[GSDI Legal Econ] Legal-Econ Digest, Vol 39, Issue 20

Giff, Garfield G.A.Giff at tudelft.nl
Thu Mar 27 13:41:24 EDT 2008


Interesting discussion going on here!! May I add another report that might  be of interest:
 
http://www.atp.nist.gov/eao/gcr06-899.pdf
 
Garfield
 
Garfield Giff Ph.D.
Research Fellow
Department of Spatial Information Management
OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies
TU Delft
Tel: + 31 15 278 1730

________________________________

From: legal-econ-bounces at lists.gsdi.org on behalf of Yola Georgiadou
Sent: Thu 27/03/2008 7:22 AM
To: Tracey P. Lauriault; legal-econ at lists.gsdi.org
Subject: Re: [GSDI Legal Econ] Legal-Econ Digest, Vol 39, Issue 20


I am also very interested in the CODATA-OECD workshop results. 
Regards
Yola


________________________________

	From: legal-econ-bounces at lists.gsdi.org [mailto:legal-econ-bounces at lists.gsdi.org] On Behalf Of Tracey P. Lauriault
	Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 11:44 PM
	To: legal-econ at lists.gsdi.org
	Subject: Re: [GSDI Legal Econ] Legal-Econ Digest, Vol 39, Issue 20
	
	
	I am really enjoying this discussion thread and was wondering if you could prove urls to some of the studies that have been mentioned in particular the:
	
	PIRA International study of 2000
	and the CODATA-OECD workshop results.
	
	
	I am posting the links to those here 0 datalibre.ca <http://datalibre.ca/> 
	
	Cheers
	Tracey
	


	On Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 6:12 PM, <legal-econ-request at lists.gsdi.org> wrote:
	

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		Today's Topics:
		
		  1. Re: Value of spatial information (2008) (Yola Georgiadou)
		  2. Re: Value of spatial information (2008) (Francis Harvey)
		
		
		----------------------------------------------------------------------
		
		Message: 1
		Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:39:12 +0100
		From: "Yola Georgiadou" <georgiadou at itc.nl>
		Subject: Re: [GSDI Legal Econ] Value of spatial information (2008)
		To: "Uhlir, Paul" <PUhlir at nas.edu>, <ral at alum.mit.edu>, "Walter de
		       Vries" <devries at itc.nl>
		Cc: SDI-legal-econ <legal-econ at lists.gsdi.org>
		Message-ID: <5AF149DBB6DFE24AA3F4F53201E539AD01D90415 at itcnt24.itc.nl>
		Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="us-ascii"
		
		Paul,
		
		the art of rhetoric is mobilized not only in the field of law but also
		in many other fields, such as economics, policy sciences and public
		administration.  See for example McCloskey (1985) on an analysis of the
		rhetorical aspects of argument in modern economics, Lindblom and Cohen
		(1979) on persuasive processes in the policy sciences and Hood and
		Jackson (1991) on the link between public administration argument and
		persuasion. The proposition is that the impact of argument is a function
		of its credibility, not necessarily of its truth.
		
		Rhetorical arguments may be true or false, but when the persuade they
		serve as a shared frame of reference that enable individuals, groups and
		organizations (=us) to deal with contradictions that can never be fully
		resolved. They are ubiquitous, usually rest on soft data (selectively
		drawn examples) and soft logic (use of persuasive example), they 'win'
		over competing ideas by persuasion in communicative processes rather
		than by hard factual evidence, and often are contradictory and unstable
		(susceptible to new styles, fashions and fads).  But if they win they
		may act to integrate behavior in a sensible way, being a source of
		inspiration that experts, politicians and other participants in
		geospatial development can use to enact social reality. And this is
		fine!
		
		I think that instead of looking at the truth or falsity of an argument
		(e.g. that spatial information increases the GDP or something like that)
		we should treat the argument as an object of study in itself using tools
		of rhetorical analysis to understand how come argument X persuades in
		circumstances Y.  We should also look at the historical evolution of
		such arguments and how they have been 'domesticated' as they travelled
		from place to place and across time especially from the North to the
		South.
		
