Definition of Users Profile on a Regional SDI: Case Study of the Metropolitan Region of Curitiba
ISBN 978-85-88783-11-9
Authors
1Alexandria Machado, A.; 3Ramos, G.; 4Robbi, C.; 5Camboim, S.; 5Delazari, L.
1UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO PARANÁ Email: adri.alexandria@gmail.com
3UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO PARANÁ Email: gustavodiasramos@hotmail.com
4UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO PARANÁ Email: robbi@ufpr.br
5UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO PARANÁ Email: silvanacamboim@gmail.com
5UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO PARANÁ Email: luciene.delazari@gmail.com
Abstract
This research aims the definition of the profile of a SDI (Spatial Data Infrastructure) users for the RMC (Metropolitan Region of Curitiba), in accordance with the Brazilian National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) guidelines. The RMC is composed by 29 municipalities which sum a total of 3.223.836 inhabitants, approximately 30,86% of the whole Paraná State. It is the second larger metropolitan region of the country. This large population generates social, economical, political and environmental problems that demand better comprehension of the territorial reality and a planned and sustainable administration, which become evident through geographical information. Therefore the creation of a SDI is proposed as a support solution for regional administration problems. One of the fundamental bases of a SDI are their actors or the involved/interested parts: public, private and academic sectors, and users. In this group, the users have a vital role since they will define which data will be available and how it will be accessed. The knowledge of these users and their needs are capital in the creation of a SDI. In 2008 it was created the Brazilian NSDI, which determines the mandatory sharing and dissemination of geospatial data at federal, state, county and municipal levels. It contains a set of guidelines that must be followed by the SDI hierarchical lower levels toward the pyramid bases. Those guidelines must be implemented because only this way new guidelines can be proposed and adapted. In Brazil, States and Municipalities have autonomy to decide how actions will be realized to attend normative established by the Union. However, it’s necessary to create articulation rules between NSDI and SDI at regional, local and municipal levels. In order to have an embracing SDI solution, it must be developed based on Requirements Engineering applied to geo-information solutions. Thus, the first step of the design process is the user requirements elicitation, which requires knowledge about the users, their problems, comprehension of their duties and expertise, as well as the decisions they need to make while using geospatial data. This paper describes the first step of geospatial data user requirements elicitation process for the RMC considering the data producers. Thereby, in this research the user profile is defined through the knowledge of those users, their work functions, their goals needing geospatial data, where these data are obtained and the types of data used. For the development of this research a questionnaire was elaborated to identify and evaluate some aspects: the use, accessibility, production, availability and knowledge about SDI by the users. This questionnaire had as target technicians who are not only users but also producers of geospatial information of RMC administration related institutions. It was elaborated using Google Docs tool, and sent by e-mail to institutions among state government , Curitiba city hall and non-governmental organizations, in addition to all 29 city halls composing the RMC. Preliminary results show the existence of geospatial data in the RMC produced by different actors, but these data are not available in an uniform quality neither in a standardized and integrated way. Another result it is the almost institutionalized practice of not producing metadata, despite the existence of the Brazilian Geospatial Metadata Profile since 2009. These results reveal the need for coordination in the acquisition and the offer of data in the local administration, in order to adjust the produced geospatial information and to record their features. As an outcome to this research, we expect to provide aid for the NSDI in the establishment of SDIs at local level, as well as the integration of these with the other hierarchical levels.
Keywords
SDI; Curitiba Metropolitan Region; User profile