The 2nd GSi Project International Workshop

Co-funded by the Geological Survey of Japan, AIST and the Department of Geology and Minerals under Laos’ Ministry of Energy and Mines, the Second International Workshop of the CCOP Geoinformation Sharing Infrastructure for East and Southeast Asia (GSi) Project was held on 5-7 December 2017 at Sunway Hotel, Luang Prabang, Lao PDR. Twenty (20) participants the member countries (Cambodia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) including the staff of the CCOP Technical Secretariat (CCOP TS) attended the workshop.

Mr Khoune Phetsengsy, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Geology & Minerals of Laos’ Ministry of Energy and Mines, and Dr Adichat Surinkum, CCOPTS Director welcomed all the participants to the workshop. Dr Shinji Takarada, GSi Project Leader from the Geological Survey of Japan (GSJ) introduced the progress of the project to  all the participants and Dr Joel Bandibas of GSJ presented the status of the GSi system development.

All the CCOP member countries represented in the workshop gave a report on their preliminary 5-years data upload plan, name of national and data coordinators, progress of data upload and portal site, requests and suggestions on GSi project and country’s current status of Spatial Data Information System and extent of Geographic Information System usage. Mr Simplicio Caluyong, CCOPTS presented the KIGAM Unconventional Oil and Gas Resources Project’s plan of publishing the project’s output, Map of Potentially Prospective Shale Energy Resource Basins in Asia through the GSi System. Hands-on training on the usage of the GSi System with real data, and on mobile web gis development was conducted by Dr Bandibas on the first and second day of the workshop.

The previous workshop’s minutes were reviewed and assessed. On the suggestions for the GSi system, the following still needs to be done.

• Data uploader should be the authorized agency in the respective member country that publish the related data, so that the metadata information will be accurate.
• Even in the training, the participants of training should bring their own country data, not other country's data.
• The system could support viewing WMS data outside of the GSi System. Add interface of quick viewing of other WMS. If anyone does not want the public to view their data, they have to set the permission level of the data to below 4.
• A feature to reset the password if a user forgets the password will be added.
• The database and application will be distributed to member country who wants to have their own server and the WMS will be shared in the portal.
• Capacity building for app/portal maintenance and future innovations will be organized  upon request and subject to availability of funding.
• Active involvement in the development of dynamic portals where end-users may simulate various earthquake- & volcanic- related hazards, upon request.
• Implement other map tools such as compass and GPS on the mobile WMS.
• Add versioning of GSi system. This will start next year, v1.0, during the official system launch.
• CCOP data compiled through its projects will be uploaded to the GSi system.
• Include in the manual the naming convention for data provider.

The GSi Project Data Policy has been reviewed and amended as follows.

The data in GSi (CCOP Geoinformation Sharing Infrastructure for East and Southeast Asia) System are contributed by CCOP member countries and others in the interest of free and open, non-commercial uses such as education, scientific research, and outreach.

Policy: Data contribution

• Data in GSi system are owned by the organizations that originally produce the data.
• Data in the GSi system are used for browsing, visualization, data queries, and web processing.
• Data download using the GSi system will be decided by the data uploader/owner.

Policy: Data use

• If a user wants to use original data of other institute/country, the user must obtain permission from the owner of the data.
• GSi system will provide access control of each data. By default, only the data owner has the right to edit and delete his own data, and change his own data’s access constraints.
• To encourage responsible use, and to improve the database and utilities, CCOP TS will track the user access numbers.
• Citation of data from GSi system shall be indicated by owner(s) of the data in the data abstract (metadata).
• Accessing data using the GSi System is free.

Working plan:

• Official release of the GSi System in September 2018, with datasets using agreed naming convention, metadata and keywords. Customize pop-up information of each  data layer. Data legend must follow the published printed map.
• Make a Training Manual in local language, if possible.
• Training Course on data preparation and data upload in each institute may be organized.

Discussion on Data Upload System and Portal Generation System, Portal Site, Mobile Site, Development Team, Collaboration among member countries, Strategic Workplan and Future Strategy. The following items were agreed unanimously by the participants.

Data upload and portal generation system

• Formulate WMS (EPSG, Legend creation, metadata)
  • One color legend
  • Incorporate color picker in legend creation, if possible.

GSi portal site

• Improvements of the user-interface are considered, i.e.  Data Catalog and Map layers.
• Prepare manual on how to use the Portal Site.

Development Team

• Volunteers from member countries are welcome in the system development team. This team will be involved in the improvements of the GSi system.

Collaboration among CCOP member countries

• Consider to make several Working Groups (eg. Geological maps, Geohazards, Georesources, and Satellite data..)
• Mineral Resources, Groundwater, and CCS-M have collaboration scheme.
• Collaborations among CCOP countries on various field of geoscience are quite important for the improvement of data quality to support future CCOP projects.

Strategic work plan

Dec. 2017 to Sep. 2018 (3rd year)

• The 3rd  CCOP GSi Project Workshop (in 2018)
• Open the official main GSi portal site from CCOP by Sep. 2018.
• Open official portal sites from your own institutes by Sep. 2018.
• Increase quantity and quality of the data on the GSi system.
• System development and improvement (data interaction, processing, etc.)
• Training Courses and user manual (local language) for further developments.
• Make interactions with other major international projects.
• Disseminate the GSi System to the world. (Press release)

Sep. 2018 to Sep. 2019 (4th year)

• The 4th GSi Project Workshop (in 2019)
• Increase quantity and quality of the data on the GSi system.
• Original Vector Data download (if available).
• System development and improvement. (data interaction, processing, etc.)
• Develop thematic portal sites (eg. hazards information and natural resources)
• Make interactions with other major international projects (eg. Register to OneGeology portal).
• Promote mutual collaborations among member countries.
• Try to provide own WebGIS server by Dec. 2019.

Sep. 2019 to Sep. 2020 (5th year)

• The 5th GSi Project Workshop (in 2019)
• Increase quantity and quality of the data on the GSi system.
• Original Vector Data download (if available).
• System development and improvement.
• Data Analysis system (eg. hazard assessment)
• Develop thematic portal sites (eg. hazards information and natural resources)
• Make interactions with other major international projects (eg. Register to OneGeology portal).
• Promote mutual collaborations among member countries.
• Try to provide own WebGIS server by Dec. 2019.

Future Strategy

To consider developing applications using GSi Information System Database and Web Services.

• Hazard Information System
• Natural Resource Information System
• Data Analysis System
• Collaboration with other major projects