		To your invitation for additional research topics:
		
		I think that we should try to understand three 'worlds' in our research:
		(i) the real world of practice (how exactly do policy makers use
		information in the real world? which technological/administrative/policy
		design produces which performance (based on whatever performance
		criterion) in given circumstances in the real world?, etc), (ii) the
		world of spatial information rhetoric and how it enables the enaction of
		social reality in given circumstances in the real world and (iii) the
		world of theories from different disciplines that can explain the other
		two worlds.
		
		Roger might say, that the answer to these questions at the end may be 42
		:-)
		
		Regards
		Yola
		
		-----Original Message-----
		From: legal-econ-bounces at lists.gsdi.org
		[mailto:legal-econ-bounces at lists.gsdi.org] On Behalf Of Uhlir, Paul
		Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 5:49 PM
		To: ral at alum.mit.edu; Walter de Vries
		Cc: SDI-legal-econ
		Subject: Re: [GSDI Legal Econ] Value of spatial information (2008)
		
		This is a good discussion and I especially appreciate the book chapter
		on the value of info.
		
		A couple of observations on what has been said thus far:
		
		Yola raises important distinctions, which can be characterized further
		as belonging to the legal and scientific/engineering methods of
		presenting arguments. There are some lawyer/scientists (or engineers) in
		this group, but generally the worldview and practices of these two types
		of professions are not easily bridged. On the one hand, the sci/eng will
		seek to provide rigorous fact-based analysis, including all the
		limitations of the method and the uncertainties in the results (I know
		there are differences between sci/eng and even within different sci
		disciplines, but I am making a broad characterization here that I
		believe is correct). On the other hand, a lawyer will cherry-pick the
		facts, emphasizing the favorable ones, minimizing the unfavorable, and
		always attacking the opponent's position in favor of the one the lawyer
		is paid to uphold. The lawyer will seek to make the strongest possible
		argument to deliver a winning position in a rhetorical contest,
		frequently hiding the uncertainties or counteracting facts. The two
		methods are thus frequently incompatible and used very differently for
		different purposes. Many policymakers are lawyers or at least think like
		them and are swayed by legal arguments that can also convince their
		constituents. To the extent that the sci/eng results have significant
		uncertainties (and many do), the sci/eng will undermine the
		effectiveness of his/her own argument in favor of methodological rigor.
		Lawyers and policymakers try to dismiss the (inconvenient) empirical
		facts and create their own version of reality (consider, e.g., the Bush
		administration's policies on climate change).
		
		With regard to methodologies, one of the outcomes of the CODATA-OECD
		workshop last month was that my office would develop a research agenda
		(focused on US implementation, but that could be adopted in many other
		countries/contexts) for improving the understanding of the economic and
		social effects of networked information. I expect to begin on this
		within a year and it will take some time, but hopefully will add some
		further rigor to such assessments, stimulate more work in this area, and
		generally support more empirically grounded policymaking in this very
		large and important area. Some preliminary topics that we would want to
		address are:
		
		Network effects
		Network externalities (both positive and negative) Role and effects of
		automated online knowledge extraction and reuse Value of individual
		users/reusers (vs. corp reusers) Methodologies for understanding social
		values (most are focused on economic value) Characterizing the pros and
		cons of different methodologies and their application to research on
		networked info Identification of research directions and possible pilot
		projects Promotion of the involvement by young researchers
		
		I would welcome comments or suggestions for additional research topics.
		
