The City of Goteborg in Sweden is developing a portal for citizen use and information distribution. Geographic information system (GIS) technology is a key contributor to that effort. Vector1 Media editor Jeff Thurston interviewed Eric Jeansson, GIS-manager/City Planning Authority/Gothenburg City to learn more about the initiative and how the city is advancing the use of GIS technology.
V1 Magazine: We are pleased to have you participate in this interview. Can you explain in general terms how long the City of Goteborg has been involved with GIS and a bit of background on GIS operations in the city?
Jeansson: In the mid 80s the city started digitising the base map with stereophotogrammetric methods in 3 dimensions. This laid the foundation of the GIS-platform which was built on MapInfo, SpatialWare and Oracle ten years later. MapInfo is still the main GIS-desktop tool, but ESRI-products along with other open source software take new ground.The use of GIS as an analytical tool for planning is mainly focused on the technical departments in the city, but in the last few years the interest from the administrative departments regarding the planning of healthcare, schools etc., has increased. An important topic for these departments are statistical and demographic geodata.
V1 Magazine: How did you get involved in GIS for the city? How has city-wide GIS changed since you have been involved?
Jeansson: My background is as consultant in the private sector. I did several jobs for the city and began knowing its technical needs. In 2004 I had the possibility to start working as manager for a map and surveying team at Gatubolaget Konsult, a company owned by the city. In 2006 I started working as GIS-manager at the City Planning Authority.The first mission was to develop a GIS-strategy for the city.
The overall vision is: “City of Gothenburg is a role model concerning the use of geodata and geographic information technology. Geodata is a natural element of the work performed of all departments on a daily basis. The spatial data infrastructure is based upon an open and standardised platform. Cooperation, both nationally and internationally, is an important driving force in the strategic development. An increasing use of geodata is contributing to a sustainable development and an increasing social benefit by clarifying relationships and processes which together forms the foundation of our society.”
The strategy has four main goals:
1) Increasing use of geodata in all parts of the city organisation.
2) Geodata shall be available for all district administrations, technical departments and companies in an easy, user-friendly and economically favorably way.
3 ) Citizens, tourist, employees, politicians and the business sector shall have easy access to the geo-data published by the city.
4) The technical platform for spatial data shall be based on standards and service oriented architecture making integration with the overall IT-platform possible. These main goals have been broken down in an action plan with several activities which will be performed in the forthcoming years.
V1 Magazine: I understand that a number of GIS related projects are ongoing in the city, can you describe them please?
Jeansson: The most important issue is the transformation of our GIS-platform into the next generation SDI (Spatial Data Infrastructure). This means building from the bottom with an intelligent database model with standardised metadata for base maps and cadastral data. Upon this model we arrange series of webservices for distributing and connecting to our data.
These webservices are, of course, also based on standards. Last step is to develop thin (if possible) webclients for seeking, viewing and presentation of geodata.Another important project is our 3D-citymodel which will be used for presentation of city planning and infrastructure projects. Tools are developed for interaction and presentation of several projects via internet to the community.
The city is also main sponsor of a new visualisation centre; Visual Arena, which will be used as a meeting place for 3D-visualisation purposes. The centre opens in the beginning of 2012.In regard to the threat of climate change and the city’s exposed location at the coastline, we are forced to deal with questions regarding high sea levels and how we can be prepared for this.
A hydro-model which uses sea level, hydrological and meteorological data as input is being developed. These data will be analysed in a complex GIS model and will result in predictions about sea level for different scenarios which will be used for planning city areas in low terrain.
V1 Magazine: Sometimes people say that their organisations have difficulty installing an enterprise wide GIS. Have you experienced difficulties in your work? Are there unique challenges?
Jeansson: The transformation from a classic database – desktop system to an open service-oriented architecture is of course a challenge. The difficulties are, among other things, the rapid technical evolution and managing new versions of standards. Agile development of thin webservices interacting with each other could be a successful strategy.
V1 Magazine: On the positive side, Goteborg has many local services online. Is GIS part of these services? How are the public responding to them?
Jeansson: Several public surveys have been performed to get input about how the public respond to our website and services. It’s obvious that maps are a key information when searching for information about the city. An E-service called the Service guide, presents all municipal services on a webmap. The web map is built on open source software; PostGIS, GeoServer and Open Layers.Another interesting service is presentation of city planning projects in a 3D environment at the web. Different building volumes can easily be presented with C3*-data as a backdrop. The interface is interactive and the user can study different alternatives from every angle.
V1 Magazine: Can you describe some of the technical side of your operations in terms of providing a city-wide GIS?
Jeansson: One important aspect regarding GIS and SDIs in large organisations is the data flow. Several departments, technical and administrational, create and provide the city with spatial data. Even more departments are interested in using this data. Our role as responsible for the city SDI is to collect, store and publish these data.
We have chosen FME Server as an engine in this work. In FME we can set up and handle processes and workflows with easy administration. We can also create webservices for different tasks; transformation, geocoding , ETL etc. This has proven to be a successful way of handling these operations.
V1 Magazine: In terms of the wide range of spatial data available, are you involved in the use of lidar, remote sensing and other different types of geodata? Can you describe them please.
Jeansson: We use high resolution lidar data as an input for our terrain model. The latest scan has a resolution of a few centimeters and 10 pts per square meter.
V1 Magazine: How does the work of the Lantmäteriet, the national mapping agency in Sweden relate to and impact your efforts?
Jeansson: The Swedish national geodata strategy is a result, or consequence, of the Inspire directive. One objective is building a new national SDI. A national web portal, www.geodata.se, has been built to collect and publish geodata from authorities, municipalities and organisations. Gothenburg city is one of the first municipalities to join this national SDI. The main advantage is access to all data from the participants, such as Swedish National Survey, Swedish Transport Administration, Statistics Sweden etc. The geodata portal will also be a channel for publishing our own webservices.
V1 Magazine: Could you describe how people and businesses acquire use of city GIS data? Are there economic development activities related to the development and use of GIS in Goteborg?
Jeansson: Several major infrastructure initiatives are taking place in the Gothenburg region during the next decades. Along with rapid development of large areas in the central town there is a great need for geodata as a base for planning.
V1 Magazine: What do you find especially fulfilling in your work as a GIS Manager?
Jeansson: As a former consultant I was used to short projects, from brief pre-studies to fast implementations. The strategic dimension was often in the hand of the client. As a GIS-manager in a large municipal organisation, the strategies are the main focus which also means working in a different time scale. The satisfaction of following a thought from idea to final solution, implementation and management is truly fulfilling.
V1 Magazine: Since many people understand the job and tasks of a GIS manager in different ways, could you explain what you think a ‘GIS Manager’ is and how students can pursue a similar path to success?
Jeansson: There are several educations involving GIS, but I think working as a consultant is the best way to get to know the business and meet different clients with different needs. A municipality also represents a wide range of departments with different needs and it’s important to understand them all, to be able to serve them all, with geodata services.
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Eric Jeansson, MSc Earth Sciences is GIS-manager/City Planning Authority/Gothenburg City
For more information: http://www.goteborg.se/wps/portal
