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THE FUTURE OF THE SPATIAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE

Objective

Effective policies, strategies, and organizational arrangements together constitute a spatial information infrastructure and are necessary to facilitate the sharing, integration, and use of spatial information across a broad set of government, industry, academic, and public sectors. Our goal is to address the challenges of incorporating a wide variety of spatially referenced information into various problem-solving domains, serving purposes as diverse as education, government, and industry. Specifically, through this effort the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) will: provide analytical research and support in spatial information policy development and management relevant to government agencies and non-government organizations; help decision makers evaluate and understand the likely consequences of their information policy decisions and choose among alternative policies; and improve the public and private sector understanding of ways in which spatial information policy and technologies can better serve broad societal needs.

We will address such issues as ownership of digital spatial data, protection of privacy, liability, access rights to the spatial data compiled and held by governments, and the economics of spatial information production and dissemination. The goal is to help policymakers, scientists, business leaders, and citizen groups understand the relationships between government policy and spatial information resources, services, and infrastructure and thus facilitate the accelerated growth and utilization of spatial information resources toward meeting societal needs.

Background

In the early 1990s, the National Research Council's (NRC's) Mapping Science Committee articulated a vision of how spatial information handling might best be approached from an organizational perspective (NRC 1993). This led to a plan for the creation of a national spatial data infrastructure and the recognition of such infrastructure as a critical component serving national priorities (Office of President 1994). In addition, a list of designated executive science and technology priorities-such as science education, technology transfer, high-performance computing and networking, digital libraries, global change, and international competitiveness-have significant spatial information components, as do traditional land management activities. These priorities are mirrored at state and local levels of government, which address similar issues at their levels. However, there is growing need to increase coordination between programs and to make the results of their activities appropriate and available to address social needs.

Information about the character and location of natural and cultural resources and their relationship to human and economic activities is essential to making decisions about the future. In response to this need, geographic information systems (GISs) and associated technologies have proliferated rapidly in recent years among all levels of government, academia, and industry. Government agencies and the scientific community are using digital geographic data and technologies for such purposes as forecasting weather, managing utilities, routing emergency vehicles, and navigating aircraft. The commercial and private sectors are routinely using geographic information for such purposes as customer needs assessment, facilities and inventory management, precision farming, site location, car navigation, and a host of similar activities.

Despite the large investments in spatial data development by governmental institutions and the private sector, there is often a lack of knowledge of, and experience with, the complex policy-related issues arising from the community-wide creation, compilation, exchange, and archiving of large spatial data sets. Technical, legal, and public policy uncertainties interact, making it difficult to utilize information resources fully in pursuit of social goals. The ownership of digital spatial data, protection of privacy, access rights to the spatial data compiled and held by governments, and information liability are concepts that require clarity in the new, automated context.

The government sector plays an important role in developing the fundamental spatial information infrastructure because of its activities in the systematic collection, maintenance, and dissemination of spatial data. These resources have significant use s beyond their governmental purposes. For example, use of spatial information by organizations can stimulate the growth and diversity of the information services market. At the same time, public access to government information remains essential to ensuring government accountability and democratic decision making. Reconciliation of the tensions inherent in these and other policies becomes more important as we move toward global economies and international networked environments. Rigorous, impartial analysis is urgently needed to inform decision makers on the economic, legal, and political ramifications of choosing one policy over another.

The UCGIS Approach

The research agenda for the spatial information infrastructure is based on three tenets, which motivate the program's mix of natural and social science perspectives:

Technology and policy, institutions and traditions: Democratic governments must develop in ways that enhance public participation while making responsible use of science and technology.

Technical facts matter: The institutional policy issues associated with the development of a spatial information infrastructure cannot be fully understood without an understanding of the technical component of public issues.

Information policy issues arise at all levels, from local to global: Each jurisdiction, whatever its size, has its own culture and set of practices. In the modern, automated communications environment, these jurisdictions are less independent and influence one another in new ways.

Research activities will draw upon UCGIS specialists from various academic disciplines including information science, planning, law, economics, geography, political science, and engineering as contributors to project work. In addition, it will convene experts from government, industry, and academia and draw on their perspectives and insights. Rigorous analysis of local, state, national, and international initiatives will be undertaken from independent, multidisciplinary perspectives. UCGIS researchers will employ various methodologies (e.g., surveys, case studies, impact assessment, comparative analysis) to evaluate the ramifications of alternative legal, economic, and information policies. The multidisciplinary expertise of the consortium will deliver a comprehensive analysis that would not be possible otherwise.