		Cheers,
		
		Paul
		
		
		
		-----Original Message-----
		From: legal-econ-bounces at lists.gsdi.org
		[mailto:legal-econ-bounces at lists.gsdi.org] On Behalf Of Roger Longhorn
		Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 10:51 AM
		To: Walter de Vries
		Cc: SDI-legal-econ
		Subject: Re: [GSDI Legal Econ] Value of spatial information (2008)
		
		Walter de Vries wrote:
		> Hi Vlado /Roger / Yola,
		>
		> I would certainly be interested in contributing. My estimate is that
		the
		> two reports are very alike and are based on similar methodologies
		> (largely survey / questionnaire based). It might however not be bad to
		
		> be a bit critical towards these methodologies and these numerical
		> "value" figures (just read James Scott : seeing like a state).
		>
		Walter, the problem I found with the OXERA report, similar to a very
		large study by PIRA International on the value (economic and investment)
		
		of Public Sector Information, with a significant GI component - was that
		
		there was too little detail in either of these reports to fully
		understand the methodology - and assumptions.
		> I would think that in a chain economy - with use and re-use - many
		> figures are counted more than once, and as a result are not so
		reliable.
		>
		Too true - and also true for all forms of 'information' - which can be
		used, used and used again, without being consumed. The classic problem
		in trying to treat information like most other goods. So is each
		use/re-use adding value to the economy? Many will say, "Yes, of course"
		- but where do you draw the line between the 'value' of property
		boundary - or more importantly, a very large (national?) collection of
		property boundaries - as an information object versus the multiple,
		value-generating purposes for which that the property boundary(ies) can
		be used?
		> More importantly, we may also ask whether these are at all useful to
		> public managers and politicians.
		Sadly, most high-level decision makers - those who control budgets,
		especially - are exactly the ones who *want* 'numeric figures' - which I
		
		contend have little value in themselves, since they will always be based
		
		on, or derived from, numerous assumptions such as those touched on
		above. Hence the need to re-educate decision makers / politicians in
		new, more constructive ways to look at 'value of information'? But
		surely, much of this must have already been faced one way or another in
		developing the many grandiose e-Government strategies that abound
		globally - and which are very expensive to implement.
		> The interesting dilemma from a public
		> economic perspective is the question how much public funds should
		> encourage investments by the private sector in GI and SDI.
		Economically,
		> the public sector has two types of instruments to encourage private
		> sectors: either coercive measures, such as regulation and through the
		> use of public (public information providing) institutions; or
		> non-coercive measures, including sponsoring, easing
		> participation/access, reduction of investment barriers and partial
		> investments. The economic difficulty in choosing any type of measures
		is
		> twofold: the first type of measures creates by definition transactions
		
		> costs for the private sector (in making sure how to apply the
		> regulations and their interactions with the institutions) and
		> enforcements costs for the public sector (in making sure the
		regulations
		> are implemented correctly), and as a result this is by definition
		> inefficient. The second type of measures is more efficient (economic
		> theory assumes the occurrence of investments in the public information
		
		> good provision of private sector if it is sufficiently attractive
		based
		> on all information necessary for making investment decisions), but the
		
		> public outcome of the measure is less predictable (meaning: the degree
		
		> to which the public information remains a public good is less known).
		>
		> Resuming, the value is not in the money, but in the extent to which it
		
		> is of value / importance to people, or to the quality of life. Maybe
		> this would be a good start for a qualitative (!) research exercise.
		>
		Exactly the problem/question - as first posed! What is the value of GI?
		I attach a pre-publication version of Chapter 2 which looks at this
		issue from a book that Prof. Mike Blakemore and I produced recently for
		CRC Press/Taylor & Francis. Excuse typos, etc. as this was an early
		version. Also, it is not intended as a deeply researched treatise on all
		
		the measures of 'value' for information - since numerous excellent texts
		
		already exist on that subject (references can be found at the end of the
		
		Chapter).
		> Please count me in.
		>
		Excellent. Since Vlado offered first, I suggest that he coordinate
		contributions? And if we continue to copy these to the list, everyone
		can participate if they wish to.
		
