International Journal of Spatial Data Infrastructures Research (Joint Research Centre of the European Commission)
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Methodology to describe, analyse and assess sub-national SDIs: survey, experiences and lessons learnt
Get PDFOver the last ten years development of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) has become an important subject being a driving force towards the vision of Digital Earth increasing the availibility and accessibility of geographic information exchange and sharing of spatial data. Worldwide, large investments have been made to develop SDI initiatives. Given the expenditure and society’s interest in the proper and effective use of these funds, it has become a necessity to have reliable methods and instruments to assess these SDI initiatives. However, the assessment and evaluation of SDIs is an extremly challenging task due to a number of reasons. Although the literature provides a number of assessment methods, all of them either concentrate on only some aspects of an SDI or on one specific region, or are still conceptual in nature (Crompvoets et al., 2009). In this paper, the authors introduce a new pragmatic appoach to identify, analyse and assess SDI solutions having the principles of Digital Earth, INSPIRE and GMES in mind. This approach has been developed by the Thematic Network eSDI-Net+ and has been validated in a comprehensive survey involving about 200 SDIs from 26 European countries as well as different stakeholders involved in the creation and use of SDIs throughout Europe. The main purpose of the paper is to introduce this unique SDI assessment methodology as well as to demonstrate the possiblities of its practical application. Furthermore, the paper critically reflects the experiences made and lessons learnt by applying this methodology in a survey of the subnational SDIs in Europe in 2008-2010 and discusses the main implications for future SDI research, in Europe and worldwide
The economic value of the Dutch geo-information sector
Get PDFDefining the geo-information sector and estimating its economic value on a national level is difficult and standard methodologies are not available. The aim of this paper is to clearly define the geo-information sector and to measure its economic value in terms of turnover, employment, activities and the market. The results of the survey in the Netherlands estimate the economic value of the Dutch geo-information sector at € 1,4 billion, 0,25% of the national GDP. Furthermore the results show that the Dutch geo-information sector is a fast developing sector with high potential. The authors conclude that together, the definition used and the developed survey methodology provide a good basis for measuring the value of the national geo-information sector. They suggest to carry out comparable studies in order to increase awareness of the geo-information sector as a sector of economic importance and to stimulate further development and innovation
Relationality in Geo-Information value. Price as product of socio-technical networks
Get PDFAlready for more than a decade there has been a discussion on how to define prices of geo-information. We pose that rather than focusing this discussion on the geo-information itself, it is important to consider the contextual conditions which contribute to price establishment and their acceptance by involved individuals and organizations. As geo-information is usually embedded into inter-organizational relations (IORs), the geo-information use is affected by the ‘relationality’ of the internal and the external context in which the organizations operate. Both these influences justify using infrastructural aspects as conceptual lenses to examine when prices are established and when they are consolidated. We explored these infrastructural aspects in three cases of IORs in the Netherlands. The cases show that the dynamics across IORs can reveal relevant aspects of price development and price setting of geo-information. We conclude therefore that the IORs act as anchoring mechanism for prices
Volunteered Geographic Information: the nature and motivation of produsers
Get PDFAdvances in positioning, Web mapping, cellular communications and wiki technologies have surpassed the original visions of GSDI programs around the world. By tapping the distributed knowledge, personal time and energy of volunteer contributors, GI voluntarism is beginning to relocate and redistribute selected GI productive activities from mapping agencies to networks of non-state volunteer actors. Participants in the production process are both users and producers, or ‘produsers’ to use a recent neologism. Indeed, GI voluntarism ultimately has the potential to redistribute the rights to define and judge the value of the produced geographic information and of the new production system in general. The concept and its implementation present a rich collection of both opportunities and risks now being considered by leaders of public and private mapping organizations world-wide. In this paper, the authors describe and classify both the types of people who volunteer geospatial information and the nature of their contributions. Combining empirical research dealing with the Open Source software and Wikipedia communities with input from selected national mapping agencies and private companies, the authors offer different taxonomies that can help researchers clarify what is at stake with respect to geospatial information contributors. They identify early lessons which may be drawn from this research, and suggest questions which may be posed by large mapping organizations when considering the potential opportunities and risks associated with encouraging and employing Volunteered Geographic Information in their programs
Quantifying urban attractiveness from the distribution and density of digital footprints
Get PDFIn the past, sensors networks in cities have been limited to fixed sensors, embedded in particular locations, under centralised control. Today, new applications can leverage wireless devices and use them as sensors to create aggregated information. In this paper, we show that the emerging patterns unveiled through the analysis of large sets of aggregated digital footprints can provide novel insights into how people experience the city and into some of the drivers behind these emerging patterns. We particularly explore the capacity to quantify the evolution of the attractiveness of urban space with a case study of in the area of the New York City Waterfalls, a public art project of four man-made waterfalls rising from the New York Harbor. Methods to study the impact of an event of this nature are traditionally based on the collection of static information such as surveys and ticket-based people counts, which allow to generate estimates about visitors’ presence in specific areas over time. In contrast, our contribution makes use of the dynamic data that visitors generate, such as the density and distribution of aggregate phone calls and photos taken in different areas of interest and over time. Our analysis provides novel ways to quantify the impact of a public event on the distribution of visitors and on the evolution of the attractiveness of the points of interest in proximity. This information has potential uses for local authorities, researchers, as well as service providers such as mobile network operators
Advanced Regional SDIs in Europe: comparative cost-benefit evaluation and impact assessment perspectives
Get PDFThis paper reports the findings of two studies on the socio-economic impacts of the regional spatial data infrastructures (SDIs) in Catalonia, and Lombardia, and then compares the developments in these two regions with those in other nine advanced regional SDIs to explore the extent to which the findings reported for the two detailed case-studies could be generalised. The significance of this paper is that the studies it reports are to date the only ones substantiating with real evidence the costs and benefits of SDIs in comparable regions of Europe. With the implementation of INSPIRE requiring the development of SDIs at multiple levels across Europe, the findings of this paper become all the more critical to support the investment decisions of public administrators, particularly at a time of considerable financial strains
The EcoGeo Cookbook for the Assessment of Geographic Information Value
Get PDFThe EcoGeo II project has, as its main goal, the establishment of an economic model to evaluate geographic information (GI). The first phase of the EcoGeo Project has provided a visual representation, called Socioscope, of the overall flows of geospatial data between the main private and public stakeholders of the geomatic sector in the province of Quebec (Canada).