Importance to National Research Needs

Three important activities will be advanced by this research. The first is the stimulation of economic growth in the geographic information industry. Government policy and practice in regard to both technology and information can contribute significantly to stimulating economic activity. Governments create and consume great quantities of data and technology (in our context, GIS software, global positioning systems, remote sensing). How they (governments) obtain and distribute this material is important both to themselves and to society in general. In addition, a large and growing private information industry functions in part by adding value to government data. The second activity is the strengthening of institutional capacity. An educated and specially trained workforce is an important component in building the capacity of the spatial information infrastructure. This area of development activities will focus on the training and education of people with the knowledge, skills, and insights in geographic information science and technology as well as institutional factors. The third activity is the promotion of democratic processes. New geographic information technologies can make it easier for the public to obtain access to government information and to become involved as stakeholders in land-related decisions. Broader participation by the public will in turn result in broader voter support for system investments.

Benefits

Increased research in support of future spatial information infrastructure will

improve efficiency, effectiveness, and equity of investments in spatial information;

strengthen institutional capacity;

promote the continued growth of the domestic geographic information industry; and

enhance public access and participation in land-related decisions.

Because government institutions are the single largest producers of spatial information, they can serve as model developers of a spatial information infrastructure that promotes the community-wide sharing and use of spatial data and technology. The social and economic benefits of sharing these resources with public, private, and other government sectors have yet to be realized. The advance of electronic networks (the Internet, the World Wide Web, intranets, etc.) have made it practical to share data among many organizations at all levels and over great distances.

Priority Areas for Research

The principal activities that underlie research and development with regard to the spatial information infrastructure can be assigned to four broad areas:

Information policy: The factors that shape the development of spatial information policy and law reflect traditional and contemporary culture and technology. Research will identify optimal government information policies and practices for promoting a robust spatial information infrastructure. Basic policy issues include intellectual property rights, information privacy, and liability as they pertain to spatial data. A range of perspectives, from local to global, will be considered.

Access to government spatial information: In this area, research will examine how government information policies affect access to, and use of, data for a broad spectrum of public and private sector stakeholders for a variety of public and private (commercial) purposes. Public and private roles in information creation (e.g., partnerships, cooperative research and development agreements) will be a subject of particular attention.

Economics of information: Spatial information is an unusual commodity of great value. Economic issues of cost recovery, pricing, and markets for spatial data and the relationship of these issues to intellectual property rights are of central importance. Understanding the economic characteristics of information, especially government information, is important. Applicable concepts include public goods theory, network externalities, and processes of value addition.

Local generation and integration of spatial information: Locally generated information and knowledge is increasingly important because technology makes it possible for local people to obtain and use local data more effectively. Contributions can be systematic or ad hoc, coming from civic groups, schools, local institutions, and informed individuals. Local users can make significant contributions of their own local knowledge, identify gaps in existing data resources, or identify erroneous observations. Developing the technical and institutional means to support the creation and contribution of local knowledge presents a novel challenge to technologists and decision makers. The following are examples of specific projects that could be undertaken within the context of a spatial information infrastructure.

Conduct real-time case studies designed to measure the effects of different legal, economic, and information policy choices on the development of spatial information infrastructures.
Assess GIS projects funded by the Federal Geographic Data Committee and the states, evaluating costs, benefits, effectiveness, and efficiencies and identifying aspects of current government information policies that need to be revised or improved.
Develop curricula, educational programs, and professional training to build an information resource management capacity for managing digital spatial information libraries.
Develop alternative strategies for increasing public access to government information, using digital and other emerging dissemination and retrieval technologies as a basis.
Examine the role that pricing and cost recovery practices play in public access and commercial uses of data.
Compare local, state, and national government dissemination policies as a means for analyzing alternative approaches for allocating public and private funds to sustain government investments in a spatial information infrastructure.
Develop guidelines for increasing public participation in the identification, creation, use, and exchange of relevant spatial information resources to inform community decision making.
Experiment with collaborative projects that are based on local knowledge and incorporate various types of information to support public awareness and enhance decision-making processes.
Model the components and dimensions of an expanded view of the spatial information infrastructure focusing on technology and institutional developments and how they are embedded in other processes and media.

References

NRC (National Research Council), 1993. Toward a Coordinated Spatial Data Infrastructure for the Nation. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Office of the President, 1994. Coordinating Geographic Data Acquisition and Access: The National Spatial Data Infrastructure. Presidential Executive Order 12906 (April 11, 1994). Washington, DC.