		Kind regards
		
		Roger
		
		> -----Original Message-----
		> From: legal-econ-bounces at lists.gsdi.org
		> [mailto:legal-econ-bounces at lists.gsdi.org] On Behalf Of Roger Longhorn
		> Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 2:28 PM
		> To: Vlado Cetl
		> Cc: SDI-legal-econ
		> Subject: Re: [GSDI Legal Econ] Value of spatial information (2008)
		>
		> Great, Vlado!
		>
		> Anyone else wish to join Vlado on this interesting work?
		>
		> I attach the 1999 OXERA report just in case some of you don't have it.
		>
		> Remember, we are not looking at another 'value of GIS' investigation
		> here - of which there are more than a few already existing - but
		rather
		> the trickier question of 'value of GI/spatial information' to an
		economy
		> and then the value of the SDI that is alleged to be needed in order to
		
		> make that spatial information most useful to the most users. The issue
		
		> is a serious one because, until you agree on 'value' it is quite
		> difficult - if not impossible - to conduct a meaningful Cost-Benefit
		> Analysis, in my opinion - and direct experience - using virtually any
		of
		> the many 'CBA' methodologies that exist.
		>
		> Kind regards
		>
		> Roger
		>
		> Vlado Cetl wrote:
		>
		>> Dear Roger,
		>>
		>> It is a very good idea to make it and I think it could be a very
		>> interesting research. I will give it a try (but time is always a
		limit
		>>
		>
		>
		>> factor ...)
		>>
		>> Regards
		>>
		>> PhD Vlado Cetl
		>> Faculty of Geodesy
		>> Institute of Applied Geodesy
		>> Chair of Spatial Information Management Kaciceva 26, HR-10000 Zagreb,
		
		>> Croatia Tel. ++385 1 4639 191 Fax. ++385 1 4828 081
		>> Web: www.geof.hr <http://www.geof.hr/> 
		>>
		>>
		>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Roger Longhorn"
		<ral at alum.mit.edu>
		>> To: "SDI-legal-econ" <legal-econ at lists.gsdi.org>
		>> Cc: "Kate Lance" <lancekt at aya.yale.edu>
		>> Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 9:38 AM
		>> Subject: Re: [GSDI Legal Econ] Value of spatial information (2008)
		>>
		>>
		>>
		>>> It might be an interesting exercise for some enterprising academic -
		
		>>> or academics - from within the Working Group to do a comparative
		>>> analysis of the methodologies, assumptions and findings between what
		
		>>> are now two in-depth studies into the 'value of spatial
		>>> information/GI' to a national economy - i.e. the OXERA study of 1999
		
		>>> which Ordnance Survey GB quotes repeatedly - which stated that
		>>> national mapping underpinned 100 billion GBP of the British economy
		-
		>>>
		>
		>
		>>> and this new study. Perhaps with a side analysis of the PIRA
		>>> International study of 2000 into the economic and investment value
		of
		>>>
		>
		>
		>>> public sector GI to the European economy and information market.
		>>>
		>>> Any takers?
		>>>
		>>> Roger Longhorn
		>>> co-Chair GSDI Legal & Socioeconomic W.G.
		>>>
		>>> Kate Lance wrote:
		>>>
		>>>> http://www.crcsi.com.au/pages/news.aspx?NewsArticleID=433&Display=1
		>>>>
		<http://www.crcsi.com.au/pages/news.aspx?NewsArticleID=433&Display=1
		>>>>
		>>>> Value of spatial information (2008) According to a new study on the
		
