Across all Australian states and territories, spatial information is being used to support a number of strategic and operational activities including fire fighting, floods and storm damage, emergency call services, computer aided dispatch and crime reporting.
The jurisdictions involved are at different stages of maturity with their spatial capabilities, have varying levels of resources available, and are tasked to deliver outcomes in accordance with their own priorities and objectives. However, the NSIM Spatial Strategic Plan’s aim is to provide enough flexibility to cater for these variations within a coordinated and common national framework.
The national COP Trial will be used to examine the issues associated with implementing the NSIM Spatial Strategic Plan’s strategic pathways.
Put simply, a spatial Common Operating Picture, or COP, provides a way to organise, share and use distributed capabilities and to view information in common displays. A COP should have consistent characteristics, interoperable processes, and supporting operations and procedures configured for specific hazard requirements and operational roles. The successful delivery of a COP requires technology, data access, administrative and policy requirements to be specified, agreed, tested and in place.
The national COP trial will facilitate the collaborative exchange of spatial information and mapping outputs between trial participants. By leveraging existing established architectures and spatial capabilities across the nation, the trial will identify processes, and propose solutions to potential impediments associated with establishing a national spatial capability.
An additional important outcome of the trial is to initiate the development of policy and governance arrangements for the design of a high level architecture for a National Spatial Data Library (NSDL). The development of a NSDL is a critical step in delivering the remaining milestones of the NSIM Spatial Strategic Plan.
The COP trial is scheduled to commence in early 2009. The COP trial is a collaborative activity where national security responsibilities apply across the Commonwealth and state and territory governments.
If you would like further information on the national COP Trial, please contact the Project Manager or one of the national COP Trial Jurisdictional Coordinators.
The national COP Trial Fact Sheet in PDF format is available online or for download.