New initiatives in ISDI (Israeli NSDI)

The Israeli National Spatial Data Infrastructure is undergoing fast changes. Most activities are led by the Survey of Israel (SOI) with reference to on-line services. These include an upgrade of the National Geo-portal to enable fast and user friendly web services to the public and to government offices. The new Israeli national Geo-portal has the ability to store user created content and maps. This ability may encourage small governmental agencies to use GIS technology for the management of their assets and operations. This Geo-portal provides a new set of tools for data sharing and integration among governmental agencies and the public. Another activity with respect to the ISDI is a new project of developing a geodetic-topographic-cadastral on-line information sharing centre for professionals and an initiative for a national Land Information Centre, including information and data from all government and public organizations. As part of its effort to improve the ISDI, the SOI is also leading an intensive revision of the national Geo-Spatial Database to meet the new requirements of location based services and technologies and the rapidly growing needs of governmental users. The revised spatial database was formatted according to the latest state-of-the-art database standards and is undergoing geometrical and thematic improvements. An additional governmental initiative is to consolidate and regulate the data regarding the GIS activities in the government.The paper will elaborate on the above mentioned activities.