Summary
Content
What is the WFP SDI-T?
The WFP Spatial Data Infrastructure for Transport - more commonly known as the WFP SDI-T - is a part of the agency-wide WFP SDI. Its development began in 2006, following UNGIWG's endorsement of a UNSDI. As the UNGIWG-designated custodian of logistics and transport data standards, the Logistics Cluster led these efforts in cooperation with Information Technology for Humanitarian Assistance, Cooperation and Action (ITHACA).
The project, then called UNSDIT, led to
- (i) the design of a global transport and logistics geo-database schema tailored to humanitarian requirements,
(ii) a data collection and processing methodology, and
(iii) the development of an online repository for storing and disseminating logistics data.
Since 2006, the SDI-T has gone through different versions and continues to change to reflect the needs of the humanitarian community. A SDI-T package was first released in September 2007 (version 1.2). Built on half a year of user feedback and operational lessons learned, the next version - SDI-T v2.0 - became available in June 2008. Version 2.0 was released in two sets: the comprehensive package and a "light" subset of the comprehensive package for use in sudden-onset emergencies.
What data are in the SDI-T?
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The SDI-T contains data layers on:
- roads
- obstacles
- aerodromes
- ports
- warehouses
- bridges
for countries of concern all over the world.
How are data collected for the SDI-T?
Gathering data for the SDI-T has been a collaborative effort, involving many logisticians at headquarters, at the regional level, and in the field. The Logistics Cluster GIS team has actively developed tools to facilitate the process.
One example is the Geoportal, which allows field staff to create and modify transport infrastructure anywhere they have access to the Internet.
The GIS team has also created a guide for data collection using GPS units, so that GIS officers or logisticians new to data collection with GPS can learn the proper steps. Staff in the field can use this guide along with the SDI-T assessment forms for logistics infrastructure to generate extremely helpful data for all Logistics Cluster operations.