Show me the data!

LinkedIn article: How can GIS professionals use their skills to create a more resilient society? (linkedin.com)

Data utility is determined by the user, not the supplier.? In the context of a wider information infrastructure, specialist applications for data creation and management, including GIS are, for the most part, irrelevant to the user.? Additionally, the same user might determine value by repurposing data captured for one use, to something completely different, regardless of accuracy or format.

Today there are a plethora of specialist applications, including GIS, churning out a plethora of content; in a plethora of formats.? When I make an omelette in the morning, I’m not really interested that the chicken laying the eggs were ‘Rhode Island Reds’, but I am interested in the metadata, specifically: when they were laid; and from there decide for myself if they are suitable.

Similarly, many data users couldn’t give a fig regards the ‘brand’ of the application (geospatial or otherwise) that created the data, they just want to 1) have sufficient information (metadata) to establish if said data ‘could’ be useful for their particular business problem and if yes; 2) being able to access the data ‘right-now’ in the format best suited to them.? That’s it!

The process described in the above paragraph is ‘the’ core requirement for any information infrastructure which can be considered to encompass the various technical, data, organisational, financial, process and policy arrangements necessary to provide for the straightforward discovery and consumption of data; for any purpose, anywhere, any time.

Spatial data infrastructure (SDI) are just a sub-set of a wider information infrastructure, and GIS just a component of SDI.

It was my privilege to be one of the people to establish a SDI for the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA – the NZ Government agency establish to coordinate the recovery effort following the devastating earthquakes of 2010-11 – read the white paper here: The CERA spatial data infrastructure: A model for government ICT delivery | UC QuakeStudies (canterbury.ac.nz).?

Over COVID lockdown I also penned an article articulating the requirement for a military-grade information infrastructure: Time for a Military-Grade Information Infrastructure? — StratSim Ltd

At CERA, the technical challenges were, for the most part, a piece of cake.? The biggest problem was identifying and negotiating access to data which was invariably buried and inaccessible within various government agencies, Councils and private companies.? This problem persists in New Zealand today.?

How big a problem is that?? Here in NZ we have a pretty good idea what the opportunity-cost of our absent National Information Infrastructure is. Back in 2009, NZ Government agencies LINZ, DOC and (then) Ministry of Economic Development published the report: Spatial Information in the New Zealand Economy | Toitū Te Whenua - Land Information New Zealand (linz.govt.nz)? which concluded:

“[in 2008] spatial information [was] estimated to have added NZ$1.2 billion in productivity-related benefits to the New Zealand economy”? and went on to say that “had key barriers been removed [] New Zealand could have benefited from an additional NZ$481 million in productivity-related benefits [] generating at least NZ$100 million in government revenue”.? It also established the problem is not a lack of data per se [certainly the CERA experience], stating that “the [New Zealand] government holds large amounts of [ ] data but in many cases these data are either not being shared effectively [ ] and sometimes not released at all, and that there is a lack of knowledge as to what data are available where, and how one can access them”.?

While progress has certainly been made in publishing more public data, the speed has been glacial.? You will still hear various excuses and substitutes for action: 'it's not a priority', 'people might use our data inappropriately', 'what - I ordered a cheese-burger'. So, to the question: “How can GIS professionals use their skills to create a more resilient society”?? The single most powerful thing any geospatial professional can do is to have their organisation publish their data such that it easily discoverable, and freely available, in standard formats and licensed for reuse. Share your work - Creative Commons

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