A Local-State Government Spatial Data Sharing Partnership

A Local-State Spatial Data Sharing Partnership Model to Facilitate SDI Development
cooperative effort collaborative, collective, combined, mutual, united, concerted,
coordinated” (Oxford Reference Online 2006).
Calkins and Weatherbe (1995, p. 66) defined spatial data sharing as “the (normally)
electronic transfer of spatial data/information between two or more organisational units
where there is an independence between the holder of the data and the prospective user”.
The authors further explain that this transaction could be routine or non-routine, may be
internal or external to the organisation, but importantly it is an “arm’s-length exchange or
transfer”.
2.5.2 Why Share Data?
It would seems quite wasteful that publicly funded organisations cannot readily co-operate
to share resources or information (Onsrud & Rushton 1995a). However, the reality is that
it is easier for individual public sector agencies to work within their sphere of influence
than outside of it. Historical bureaucratic structures carry with them a significant
“organisational inertia” which is reinforced by departmental silo structures, traditional
public service systems and an increasingly complex legislative framework that is difficult
to change.
The reason to share spatial information was clearly summarised by the Mapping Sciences
Committee of the National Research Council in 1993, namely:
“The principle of a spatial data sharing program is to increase the benefits to society
arising from the availability of spatial data. The benefits will accrue through the
reduction of duplication of effort in collecting and maintaining spatial data as well as
through the increased use of this potentially valuable information. The exposure of these
data to the wider community of users may also result in improvements in the quality of
data. This will eventually benefit the donor and other users” (National Research Council
1993, p. 89)
The sentiments expressed by the Mapping Sciences Committee as they put forward a
framework for building a national spatial data infrastructure reflect the true role of
governments, namely a service for the common benefit of society. Onsrud & Rushton
(1995a) argue that the value and utility of geographic information comes from its use, and
that the more that geographic information is used, the greater becomes society’s ability to
evaluate and address the wide range of pressing problems to which the information may be
applied. Another perspective is that the objective of spatial data sharing is to create
“connections” among widely dispersed databases (Calkins & Weatherbe 1995). However,
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