News -

Location data standard incorporated into e-GIF

September 2003

Location, location, location. It’s the catchphrase of the real estate industry, but it applies in equal part to e-government. In fact it is estimated that location-based information underlies as much as 80% of all government information.

Ensuring that each agency involved in delivering a service understands the location information used by another is a considerable interoperability challenge. Agencies setting up new systems to allow them to work together electronically use the New Zealand e-Government Interoperability Framework (e-GIF) to specify common technical standards and policy to make interoperability a reality. The latest version of the e-GIF incorporates the ESA location data standard developed under the auspices of the Officials Committee for Geospatial Information (OCGI), involving 23 central and local government agencies.

The ESA data standard is a comprehensive specification that can be applied in a wide variety of situations where location information is recorded electronically. Its use will become increasing significant as more agencies begin to integrate their services and as more location-specific features are added to the portal.

The e-GIF, which does not cover public-access websites, now also gives the Web Guidelines the status of a guideline. This brings it into line with the latest version of the Web Guidelines, which clarifies the requirements for public-access and the ‘closed’ sites that might form part of agencies’ interoperable solutions.

A more comprehensive review of the e-GIF is currently underway.