. We realize that funding might be a problem for the Brazilian SDI. INDE s initial budget accounted only for the first year, and long term funding is still an unanswered question, besides counting on budgetary resources for the hosting organizations. The World Bank is already funding some Brazilian SDI initiatives. Two important SDI development projects, IDE-BA and DataGeo/IDEA, described in this report, are funded as part of a larger World Bank endowment for transportation infrastructure. It also happens that, in the past, some metropolitan GIS projects have been financially supported by a share of funds for large garbage collection and treatment projects. The history of success in Brazilian GIS projects with external funding is often linked to larger projects more in line with the country s development goals. Funding of independent projects might lead to results that are disconnected with immediate development needs of Brazil. Nevertheless, the no charge policy enforced by INDE and other state SDIs replicates successful GI dissemination initiatives in the past, and we see no reason to change that. We recommend that funding should be tied to larger projects which are in line with Brazil and the World Bank s millennium development goals. This strategy has the advantage of securing resources for information, technology and planning in parallel with development initiatives, thereby facilitating the assessment of the impact of the broader project. Infrastructure is a major issue in Brazil nowadays. Brazil has reasonable network services in the main metropolitan areas but being a large country this still leaves many areas that need to be addressed. The high network demand of spatial data transfer might also be a problem. Wide public use is another challenge because Internet access is expensive for a country with a large part of its population close to the poverty line. In order to address that problem, the Brazilian government developed a national plan for broadband Internet connection (PNBL - Plano Nacional de Banda Larga). The plan proposes to give 40 million Brazilian households low-cost broadband connections by This is in line with the goals set at the UN s World Summit of the Information Society, which are to have Internet access in all communities, schools, museums, public libraries, hospitals and health centers, and all governmental instances. The expansion of broadband Internet access in Brazil faces two challenges: establishing effective conditions in regulation for competition among major suppliers of broadband services, and expanding the geographic reach of broadband coverage. Meeting the second challenge means using public resources to expand collective points of access, with specific actions towards remote areas and low income municipalities; this means that no amount of competition can ensure coverage in remote and poor areas, and the plan recommends that the government becomes involved as a part of the solution. Considering SDI access needs, the actual implementation of the broadband plan is an obvious recommendation. Two main efforts need to be funded. First, the expansion of information and communication technologies infrastructure. In 7

21 parallel, as these services become available, it is necessary to support projects that give broad Internet access to the general public. This might be achieved with support for public schools and libraries. It is necessary also to invest in initiatives (such as INDE) that promise to regulate and organize data distribution. INPE s Open-Data policy should also be extended to other organizations, while supported through funding and governmental policies. Special lines of funding for data sharing following INDE s recommendations should be made available. Funding for research that addresses the main problems in this area, such as semantics, network optimization for large data sets distribution, user interfaces, and user requirements should also be available. All these needs could be combined in a single comprehensive policy, with two major points: (1) providing funding for data producers, conditioned to the creation of INDEcompatible and INPE-style open access data dissemination, (2) funding SDI-related research with an emphasis on applications and realistic usage scenarios. The extrapolation of the SDI development practices and institutional conditions discussed in this report to other countries is an exercise that should take into consideration the number of features that make Brazil a unique country. Nevertheless, it is our opinion that the development of a national SDI, considering its technology, people, policies and standards definition, presents as the main hurdle the policies part. Technology for SDI development is widely available, with a prevalence of opensource (and zero cost) software. The most important standards are being defined by ISO and OGC, and adopted internationally. There must, of course, be a source of qualified people to conduct the SDI. But the most difficult part is achieving the kind of institutional maturity that allows public organizations to communicate, share experiences, obtain funding, and develop cooperative efforts that generate useful information, even in the absence of enforcement policies or of penalties for non-compliance. Public managers, who know the intrinsic value of detailed, correct, timely and upto-date information to fulfill their mandates, will surely appreciate such efforts. 1.9 Summary of recommendations The recommendations embedded in the conclusion of this report are briefly summarized below. Prioritize thematic, state and local SDI development initiatives, while strongly supporting INDE s geoportal and metadata catalog; Empower IBGE and CONCAR for fostering INDE as a source for geographic information generated by multiple data producers; Reinforce and value technical personnel in IBGE and in CONCAR member institutions by providing opportunities for updating their knowledge, and establishing rewards based on performance indicators; Improve on the connection between SDI and e-government through e-ping, by realizing that geographic information systems can be integrated in the overall e- government strategies; Support national software development initiatives, and proceed with the open source public software policy; Establish alternative funding sources (e.g., piggyback SDI projects in larger development or physical infrastructure projects) while keeping the no charge policy established in INDE s creation; Effectively implement broadband expansion plans in a timely fashion; Incentive the growth of INDE, by conditioning the funding of data production to the subsequent publication in an SDI, following all established standards; Fund SDI-related research with an emphasis on applications and real-world scenarios. 8