From this foundation, EcoGeo Phase II was launched in 2008 with several goals. The first goal was to analyze the most important existing research and approaches to evaluate the economic value of the GI sector. The results show that the value chain concept is, in theory, one of the most suitable approaches that can be adapted to assess GI value, but also one of the most complex due to the number of variables involved with how GI is produced and used within and between organizations.
Our second goal was to define the basis or conventions for evaluating GI and, more specifically, to develop a list of parameters which need to be considered for evaluating GI. We defined a set of guidelines that we called the EcoGeo cookbook, which aims at identifying, listing and describing the most important variables and attributes relating to GI value which have been identified in literature.
These attributes relate to how GI is produced and used (value of the location attribute, time dependency, quality, etc.), the costs of the GI product (i.e. transaction costs) and the price definition (based on value pricing strategy). Caution must be used when evaluating intangible benefits, which are less easily estimated than tangible ones.
The final goal will be to implement such variables and attributes into the Socioscope’s database structure. This will also allow for the definition of a specific value chain for the GI sector in Quebec
Spatial Data Infrastructure in India: Status, Governance Challenges, and Strategies for Effective Functioning
Get PDFThe paper describes the status of the national spatial data infrastructure (NSDI), spatial data infrastructure (SDI) of India in terms of its vision, data formats, metadata, various standards (metadata standard, exchange standard, and application protocol), network framework, macro- policies, data- pricing and dissemination policies, copyrights, and clearinghouse issues. It identifies the challenges of governance and proposes a framework for governance. It presents technical, financial, and a detailed account of institutional and policy-level challenges and describes the missing link between the National Map Policy (NMP) and NSDI. The paper presents strategies for effective functioning of NSDI using a strategic management model. A SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat) analysis is undertaken to assess the internal and external environments of the geographic information (GI) industry in the context of NSDI in India. A possible strategic direction for the GI industry in India in terms of shared vision, better inter-governmental relations, co-production, and collaboration is suggested. The paper describes the strategic plans using the SWOT matrix, which are strength-opportunity strategies, weakness-opportunity strategies, strength-threat strategies, and weakness-threat strategies. Finally, the paper suggests a research agenda for the effective functioning of SDI in a developing country. The governance framework and strategies presented here will be useful for the effective functioning of SDI in developing economies in general and of NSDI in India in particular
More than Names - Digital Earth and/or Virtual Globes?
Get PDFThis contribution suggests that the variety of terms used to refer to Digital Earth, the most widely used formulation, expresses a range of associations and meanings that appeal to different overarching concepts of the relationship between this phenomena and societys’ ongoing engagement with our place in the world. Gelernter’s Mirror Worlds concept, is an apt starting point for considering Digital Earth, one, however, we should be careful to consider and critique. Reflection on the usages of various terms should play a role in our considerations of what we wish to accomplish through our work and what we aspiret to in next generation Digital Earth environments. Different terms, for example, Digital Earths are perhaps more suitable for some communities
Methodology for Measuring the Demand Geoinformation Transaction Costs: Based on Experiments in Berlin, Vienna and Zurich
Get PDFSearching for geoinformation and inquiring about the conditions of exchange involves transaction costs. Neoclassical economy neglects the existence of these costs and therefore lacks economic models which could be applied to geoinformation. We are interested in establishing theoretical foundations of transaction costs related to geoinformation and in methods which could help to quantify these costs. The importance of this article is that this is to date the first attempt to measure the transaction cost of geoinformation and at the same time it presents the first quantitative results. The research is novel and therefore in development. The presented methodology reflects our first experiences gained in the selected cities of Berlin, Vienna and Zurich. We conclude the article with open questions and further research directions