Access to Geographic Information (TN0038)

Strengthen access to geographic information
Beginning of October 2018 – End of August 2020
Lead implementing agency/actor
- Ministry of the National defense - the National Mapping and Remote Sensing Center
Commitment description
Access to information through geomatics mechanisms and facilitating opening up of public data related to several sectors such as transportation, security, local development, health, agriculture, equipment and tourism has become a priority working area for public institutions, given the importance of produced data in these sectors as well as increasing demand from citizens and actors involved in the geomatics field. Therefore, this commitment will allow to:
- Develop a portal for access to geographic information within the framework of the GIS infrastructure project;
- Establish basic databases as an output of this project (topographic databases, flat aerial photos, addresses,...) that will be adopted by public and private structures as a foundation and common reference to establish thematic databases (transportation, health, security, development, tourism, agriculture,..).
Problem/Background
Difficulty of access and re-use of information through geomatics mecha- nism, preventing the creation of added value for all stakeholders. This is due to:
- Absence of a unified national repository for the geographic
information;
- Geographic data produced doesn't conform to international
specifications and standards;
- Lack of cooperation and partnership among actors.
Identification of commitment objectives/expected results
Facilitating the access to and re-use of geographic information by all stakeholders through:
- Providing a unified national reference for the Tunisian Republic;
- Providing geographic information in accordance with international
specifications and standards as well as promoting the good use of
information;
- Promoting cooperation and partnership among all actors to
createadded value for their benefit.
How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem?
Enabling users’ access to unified geographic information that complies with international standards as well as allowing its use in a timely and secure manner through the electronic portal.
Relevance with OGP values
Transparency and openness: this commitment will enable further dissem- ination of unified and up-to-date geographic information and avoid dupli- cation of data production in addition to promoting relations of cooperation and partnership among stakeholders involved in order to create added value for the benefit for all concerned parties.
Source of funding/
Relation with other programs and policies
Source of funding:
- Self-financing: Budget of the National Mapping and Remote Sensing Center;
- Contribution of the Communications, Information Technology and Telecommunications Development Fund, Steps and execution agenda
Beginning of October 2018
End of October 2018
Contact Information
Name of the responsible person from implementing agency
Mr. Mounir Riahi
Title and Department
Project Leader at the National Mapping and Remote Sensing Center
E-mail address
cnct@defense.tn

Other Actors involved
State actors involved
Public structures represented in the project steering committee (Ministry of Transport, Ministry of ICT, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Local Affairs and Environ- ment, Ministry of Equipment, Ministry of Development and International Cooperation and Investment, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture)
CSOs, private sector, multilateral, working groups
- Cartographie Citoyenne
- Tunisian Association of Local Governance

3. Strengthen access to geographic information

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

"Access to information through geomatics mechanisms and facilitating opening up of public data related to several sectors such as transportation, security, local development, health, agriculture, equipment and tourism has become a priority working area for public institutions, given the importance of produced data in these sectors as well as increasing demand from citizens and actors involved in the geomatics field."

Milestones:

• Develop a portal for access to geographic information within the framework of the GIS infrastructure project;
• Establish basic databases as an output of this project (topographic databases, flat aerial photos, addresses…) that will be adopted by public and private structures as a foundation and common reference to establish thematic databases (transportation, health, security, development, tourism, agriculture...).

Responsible institution: Ministry of the National defense, the National Mapping and Remote Sensing Center

Supporting institution(s): Public structures represented in the project steering committee (Ministry of Transport, Ministry of ICT, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Local Affairs and Environment, Ministry of Equipment, Ministry of Development and International Cooperation and Investment, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture), Cartographie Citoyenne, Tunisian Association of Local Governance

Start date: October 2018                   End date: August 2020

Editorial Note: This is a partial version of the commitment text. For the full commitment text from the Tunisia national action plan, see here.

Context and Objectives

The commitment includes two milestones. The first milestone covers the development of an online portal for access to geographic information, and the second milestone provides for the preparation of basic databases as an output of this project. Both milestones are relatively verifiable, although more information is needed on the exact number of databases that will be made available and their formats.

The commitment is relevant to the OGP value of access to information, as it aims to publish government held geographic information. It is also relevant to the OGP value of technology and innovation, as the resulting databases and portal entail the adoption of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) software to inform public policy decisions and citizen monitoring.

This commitment could represent a major step on improving access to geographic information. Lack of availability and precision of geographic data is a challenge for public, private, and civil society stakeholders in Tunisia. Preceding this commitment, requesting government geographic data required an in-person application in Tunis at the National Mapping and Remote Sensing Center (NMRSC) ^[14] and several days of waiting. NMRSC did not offer exploitable numeric data—only paper-based physical maps. ^[15] According to Mr. Escander Nagazi, a knowledge management expert, these were unusable for advanced data analytics using GIS software. ^[16] The commitment’s intended GIS platform would address this issue, and could be utilized in response to development challenges, such as transport, agriculture, and health and sanitation. ^[17] Additionally, as the Tunisian Ministry of Defense does not often share data for civil use, this could be a first step for further cooperation in the OGP process. ^[18] However, the commitment’s potential is limited to some degree, given that it only plans to publish “basic databases” and lacks measures to encourage uptake of newly available information.

Next steps

In future action plans, the IRM recommends that commitments focused on increasing access to geographic information incorporate milestones focused on enabling widespread uptake of newly available information. Involving academia, CSO, and private sector representatives that are working on Tunisian geographic systems during the design of this type of commitment may increase uptake and usability of data.

3. Strengthen access to geographic information

Substantial:

The National Mapping and Remote Sensing Centre developed some infrastructure of the portal for access to geographic information and databases, however the portal is unfinished and is not online. [29] According to the government, compilation of the databases of topographic data and flat photos started in 2019 [30] and was conducted to a significant extent until the end of 2020; [31] thus implementation is substantial. However, implementation of the fourth milestone on establishing the initial part of the address database is limited. [32]