National spatial data infrastructure of Honduras - first steps towards national integration

Abstract

The National Spatial Data Infrastructure of Honduras, NSDI, is a set of policies, laws, agreements and technologies that aims to share geographic information, generating an environment of transparency and legal certainty, through the dissemination of information in a relevant and official way, seeking to reduce organizational costs through collaboration and exchange of information, data capture and its reusability, creating from this an added value to products and services through service chains and support for the decision makers.

The NSDI is formed and regulated by the Commission on Spatial Data, CIDES, whose purpose is to identify, analyze, make suggestions, review standards, regulations, procedures, support the definition of institutional competence in the thematic mapping, as well as all regarding the NSDI and other issues that concern in its area of action, framed in the Law of Land Management and its Regulation.

In order to boost the development of the NSDI we have initiated an integrated long process that requires political will, create capacities, a great institutional volunteering and a budget that will make it viable, making it a big success of the Government of the Republic of Honduras.

As an initial step, the SEPLAN through the Honduran Organization for Standardization (OHN) and CIDES have worked in the translation of ISO standards related to metadata (19104, 19110, 19115, 19115-2, 19139) for the development of the Honduran Normative of Metadata (NOHME) which is in the phase of implementation and that will fully describe geographic data so that users can understand the phenomena described or abstracted from reality and limitations, and can evaluate the applicability of the data for the specific use of interest.

Revista Ciencias Espaciales, Volumen 8, Número 1 Primavera, 2015; 461-473