Geospatial data quality training for the South African Spatial Data Infrastructure – Lessons learnt from training geospatial data custodians

Abstract

Standards play an important role in achieving the objectives of a spatial data infrastructure.  However, standards can be difficult to understand and implement for those with limited exposure to them.  The South African Spatial Data Infrastructure (SASDI) aims to facilitate the capture, management, maintenance, integration, distribution and use of spatial information.  To decide whether a SASDI data set is fit for a specific purpose, users need information about its quality.  SANS 19157:2014, Geographic information – Data quality, specifies how the quality of geospatial data can be described and assessed.  The Committee for Spatial Information (CSI), responsible for implementing SASDI, identified the need to train geospatial data custodians in implementing SANS 19157.  While custodians were eager to learn, several barriers prohibited presentation of training in a ‘traditional’ classroom setting.  These barriers included the costs and time to travel from remote areas of the country to a training venue and challenges with scheduling the training at a time suitable to all participants.  Online training was therefore delivered − however, structured in a way to overcome general ‘online fatigue’ after the pandemic.  In this paper we present our experiences in presenting training on SANS 19157 to professionals responsible for geospatial data sets. We also share the lessons learnt from the novel structure for online training.