Spatial enablement of government and NSDI - policy implications

Abstract

Spatial enablement uses the concept of place and location to organise information and processes and is now a ubiquitous part of eGovernment and broader government ICT strategies. In this regard, the development of a spatially enabled government was a key outcome of the 17th United Nations Cartographic Conference for Asia and the Pacific (UNRCC-AP) and 12th meeting of the UN supported Permanent Committee for GIS Infrastructure for Asia and the Pacific (PCGIAP) in September 2006 in Bangkok, Thailand. This outcome lead to Working Group 3 (formerly Cadastre) of the PCGIAP to refocus its activities on Spatially Enabled Government as part of developing National Spatial Data Infrastructures (NSDI). In conjunction with the GSDI Association, WG3 (Spatially Enabled Government) of the PCGIAP hold a dedicated workshop on “Spatial enablement of government and NSDI – policy implications” during the 13th PCGIAP meeting in Seoul, Korea on 12th June 2007.

The focus of the workshop was on commencing dialogue in and better understating the concept of spatially enablement of government and further to better understand and describe the legal and economic issues and policies on global and regional level in the development and implementation of SDIs in supporting this concept. The key issues that were highlighted concerned the importance of the use of spatial data and services in different government activities internationally, international trends in research to spatially enabling government, the research problems facing implementation efforts and the role that spatially enabled government plays as part of eGovernment strategies of meeting sustainable development objectives. This paper presents and discusses the contents and outcomes of this workshop as well as a conference conducted in this area in Australia. In addition, the opportunities, issues and challenges involve in the design and development of a spatially enabled government will presented. The paper further discusses the policy drivers and the legal trends for the development of SDI’s as enabling platforms facilitating this spatially enabling government process.