		>>>> economic impact of spatial information released by Australia's
		>>>> Spatial Information Council (ANZLIC), the spatial information
		>>>> industry is a major contributor
		to
		>>>>
		>
		>
		>>>> the national economy generating revenue of A$1.37 billion in the
		>>>> 2006/07 financial year. This is a contribution of between $6.4 and
		>>>> $12.6 billion to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).  The study also
		>>>> estimated that inefficient access to data reduces the direct
		>>>> productivity of some sectors by between five and 15 per cent.
		>>>> The complete study is available for download at
		>>>> http://www.crcsi.com.au/UPLOADS/PUBLICATIONS/PUBLICATION_324.pdf
		>>>>
		>>>> Legal-Econ mailing list
		>>>> Legal-Econ at lists.gsdi.org
		>>>> http://lists.gsdi.org/mailman/listinfo/legal-econ
		>>>>
		>>>>
		>>> _______________________________________________
		>>> Legal-Econ mailing list
		>>> Legal-Econ at lists.gsdi.org
		>>> http://lists.gsdi.org/mailman/listinfo/legal-econ
		>>>
		>>> __________ NOD32 2973 (20080326) Information __________
		>>>
		>>> This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
		>>> http://www.eset.com <http://www.eset.com/> 
		>>>
		>>>
		>>>
		>>
		>>
		>
		>
		>
		_______________________________________________
		Legal-Econ mailing list
		Legal-Econ at lists.gsdi.org
		http://lists.gsdi.org/mailman/listinfo/legal-econ
		
		
		------------------------------
		
		Message: 2
		Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:12:30 -0500
		From: Francis Harvey <francis.harvey at gmail.com>
		Subject: Re: [GSDI Legal Econ] Value of spatial information (2008)
		To: "Yola Georgiadou" <georgiadou at itc.nl>
		Cc: SDI-legal-econ <legal-econ at lists.gsdi.org>, "Uhlir, Paul"
		       <PUhlir at nas.edu>
		Message-ID: <CF7976E7-AF3F-4E22-9461-BDBBCB5C5937 at gmail.com>
		Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
		
		Hello,
		To pick up on Yola's conclusion: but 42 what?
		
		Indeed, Sal Restivo has published work on rhetorics in accounting (way
		before Enron too) that I would also add to Yola's stimulating list of
		readings.
		
		I might add as well that there's room for the social deconstruction of
		cost-benefit analysis. Deconstruction is something engineers are
		specialized in, but rarely share with the rest of us.
		
		Francis
		
		On 26 Mar 2008, at 13:39, Yola Georgiadou wrote:
		