22 2. Societal Context 2.1 Country overview Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world, the largest in South America, with over 8.5 million square kilometers, which is about 47% of South America. As a frame of reference, Brazil is larger than the continental U.S. and almost twice the size of the countries that compose the European Union. Its climate ranges from equatorial to subtropical, with most of the country classified as tropical. There are also semiarid and temperate areas. The diverse topography leads to regional microclimates in some parts of the country. Vegetation varies accordingly, from the equatorial rainforests in the North to temperate coniferous forests in the southern states and savannas in the central highlands. The country is situated in the middle (and geologically oldest part) of the South American tectonic plate. As a result, the country s mountain ranges are relatively modest in height (the highest point in the territory reaches just under 3,000 m) and the country is virtually free of the effects of volcanoes and earthquakes. Brazil is divided into five geographic regions (Figure 1), each of which composed of states with similar cultural, social, economical and historical backgrounds. There are 26 states and the Federal District, and over 5,500 municipalities. Roraima Amapá Acre Amazonas Rondônia Mato Grosso Mato Grosso do Sul Pará Tocantins Distrito Federal Goiás São Paulo Maranhão Piauí Minas Gerais Bahia Ceará Espírito Santo Rio de Janeiro Rio Grande do Norte Paraíba Pernambuco Alagoas Sergipe Paraná Rio Grande do Sul Santa Catarina North Northeast Central-West Southeast South Figure 1 States and regions of Brazil. (Map source: Wikimedia Commons) 9

23 2.2 Demographics Brazil is home to more than 193 million people (mid-2010 IBGE estimate) 2. Population is unequally distributed (2.3 ). The Southeast region houses 38% of the population, and is the most densely populated (over 77 people/km 2 ), while the North region is the most sparsely populated (under 4 people/km 2 ). The largest city in the country is São Paulo, with a population of over 11 million people (almost 20 million in the metropolitan area). Other large cities include Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Brasília (the country s capital), Fortaleza and Belo Horizonte, all of which housing more than 2.5 million people, not including their metropolitan regions. More than 84% of the people live in cities. Working-age people (15 to 65 years of age) comprise 66% of the population. Current life expectancy at birth is about 72.6 years. Birth rates are declining, reaching per thousand people, while the overall fertility rate was 1.86 in Population annual growth rate is also declining, and was 1.045% in Infant mortality rate was 23.3 per thousand births, and general mortality rate was at 6.27 per thousand people in 2008 (IBGE 2008; IBGE 2010). Persons per km 2 Under 1 1 to t to 100 Over 100 Figure 2 Brazil demographic density map (Source: IBGE) 2 shows a population clock, an up-to-the-minute Brazilian population estimate. 2.3 Economy The Brazilian gross domestic product (GDP), according to the World Bank purchase power parity estimate, has reached US$ trillion in 2008, ranking 9 th in the world (The World Bank 2010). The recent worldwide economic crisis has had some impact over the country s economic growth; estimates indicate that the GDP shrunk by 0.2% in 2009, but the fourth trimester has shown a 2.0% growth. Per-capita income reached about US$7,300 in 2008 (The World Bank 2009). The country s Human Development Index (HDI) reached in 2007 (UNDP 2010), ranking 75 th worldwide, among countries with high human development. Income distribution is quite uneven, although inequality has been slowly decreasing throughout the last decade. In 2008, the Gini index was at (IBGE 2010), down from in 2005 and in 2001 (Barros, Foguel et al. 2006). In 2008, the 10% richer concentrated 42.7% of the income, while the 10% poorer had only about 1.2% (IBGE 2010). Two ghosts from the Brazilian economic past, inflation and external debt, are currently under control. In December 2005 Brazil repaid its debt to the IMF (US$ 15.5 billion) two years ahead of schedule, saving US$ 900 million in interest payments. It has also repaid its Paris Club obligations to the UK, and retrieved all of its Brady Bonds, again ahead of schedule. Brazil has international reserves in excess of US$ 200 billion. Inflation is controlled by an inflation targeting policy, being at 4.31% in 2009 (IBGE 2010). Tax load, on the other hand, has increased from 31.9% of the GDP in 2003 to 34.7% in 2007 (IBGE 2010). Brazil s economy is structured around services (65.3% of the GDP), with significant industry (28.0%) and agriculture (6.7%) sectors. As to services, the banking sector has survived reasonably well the recent international crisis, with a 14% increase in managed assets between 2008 and It is a sector in which much technology is developed and used: 35.1% of all clients use internet banking solutions, more than half of the transactions are either online or through ATMs. 10