A Local-State Government Spatial Data Sharing Partnership

6.1 Introduction
Chapter 6 – Results of Partnership Case Studies at Local Government Level
The case study analysis at State Government level provided a valuable insight into the
establishment, operation and institutional settings for each of the partnerships. This
chapter now examines each of the partnerships from the local government perspective.
The investigation at local government level focussed on identifying trends and factors that
would complement the analysis at state level. The research questions at local government
level sought to understand the motivations and barriers for local governments to share
data, the capacity of local government to participate in data sharing and the factors that
contribute to the success of data sharing at the local level. A quantitative method was
identified to be the most appropriate approach to answer these research questions. As a
result, an on-line questionnaire was utilised to collect data from over 100 LGAs across
three state jurisdictions.
This chapter presents the results of the analysis of the questionnaire to local governments
and is structured in three parts. In the first part of the chapter, key descriptive statistics
from the questionnaire are presented and discussed to identify the initial findings and
results. The second part of the chapter examines the similarities and variability between
the three states to determine specific trends and influences. Finally, the response variables
are grouped into components using exploratory factor analysis. A multiple regression
model is then employed to explain the contribution of these factors to the partnership
outcomes.
6.2 Descriptive Statistics and Summaries
6.2.1 Background
The survey of local governments was conducted across the three states previously
described in Chapter 5, namely Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania. The LGA
questionnaire (see appendix 3) was arranged in eight parts and included questions on each
LGAs organisation, information policies, access to data, data holdings and maturity, use of
standards, personnel, existing collaborations and outcomes from data sharing partnerships.
Table 6.1 summarises the structure of the LGA questionnaire.
Parts 1 to 7 investigated the capacity of each LGA across the components of an extended
SDI model, whilst part 8 of the questionnaire examined the outcomes and overall level of
satisfaction of LGAs with the data sharing partnership.
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