		> Paul,
		>
		> the art of rhetoric is mobilized not only in the field of law but also
		> in many other fields, such as economics, policy sciences and public
		> administration.  See for example McCloskey (1985) on an analysis of
		> the
		> rhetorical aspects of argument in modern economics, Lindblom and Cohen
		> (1979) on persuasive processes in the policy sciences and Hood and
		> Jackson (1991) on the link between public administration argument and
		> persuasion. The proposition is that the impact of argument is a
		> function
		> of its credibility, not necessarily of its truth.
		>
		> Rhetorical arguments may be true or false, but when the persuade they
		> serve as a shared frame of reference that enable individuals, groups
		> and
		> organizations (=us) to deal with contradictions that can never be
		> fully
		> resolved. They are ubiquitous, usually rest on soft data (selectively
		> drawn examples) and soft logic (use of persuasive example), they 'win'
		> over competing ideas by persuasion in communicative processes rather
		> than by hard factual evidence, and often are contradictory and
		> unstable
		> (susceptible to new styles, fashions and fads).  But if they win they
		> may act to integrate behavior in a sensible way, being a source of
		> inspiration that experts, politicians and other participants in
		> geospatial development can use to enact social reality. And this is
		> fine!
		>
		> I think that instead of looking at the truth or falsity of an argument
		> (e.g. that spatial information increases the GDP or something like
		> that)
		> we should treat the argument as an object of study in itself using
		> tools
		> of rhetorical analysis to understand how come argument X persuades in
		> circumstances Y.  We should also look at the historical evolution of
		> such arguments and how they have been 'domesticated' as they travelled
		> from place to place and across time especially from the North to the
		> South.
		>
		> To your invitation for additional research topics:
		>
		> I think that we should try to understand three 'worlds' in our
		> research:
		> (i) the real world of practice (how exactly do policy makers use
		> information in the real world? which technological/administrative/
		> policy
		> design produces which performance (based on whatever performance
		> criterion) in given circumstances in the real world?, etc), (ii) the
		> world of spatial information rhetoric and how it enables the
		> enaction of
		> social reality in given circumstances in the real world and (iii) the
		> world of theories from different disciplines that can explain the
		> other
		> two worlds.
		>
		> Roger might say, that the answer to these questions at the end may
		> be 42
		> :-)
		>
		> Regards
		> Yola
		>
		> -----Original Message-----
		> From: legal-econ-bounces at lists.gsdi.org
		> [mailto:legal-econ-bounces at lists.gsdi.org] On Behalf Of Uhlir, Paul
		> Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 5:49 PM
		> To: ral at alum.mit.edu; Walter de Vries
		> Cc: SDI-legal-econ
		> Subject: Re: [GSDI Legal Econ] Value of spatial information (2008)
		>
		> This is a good discussion and I especially appreciate the book chapter
		> on the value of info.
		>
		> A couple of observations on what has been said thus far:
		>
		> Yola raises important distinctions, which can be characterized further
		> as belonging to the legal and scientific/engineering methods of
		> presenting arguments. There are some lawyer/scientists (or
		> engineers) in
		> this group, but generally the worldview and practices of these two
		> types
		> of professions are not easily bridged. On the one hand, the sci/eng
		> will
		> seek to provide rigorous fact-based analysis, including all the
		> limitations of the method and the uncertainties in the results (I know
		> there are differences between sci/eng and even within different sci
		> disciplines, but I am making a broad characterization here that I
		> believe is correct). On the other hand, a lawyer will cherry-pick the
		> facts, emphasizing the favorable ones, minimizing the unfavorable, and
		> always attacking the opponent's position in favor of the one the
		> lawyer
		> is paid to uphold. The lawyer will seek to make the strongest possible
		> argument to deliver a winning position in a rhetorical contest,
		> frequently hiding the uncertainties or counteracting facts. The two
		> methods are thus frequently incompatible and used very differently for
		> different purposes. Many policymakers are lawyers or at least think
		> like
		> them and are swayed by legal arguments that can also convince their
		> constituents. To the extent that the sci/eng results have significant
		> uncertainties (and many do), the sci/eng will undermine the
		> effectiveness of his/her own argument in favor of methodological
		> rigor.
		> Lawyers and policymakers try to dismiss the (inconvenient) empirical
