SDI Convergence - Nederlandse Commissie voor Geodesie - KNAW

Changing Notions of a Spatial Data Infrastructure
Ian Masser
Town End House, Taddington, Buxton SK17 9UF, England
ian.masser@yahoo.co.uk
Abstract
This article examines some of the changes that have taken place in the notion of a spatial
data infrastructure (SDI) over the last 15 years. The discussion is divided into five
parts. The first of these considers the impacts of innovations in communications and
information technology during this period on the nature of SDIs. The second examines
the changes that have taken place in the conceptualisation of SDIs while the third discusses
the changing nature of SDI implementation in the context of the concepts of
multi level governance that have been developed by political scientists. Underlying this
discussion is the realisation that SDI development and implementation is very much a
social process of learning by doing. This process is explored in the fourth section of the
article with reference to the experience of the State of Victoria in Australia. The concluding
section of the article considers the challenges facing SDI implementation and
identifies a number of dilemmas that have yet to be resolved.
Keywords: Spatial data infrastructure (SDI), SDI implementation, multi level governance,
learning by doing.
1. INTRODUCTION
The term 'National Spatial Data Infrastructure' was first used in a paper presented by
John McLaughlin at the 1991 Canadian Conference on Geographic Information Systems
entitled 'Towards a national spatial data infrastructure' (McLaughlin, 1991). The
ideas contained in this paper were subsequently developed by the United States National
Research Council's Mapping Science Committee in their report on 'Toward a coordinated
spatial data infrastructure for the nation' (National Research Council, 1993).
This recommended that effective national policies, strategies, and organisational structures
should be established for the integration of national spatial data collection, use
and distribution.
These concepts were expanded and developed during the following year in the Executive
Order 12906 signed by President Clinton entitled ‘Coordinating Geographic Data
Acquisition and Access: the National Spatial Data Infrastructure’ (Executive Office of
the President, 1994). The Executive Order significantly raised overall awareness of the
need for governmental strategies that facilitate geospatial data collection, management
and use not only among Federal agencies in the United States, but also nationally and
internationally (Masser, 2005).
Since then the number of SDI initiatives has increased dramatically in all parts of the
world to the extent that Crompvoets et al.’s (2004) work on the development of clearinghouses
suggests that as many as half the world’s countries were considering SDI
related projects. These figures must be treated with some caution as they do not necessarily
imply that all these countries are actively engaged in SDI formulation or implementation.
It is also likely that many of them may be engaged in some aspects of
SDI development without necessarily committing themselves to a comprehensive SDI
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