The Nature of Regional Spatial Data Infrastructures

Abstract

Today, more than ever, it is important to look beyond our national boundaries. The world as we know it ischanging. Economies worldwide are undergoing a process of profound and continuing structural change,and the global village is becoming a reality driven by information and communication technologies.With this background, many countries throughout the world believe they can benefit both economically andenvironmentally from better management of their spatial information by taking a perspective that starts at alocal level and proceeds through state, national and regional levels to a global level. This has resulted in thedevelopment of the Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) concept at these levels, with the National SDI andGlobal SDI receiving much attention.While there is increasing interest being given to Regional SDIs, such as promoted by the PermanentCommittee on GIS Infrastructure for Asia and the Pacific (PCGIAP) and the European UmbrellaOrganisation for Geographic Information (EUROGI), and a recognition that these Regional SDIs willpromote economic development and environmental management within these regions, the concept andjustification of Regional SDI is still not clear. The purpose of this paper is to describe the nature of RegionalSDI and its benefits. Moreover, the paper will review the difficulties inherent in RSDI development and willsuggest some factors for the success of a RSDI initiative.