		> facts and create their own version of reality (consider, e.g., the
		> Bush
		> administration's policies on climate change).
		>
		> With regard to methodologies, one of the outcomes of the CODATA-OECD
		> workshop last month was that my office would develop a research agenda
		> (focused on US implementation, but that could be adopted in many other
		> countries/contexts) for improving the understanding of the economic
		> and
		> social effects of networked information. I expect to begin on this
		> within a year and it will take some time, but hopefully will add some
		> further rigor to such assessments, stimulate more work in this area,
		> and
		> generally support more empirically grounded policymaking in this very
		> large and important area. Some preliminary topics that we would want
		> to
		> address are:
		>
		> Network effects
		> Network externalities (both positive and negative) Role and effects of
		> automated online knowledge extraction and reuse Value of individual
		> users/reusers (vs. corp reusers) Methodologies for understanding
		> social
		> values (most are focused on economic value) Characterizing the pros
		> and
		> cons of different methodologies and their application to research on
		> networked info Identification of research directions and possible
		> pilot
		> projects Promotion of the involvement by young researchers
		>
		> I would welcome comments or suggestions for additional research
		> topics.
		>
		> Cheers,
		>
		> Paul
		>
		>
		>
		> -----Original Message-----
		> From: legal-econ-bounces at lists.gsdi.org
		> [mailto:legal-econ-bounces at lists.gsdi.org] On Behalf Of Roger Longhorn
		> Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 10:51 AM
		> To: Walter de Vries
		> Cc: SDI-legal-econ
		> Subject: Re: [GSDI Legal Econ] Value of spatial information (2008)
		>
		> Walter de Vries wrote:
		>> Hi Vlado /Roger / Yola,
		>>
		>> I would certainly be interested in contributing. My estimate is that
		> the
		>> two reports are very alike and are based on similar methodologies
		>> (largely survey / questionnaire based). It might however not be bad
		>> to
		>
		>> be a bit critical towards these methodologies and these numerical
		>> "value" figures (just read James Scott : seeing like a state).
		>>
		> Walter, the problem I found with the OXERA report, similar to a very
		> large study by PIRA International on the value (economic and
		> investment)
		>
		> of Public Sector Information, with a significant GI component - was
		> that
		>
		> there was too little detail in either of these reports to fully
		> understand the methodology - and assumptions.
		>> I would think that in a chain economy - with use and re-use - many
		>> figures are counted more than once, and as a result are not so
		> reliable.
		>>
		> Too true - and also true for all forms of 'information' - which can be
		> used, used and used again, without being consumed. The classic problem
		> in trying to treat information like most other goods. So is each
		> use/re-use adding value to the economy? Many will say, "Yes, of
		> course"
		> - but where do you draw the line between the 'value' of property
		> boundary - or more importantly, a very large (national?) collection of
		> property boundaries - as an information object versus the multiple,
		> value-generating purposes for which that the property boundary(ies)
		> can
		> be used?
		>> More importantly, we may also ask whether these are at all useful to
		>> public managers and politicians.
		> Sadly, most high-level decision makers - those who control budgets,
		> especially - are exactly the ones who *want* 'numeric figures' -
		> which I
		>
		> contend have little value in themselves, since they will always be
		> based
		>
		> on, or derived from, numerous assumptions such as those touched on
		> above. Hence the need to re-educate decision makers / politicians in
		> new, more constructive ways to look at 'value of information'? But
		> surely, much of this must have already been faced one way or another
		> in
		> developing the many grandiose e-Government strategies that abound
		> globally - and which are very expensive to implement.
		>> The interesting dilemma from a public
		>> economic perspective is the question how much public funds should
		>> encourage investments by the private sector in GI and SDI.
		> Economically,
		>> the public sector has two types of instruments to encourage private
		>> sectors: either coercive measures, such as regulation and through the
		>> use of public (public information providing) institutions; or
		>> non-coercive measures, including sponsoring, easing
		>> participation/access, reduction of investment barriers and partial
		>> investments. The economic difficulty in choosing any type of measures
		> is
		>> twofold: the first type of measures creates by definition
		>> transactions
		>
		>> costs for the private sector (in making sure how to apply the
