International Council for Science : Committee on Data for Science and Technology

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C O D A T A

Working Group: Global Roads Data Development

As approved by the CODATA Officers, January 2008

There is clear demand for a global spatial public domain roads data set with improved geographic and temporal coverage, consistent coding of road types, and clear documentation of sources (Nelson et al. 2006). The currently best available global public domain product, Vector Smart Map level 0 (known as VMAP0 or Digital Chart of the World) transport layer, covers only one-quarter to one-third of the existing road networks, and this varies considerably by region. The data from VMAP0 are of uncertain provenance, and there is clear inconsistency across tiles in the level of road network detail.

In order to address this issue, a range of experts and representatives of UN and government agencies participated in a three-day workshop (1-3 October 2007) on Global Roads Data at the Lamont Campus of Columbia University . The workshop was organized by the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) of Columbia ’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) and co-sponsored by CODATA, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research - Consortium for Spatial Information (CGIAR-CSI), and the World Resources Institute. A number of the participants and their respective organizations have determined to form a consortium of interested parties, under the umbrella of this proposed CODATA Working Group, to advance the development of a global roads data set.

The Working Group has a number of objectives:

In a first phase the Working Group will oversee the development of a catalog of existing higher resolution roads data sets by CIESIN’s SEDAC project. The catalog would assist individuals looking for the best available data for a given country to quickly locate it.

In parallel with the development of the catalog, the Working Group will seek funding to develop a completely new global roads data set focused on inter-urban transport networks that is analogous in scale and content to a provincial-level Michelin road map (e.g. 1:200,000 scale). The data set would include primary, secondary and tertiary roads, and the positional accuracy of road locations would be 100m or better. A consistent data model will be used for this global coverage, with consistent coding of road types, weight restrictions, and related information. Our initial focus will be on developing countries, starting with Africa , then moving to South Asia , South and Southeast Asia , Oceania , and Latin America . But the aim is to have a consistent global coverage within two years of project inception.

At a later stage, the Working Group will oversee the development of an online tool to allow government or UN agencies and even individuals to edit and improve upon this map using GPS tracks, satellite imagery, and other source data in order to keep the global map up to date. Inputs using this online tool will be evaluated by this Working Group, and periodic updates will be released based on validated additions. The goal is to improve the spatial resolution over time to the equivalent of 1:50,000 scale on a paper map. (As a point of reference, the Tiger line files distributed by the US Census Bureau include every street in the United States and are at a scale of 1:100,000 with a positional accuracy of 10m.) Targeted data on road types of interest to a specific community (e.g. logging roads for the conservation community, or cart tracks for rural agricultural development) would be added as time and resources allow, and on the basis of inputs from those communities.

The data set will be available free of charge, on an attribution only basis, to the communities that most need it: UN and bilateral agencies involved in disaster response and reconstruction; the development banks and bilateral donors involved in international economic development; the biodiversity conservation and carbon-offsets investment communities; the environment and development research community; and national and regional agencies and organizations in the developing world.

Membership of Working Group

All the individuals on the list below have agreed to serve.

Deliverables expected to be completed by the 2008 General Assembly  

Articles in the CODATA Data Science Journal or other refereed Journals:

• Development of a UN Spatial Data Infrastructure (focus on consultative process to identify information scope and semantics)
• Development of a ‘crowd-sourcing’ framework for global road mapping

Books and Monographs:  

• N/A

Other Products or Accomplishments

• A strategy paper for developing improved global roads data that will be circulated among donors
• UNSDI-T road data model adapted to requirements; information content prioritisation
• Consistent, seamless roads database for Africa at 1:200,000
• 100% Priority I attributes
• 50% Priority II attributes
• Priority III + IV attributes as time and resources permit

Financial support from sources other than CODATA International (indicate if committed or expected)

Grants and Contracts

The Working Group will be raising support for carrying out its proposed activities from international development banks and interested foundations.

In kind support

Staff time from all the agencies and organisations listed in the Membership section.

Other organizations or programs sponsoring or participating in the Working Group

UN Geographic Information Working Group (guidance and advocacy)

Global Alliance for Enhancing Access to and Application of Scientific Data in Developing Countries (e-SDDC) of the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development (UN GAID)

CIESIN, Columbia University

For regular updates

For regular updates on activities of the CODATA Global Roads Data Development working group, please visit the Global Roads Data wiki.  This wiki includes regular news updates, a strategy paper, and other information that is pertinent to the work of the CODATA working group:
http://www.ciesin.columbia.edu/confluence/display/roads/

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Name/Address:

Olivier Cottray
UN Joint Logistics Centre
World Food Programme
Via Cesare Giulio Viola 68-70
Parco de Medici
Rome 00148
Italy

Alex de Sherbinin
CIESIN, Columbia University
P.O. Box 1000
Palisades, NY 10964
USA

Date: 16 October 2007