Governments and geographic information

138 Pages·1998·4.041 MB·English

by  Masser, Ian

Governments and
Geographic Information
Professor Ian Masser, Department of Urban Planning and Management,
International Institute for Aerospace, Survey and the Earth Sciences (ITC),
7500 AA Enschede, The Netherlands, and University of Sheffield, Department
of Town and Regional Planning, University of Sheffield, Western Bank,
Sheffield, S10 2TN.
Governments and
Geographic Information
IAN MASSER
ITC, Enschede
and
University of Sheffield
UK Taylor & Francis Ltd, One Gunpowder Square, London EC4A 3DE
USA Taylor & Francis Inc., 1900 Frost Road, Suite 101, Bristol, PA 19007

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004.
Copyright © Taylor & Francis Ltd 1998
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 0-203-21287-8 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-27006-1 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 07484 0789 8 (cased)
ISBN 07484 0706 5 (paperback)

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data are available

Cover design by Hybert Design & Type, Waltham St Lawrence, Berkshire.
Contents
List of figures and tables vii
Preface ix
1 The Emergence of National Geographic Information Strategies 1
Introduction 1
Some definitions 4
The choice of case studies 5
Analytical framework 6
Conclusion 7
2 What is Geographic Information and why is it so important? 9
Introduction 9
The significance of information and geographic information 9
Geographic information as a resource 11
Geographic information as a commodity 14
Geographic information as an asset 16
Geographic information as an infrastructure 18
Conclusions 19
3 Britain 21
The Creation of a National Digital Topographic Database
Introduction 21
Main providers of geographic information 23
The institutional context 26
Elements of national geographic information strategy 30
Evaluation 35
4 The Netherlands 39
The Emergence of a National Geographic Information Strategy
Introduction 39
Main providers of geographic information 39
v
vi CONTENTS
Institutional context 43
Elements of national geographic information strategy 45
Evaluation 52
5 Australia 55
The Commonwealth Dimension of State Geographic
Information Strategies
Introduction 55
Main providers of geographic information 55
Institutional context 62
Elements of national geographic information strategy 64
Evaluation 69
6 The United States 73
The National Spatial Data Infrastructure in Perspective
Introduction 73
Main providers of geographic information 74
Institutional context 79
Elements of national geographic information strategy 83
Evaluation 88
7 What Lessons Can Be Learnt From These Experiences? 91
Introduction 91
Main providers of geographic information 92
Institutional context 95
Elements of national geographic information strategy 99
Some lessons for other countries 105
References 109
Index 117
List of figures and tables
FIGURES
3.1 Britain 22
4.1 The Netherlands 40
4.2 Information flows between providers and suppliers in the Netherlands 46
4.3 Example of Top 10 vector database output for Naarden near Amsterdam 50
5.1 Australia 56
5.2 Structure of the South Australia land information system 59
5.3 Example of State of Victoria cadastral database for Sovereign Hill, Ballarat 68
6.1 The United States 74
6.2 Digital Orthophoto image of the Capitol Building in Washington DC 78
6.3 Federal Geographic Data Committee structure 84
COLOUR PLATES
Six examples of Ordnance Survey maps
TABLES
1.1 Analytical framework used for the case studies 6
3.1 National products introduced by Ordnance Survey since 1992 25
3.2 Government information providers’ expenditure, revenue, net cash
costs and cost recovery 28
3.3 Membership of IGGI on 1 January 1996 32
4.1 Progress of the GBKN project at 1 January 1996 49
5.1 Key features of the states’ and territories’ digital cadastral databases 57
5.2 Comparison of data charges for non-government users in different states
and territories 62
6.1 Open access and revenue generation: some survey findings 81
7.1 Case-study countries: land area and population 92
7.2 Case-study countries: distribution of responsibilities among different
levels of government 95

vii

Preface
This book is the product of my continuing interest in the processes and consequences of
the diffusion of geographic information technologies which was originally triggered off
by the publication of the Chorley Report a decade ago. It began with a series of studies
evaluating the impact of geographic information systems on British local government,
culminating in the publication of a co-authored book with Heather Campbell on GIS and
organisations in 1995. The findings of these studies highlighted the rapid rate at which
diffusion was taking place throughout the local government sector. At the same time they
also demonstrated that the adoption of a new technology and its effective utilisation were
two very different things. As a result there is a considerable gap between the
expectations expressed in much of the literature and the realities of GIS implementation
in a complex organisational environment.
These studies aroused a great deal of interest not only in Britain but also in other
European countries and in North America. This stimulated a more ambitious project on
the diffusion of geographic information systems in local government in Europe which
was undertaken under the auspices of the European Science Foundation’s GISDATA
scientific programme. This project involved a series of case studies of GIS diffusion in
nine European countries as well as an exploration of the broader organisational
theoretical perspectives underlying this research and their potential impacts on society.
The findings of this project were published in a co-edited book with Heather Campbell
and Max Craglia entitled GIS Diffusion: The Adoption and Use of Geographic
Information Systems in Local Government in Europe in 1996. They showed that, while
there were many common features between the experiences of these countries with
respect to the recent history of diffusion, there were also some important differences
between them. One of the most striking differences concerned the links between digital
data availability and the level of GIS diffusion. The findings of the case studies
suggested that the question of digital data availability was not simply a matter of the
information rich verses the information poor. It was much more a question of central and
local government attitudes towards the management of information. Countries with
relatively low levels of digital data availability and GIS diffusion also tended to be
countries where there had been a fragmentation of data sources in the absence of central
or local government coordination. Conversely, countries where government had created
a framework in terms of responsibilities, resources and standards for the collection and
management of geographic information also tended to be those with relatively high
levels of digital data availability and GIS diffusion.
ix