Spatio-Temporal Evolutive Data Infrastructure: A Spatial Data Infrastructure for Managing Data Flows of Territorial Statistical Information
Résumé
The observation of demographical, economical or environmental
indicators over time through maps is crucial. It enables analysing
territories and helps stakeholders to take decisions. However, the
understanding of Territorial Statistical Information (TSI) is compromised
unless comprehensive description of both the statistical methodology
used and the spatial and temporal references are given. Thus, in this
paper, we stress the importance of metadata descriptions and of their
quality that helps assessing data reliability. Furthermore, time-series of
such TSI are paramount. They enable analysing a territory over a long
period of time and likewise judging the effectiveness of reforms. In light
of these observations, we present Spatio-Temporal evolutive Data
Infrastructure (STeDI) an innovative Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) that
enriches the description of a Digital Earth, providing a virtual
representation of territories and of their evolution through statistics and
time. STeDI aims at managing a whole dataflow of multi-dimensional,
multi-scale and multi-temporal TSI, from their acquisition to their
dissemination to scientists and policy-makers. The content of this SDI
evolves autonomously thanks to automated processes and to a Web
platform that help improving the quality of datasets uploaded by
experts. Then, STeDI allows visualizing up-to-date time-series reflecting
the human activities on a given territory. It helps policy-makers in their
decision-making process.