About the Australian Spatial Data Directory (ASDD)

Various government organisations and businesses in the Australian and New Zealand spatial data communities have been working together over the last few years to implement co-ordinated nationwide approaches to the management, consistency, and availability of spatial data resources in this region.

Many of the goals and strategies of the ANZLIC Strategic Plan 1997-2000 (Australia New Zealand Land Information Council, September 1997) discuss the need to maximise the access to spatial information as part of building the Australian Spatial Data Infrastructure (ASDI). Developing and implementing an Australian Spatial Data Directory (ASDD) will help to address this need.

The ASDD will be continuously evolved. Its structure is a coordinated group of online catalogues. A sophisticated search can be conducted simultaneously at a number of servers (called "nodes"). Each catalogue can also be searched individually. Such systems are known as clearinghouses and virtual libraries.

Search the ASDD

The main gateway to the ASDD group of servers is at http://www.auslig.gov.au/asdd/ (Gateways are various interfaces to facilitate search of the same group of Z39.50 servers.)

Here are some of the known gateways ...

• ASDD at Environment Australia
• Eco Companion Australasia
• Australian Antarctic Data Centre (AADC)

More nodes and gateway interfaces are continually being added. The Eco Companion catalogue has been a node of the ASDD since its inception.

The ASDD was officially launched at the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) Conference in Canberra on 17 November 1998.

Some other spatial data directories around the world

• G7 Global Environmental Information Locator Service (GELOS)
• US Geospatial Data Clearinghouse
• GILS - Global Information Locator Service

Other documentation explaining the ASDD

• ASDD Technical Documentation
• About the Australian Spatial Data Directory
• ANZLIC paper "Technology Evaluation and Proposed Framework for the Australian Spatial Data Directory (ASDD)".
• ANZLIC paper "Spatial Data Infrastructure for Australia and New Zealand - A Discussion Paper".
• The IndexGeo submission to the ANZLIC Metadata Working Group "IndexGeo proposal for technology to support the Australian Spatial Data Directory (ASDD)" (i.e. the Z39.50 protocol).
• Implementing ASDD nodes - support and resources - assistance from IndexGeo.
• Architecture of the ASDD

Asia-Pacific and global spatial data infrastructures

There are developments towards an Asia-Pacific Spatial Data Infrastructure (APSDI) which would incorporate the national spatial data infrastructures of the region. See more detail at the Permanent Committee on GIS Infrastructure for Asia and the Pacific (PCGIAP). A Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) is also happening.

URL:http://www.indexgeo.com.au/ec/about/asdd.html
Last Modified: 21 September 2001