Cindy Mitchell
Lead, Operational Policies and Standards, Federal Geospatial Platform
Natural Resources Canada
Canada

Biography
Cindy graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Geography from Carleton University in 1996 and has worked a total of 19 years in the Canadian geomatics sector. Cindy began her career as a remote sensing technician at Intermap Technologies, in Ottawa, Ontario, working with RADARSAT and Intermap’s own interferometric radar products, producing digital elevation models and ortho-rectified imagery for a global client base. In 2001, Cindy joined Natural Resources Canada and is proud to serve the needs of Canadians and the Canadian federal government from within the Canadian Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation, which has the mandate to provide geospatial information and knowledge about Canada’s landmass. Currently, she contributes to Canada’s Federal Geospatial Platform Initiative as Lead for Operational Policies and Standards. The Federal Geospatial Platform is a collaborative effort across 21 federal departments and agencies that is fundamentally changing the way the Government of Canada shares, uses and manages its geospatial assets, allowing geospatial data and services from authoritative sources to be harnessed and integrated in support of effective policy-making and program delivery to Canadians. Cindy’s current role has a strong focus in geospatial data management, geospatial standards, Open Government, and nurturing collaborative partnerships across diverse organizations.

Abstract
Platforms, Policies and the Public - Integration of Canada's Geospatial Data and the Open Government Portal

The growing ubiquity of location-based information within the digital economy writ large depends on a high level of standardization of infrastructure, technology and data. Geospatial standards, transparent to end-users, govern the way geospatial data is found, viewed and used, allowing citizens to connect to data, services and applications online. Simultaneously, governments are striving for transparency and accountability through Open Government initiatives and the provision of Open Data. Canada is answering the challenge by launching the Federal Geospatial Platform. The FGP will provide one-stop access for all Government of Canada geospatial data, along with data visualization and analysis capability, curated content aimed at policy priorities, coordinated procurement and licensing of data and software, a shared infrastructure, and underlying it all, a common baseline of policies, standards and procedures. This suite of policies will address the operational, legal, administrative, technical and business requirements of all aspects of the FGP. And because Canada's ?federal geospatial data is some of the most valuable information available on Canada's Open Government portal, open.canada.ca"? (Honourable Tony Clement, President of the Treasury Board, 2013), a parallel effort is ensuring the integration and rationalization of FGP data as Open Data by making the Open Government Portal the public face of the FGP and providing a supporting suite of operational policies and standards to underpin all. The end result will satisfy the data requirements of public policy development and the commitment to share data openly, creating trust, generating citizen engagement and driving new and innovative applications for location-based information. This presentation discusses the suite of operational policies and standards that support the Federal Geospatial Platform. Business transformation, cross-domain harmonization and creation of significant efficiencies are anticipated from the broad-based adoption of a comprehensive landscape of policies, standards, directives, guidelines and best practices being leveraged by the FGP, along with a complete suite of data management policies and procedures intended to enable the full, interoperable use of Canada's geospatial data.