NSDI Based Innovative Approach for Development of Open Source SDI for Health Sector: A Way Forward

An innovative approach to design, develop and implement an interoperable Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) for health sector (acronym OpenSDI4Health) based on National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) of India and using Open Source Geospatial Resources (OSGR) is developed. The framework is designed with six core components, namely spatial data, metadata, standards, electronic clearinghouse, communication network and application specific module. Three-tier thin client server web GIS architecture is adopted for imparting geospatial web capabilities to OpenSDI4Health using QGIS, GeoServer, Apache Tomcat, PostgreSQL/ PostGIS, uDig Java Script, CSS and HTML. Hospital site selection, a typical ill-structured decision-making problem involving multiple criteria and stakeholders, is selected as application module for Prayagraj city of India. For this purpose, web-based Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) with three core components, i.e., database, model base and user interface, is developed. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), a Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) technique, is used for developing the spatial model for criteria selection, criteria weighting and spatial modelling under GIS environment. Open SDI for Health Sector, OpenSDI4Health, is non-proprietary solution powered with interoperability and security features which enables the sharing across different technologies, data, platforms and organizations, thereby providing reliability as well as reusability of the developed framework for other sectors also, like education, for empowering the planners and administrators to make informed decisions leading to the improvement in the efficacy of developmental process.KeywordsWeb GISSpatial Data Infrastructure (SDI)HealthOpen Source Geospatial Resources (OSGR)InteroperableNational Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI)Hospital site selectionMulti Criteria Decision Making (MCDM)Client server architectureAnalytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Standards