A Local-State Government Spatial Data Sharing Partnership

Chapter 6 – Results of Partnership Case Studies at Local Government Level
The size factor also illustrated correlations (significant at 0.05 level) with concerns on data
issues (privacy, copyright etc), the value of standards and the degree of organisational
change. These results indicate that larger LGAs have a greater capacity and requirement to
implement policies or procedures on the use and management of data. It is hypothesised
that as the size of the LGA increases, so does the demand by external organisations for
their data. This then requires greater effort by the organisation to improve their data
quality, implement standards to assist in the exchange of data and create information
policies to control its use. The moderate level of correlation between size and the degree
of organisational change is indicative of the continuing level of organisational
restructuring that has been happening at both state and local government levels in the past
5-10 years.
The organisational support factor shows significant positive correlation (0.01 level) with
the data maturity/access, internal sharing, recognition of standards and staff development.
The organisational support factor includes a variety of related variables including ICT
capacity, management support for GIS and the use of spatial information within the
organisation. The correlations illustrate that a supportive organisational environment for
the development of new technologies and systems like GIS, can lead to more mature
systems and improved internal access to information. These findings are supported by a
number of individual LGA comments that suggested that the internal GIS has become
recognised as an important part of the whole ICT strategy of the organisation. It was also
identified that approximately 60% of all GIS units within LGAs now reside within the
corporate services or IT division of LGA, which is another indicator of the growing
corporate utility of spatial information.
The strong correlation between the organisational support factor and internal data sharing
factor indicates that strong organisational support for ICT and GIS encourages the wider
utilisation of information systems, and hence data sharing within the organisation. The
data also suggests that strong organisational support for ICT results in a greater
recognition of the importance of data standards and staff development.
The data accessibility/maturity factor represents the capacity of LGAs to provide external
access to their spatial data and the level of maturity of the spatial data. The correlations
indicate that as LGAs’ spatial information systems develop and mature, spatial information
becomes more widely available both across the organisation and external to the
organisation. The correlation between the data accessibility/maturity factor and the
business needs factor indicates a growing reliance on spatial information for business
purposes. Finally, the strong relationship between the access to state data and the
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