The changing role of a mapping agency: from data collector to data integrator
ISBN 978-85-88783-11-9
Authors
1Van Der Vegt, H.; 2Te Winkel, D.; 3Witmer, R.
1KADASTER NETHERLANDS Email: haico.vandervegt@kadaster.nl
2KADASTER NETHERLANDS Email: daniel.tewinkel@kadaster.nl
3KADASTER NETHERLANDS Email: richard.witmer@kadaster.nl
Abstract
In the Netherlands national topographic mapping is regulated by law. The BasisRegistratie Topografie (Key register Topography, BRT) consists of digital topographic data sets at different map scales: a base dataset at 1:10,000 scale, also known as TOP10NL, and derived / generalized datasets at scale 1:50k, 1:100k, 1:250k, 1:500k and 1:1.000k. The law requires an actuality of not more than 2 years for the whole range of the BRT product family. Since the 1st of January 2012, the data sets of the BRT are available as open data, making the BRT freely available to everyone to use and republish, not restricted by any copyright or patent issues. This decision has led to a number of important innovations to the production of the BRT. This paper describes these changes as well as the shifting role of a mapping agency from data collector to data integrator. As the BRT is open data now, Kadaster receives a budget from the Ministry for its production, instead of receiving income from selling the BRT. However, this budget was not enough to cover the production and distribution costs. Also, the introduction of the BRT as open data has lead to a growth in the use of the BRT. This wider use of the data has lead to a demand for increased actuality of the BRT, being between 4 – 10 years for the smaller scale products. To increase this actuality, two important changes were applied. Firstly, the LEAN production methodology was introduced in the creation of the base data set of the BRT. In LEAN the focus is on the customer and on the direct creation of value for the customer. All steps in the process which don’t add customer value are a target for elimination. E.g. the old process contained multiple quality checks. In the new process, many of them were eliminated and replaced by a quality metric at the end of the proc-ess. The second change was the introduction of automatic generalization of the 1:50,000 scale dataset (TOP50NL) in September 2013. The result is a fully automated production workflow, generalizing the TOP50NL from the TOP10NL in less than three weeks. Although the automatically generalized TOP50NL is not 100% equal to the manually generalized map, the customers are satisfied as their feedback in the development of this workflow is used and highly appreciated. Because of the vast reduction in processing time, it is now possible to generalize the small scale products directly in flow after finishing the TOP10NL, meeting the requirement of an actuality less than two years. Besides increasing the actuality of the BRT products, two other innovative changes in the production process of the BRT are important, shifting the traditional role of a mapping agency from being a data col-lector to more and more becoming a data integrator. The first one is the generalization of the base product of the BRT, TOP10NL, out of the key register large scale topography (BGT, 1:1000 scale). Investigation has proved that 60% of the content of the cur-rent BRT can be automatically derived from this large scale source. Additional data is needed to complete the remaining 40%. This means that, starting in 2016 when the BGT will be ready, the BRT will be gener-alized out of this Dutch large scale dataset. The other change is the integration of 3D in the TOP10NL product, using the high resolution DEM (called AHN-2) of the Netherlands. As the BRT as open data is more widely used, the demand for real 3D topography is growing. Together with universities and the private sector, Kadaster has developed a fully automated process for the production of this new nationwide 3D Kaart NL product, available since November 2014. User experiences will further improve the quality and value of this 3D product. And with the AHN-2 being available as open data, this new product will be released as open data as well.