Information and Knowledge Management using ArcGIS ModelBuilder

Maria Concetta De Vivo, Alberto Polzonetti and Pietro Tapanelli
Investment in Europe continues to be insufficient, committment is fragmented, the creativity of SMEs
is underexploited and the intellectual advantage of research is not converted into competitive
advantage for the innovations based on the market. More use must be made of research talent.
Lack of digital literacy and computer skills
The underlying reason behind the lack of digital culture and the slow development of networks.
Although huge progress has been made in the development of ICT, it is not actually accessible,
especially for those who have not yet acquired a certain level of skills relating to the access device.
The complexity of certain procedures can sometimes prevent their practical use.
Missed opportunities in responding to social problems
By fully exploiting the potential of ICT, Europe could resolve some of the most urgent issues facing
the community in a far more efficient manner.
The seven themes mentioned above are, therefore, also relevant to the badly coordinated
development of eGovernment, which suffers in particular from the lack of an adequate network
infrastructure (as the primary problem) and the absence of a digital culture, which is often abandoned
to itself without any form of organised and structured development.
In fact, access to the internet in Europe is based on first generation structures (copper wiring and
cable networks), with a growing demand for new generation networks. Unfortunately, however, the
continent is forced simply to follow in the tracks of other countries, in particular Southeast Asian
countries such as Japan and Korea which are world leaders in developing fibre optic internet access.
Furthermore, European structures, in Italy for example, are often inefficient and with scarce
penetration in the territory: the statistics illustrated in the following chapter demonstrate the clear gap
between northern and southern European countries. Let us hope that the Europa 2020 strategy,
which emphasises the importance of the spread of broadband to promote social inclusion and
competitiveness in the EU, repeating the aim of bringing broadband access to all European citizens
by 2013, does not remain a chimera. This is especially true regarding the aim for all European citizens
to have access to much faster connections of over 30 Mbps, and that at least 50% of European
families to have internet connections of over 100 Mbps by 2020.
The additional aspect mentioned above of the absence of a genuine digital culture is closely linked to
the theme of computer literacy. Given that social, economic and political activities are ever more
frequently performed online, the use of internet has become an integral part of the daily life of many
Europeans, even though nearly 30% of European citizens have never used the internet. This share of
computer illiterates is composed of people between the age of 65 and 74, low income families and the
unemployed or people with a low level of education. Although over-simplified, this profile gives a clear
indication of the emarginated social classes of the new millennium (Armbrust 2010).
The importance of a digital culture is also evident in the 2005 UNESCO convention on cultural
diversity, which intends to protect and promote global cultural and digital diversity, including the
widespread distribution of contents through a previously unimagined range of communication
methods.
4. Broadband accesses: The European Union is going well?
The European Commission has recently drafted the ninth comparative analysis report on the progress
achieved in eGovernment in the EU as a whole. The main conclusions drawn are positive:
More than 80% of fundamental public services are available online. The online availability of 20
fundamental services, such as vehicle registration, tax returns or the registration of a new
company, has reached 82% in Europe as a whole, considerably higher than the 69% recorded in
2009. The best results were achieved in Austria, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Sweden,
where all of these services were entirely available online. The largest improvements over the last
year were made in Bulgaria, Italy and Latvia;
The report shows that in Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Sweden and the UK, 55% of the
services necessary to open a company are provided automatically or through a specific portal.
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