		>> regulations and their interactions with the institutions) and
		>> enforcements costs for the public sector (in making sure the
		> regulations
		>> are implemented correctly), and as a result this is by definition
		>> inefficient. The second type of measures is more efficient (economic
		>> theory assumes the occurrence of investments in the public
		>> information
		>
		>> good provision of private sector if it is sufficiently attractive
		> based
		>> on all information necessary for making investment decisions), but
		>> the
		>
		>> public outcome of the measure is less predictable (meaning: the
		>> degree
		>
		>> to which the public information remains a public good is less known).
		>>
		>> Resuming, the value is not in the money, but in the extent to which
		>> it
		>
		>> is of value / importance to people, or to the quality of life. Maybe
		>> this would be a good start for a qualitative (!) research exercise.
		>>
		> Exactly the problem/question - as first posed! What is the value of
		> GI?
		> I attach a pre-publication version of Chapter 2 which looks at this
		> issue from a book that Prof. Mike Blakemore and I produced recently
		> for
		> CRC Press/Taylor & Francis. Excuse typos, etc. as this was an early
		> version. Also, it is not intended as a deeply researched treatise on
		> all
		>
		> the measures of 'value' for information - since numerous excellent
		> texts
		>
		> already exist on that subject (references can be found at the end of
		> the
		>
		> Chapter).
		>> Please count me in.
		>>
		> Excellent. Since Vlado offered first, I suggest that he coordinate
		> contributions? And if we continue to copy these to the list, everyone
		> can participate if they wish to.
		>
		> Kind regards
		>
		> Roger
		>
		>> -----Original Message-----
		>> From: legal-econ-bounces at lists.gsdi.org
		>> [mailto:legal-econ-bounces at lists.gsdi.org] On Behalf Of Roger
		>> Longhorn
		>> Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 2:28 PM
		>> To: Vlado Cetl
		>> Cc: SDI-legal-econ
		>> Subject: Re: [GSDI Legal Econ] Value of spatial information (2008)
		>>
		>> Great, Vlado!
		>>
		>> Anyone else wish to join Vlado on this interesting work?
		>>
		>> I attach the 1999 OXERA report just in case some of you don't have
		>> it.
		>>
		>> Remember, we are not looking at another 'value of GIS' investigation
		>> here - of which there are more than a few already existing - but
		> rather
		>> the trickier question of 'value of GI/spatial information' to an
		> economy
		>> and then the value of the SDI that is alleged to be needed in order
		>> to
		>
		>> make that spatial information most useful to the most users. The
		>> issue
		>
		>> is a serious one because, until you agree on 'value' it is quite
		>> difficult - if not impossible - to conduct a meaningful Cost-Benefit
		>> Analysis, in my opinion - and direct experience - using virtually any
		> of
		>> the many 'CBA' methodologies that exist.
		>>
		>> Kind regards
		>>
		>> Roger
		>>
		>> Vlado Cetl wrote:
		>>
		>>> Dear Roger,
		>>>
		>>> It is a very good idea to make it and I think it could be a very
		>>> interesting research. I will give it a try (but time is always a
		> limit
		>>>
		>>
		>>
		>>> factor ...)
		>>>
		>>> Regards
		>>>
		>>> PhD Vlado Cetl
		>>> Faculty of Geodesy
		>>> Institute of Applied Geodesy
		>>> Chair of Spatial Information Management Kaciceva 26, HR-10000
		>>> Zagreb,
		>
		>>> Croatia Tel. ++385 1 4639 191 Fax. ++385 1 4828 081
		>>> Web: www.geof.hr <http://www.geof.hr/> 
		>>>
		>>>
		>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Roger Longhorn"
		> <ral at alum.mit.edu>
		>>> To: "SDI-legal-econ" <legal-econ at lists.gsdi.org>
		>>> Cc: "Kate Lance" <lancekt at aya.yale.edu>
		>>> Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 9:38 AM
		>>> Subject: Re: [GSDI Legal Econ] Value of spatial information (2008)
		>>>
		>>>
		>>>
		>>>> It might be an interesting exercise for some enterprising
		>>>> academic -
		>
		>>>> or academics - from within the Working Group to do a comparative
		>>>> analysis of the methodologies, assumptions and findings between
		>>>> what
		>
		>>>> are now two in-depth studies into the 'value of spatial
		>>>> information/GI' to a national economy - i.e. the OXERA study of
		>>>> 1999
		>
		>>>> which Ordnance Survey GB quotes repeatedly - which stated that
		>>>> national mapping underpinned 100 billion GBP of the British economy
		> -
		>>>>
		>>
		>>
		>>>> and this new study. Perhaps with a side analysis of the PIRA
		>>>> International study of 2000 into the economic and investment value
		> of
		>>>>
		>>
		>>
		>>>> public sector GI to the European economy and information market.
		>>>>
		>>>> Any takers?
		>>>>
		>>>> Roger Longhorn
		>>>> co-Chair GSDI Legal & Socioeconomic W.G.
		>>>>
		>>>> Kate Lance wrote:
		>>>>
		>>>>> http://www.crcsi.com.au/pages/news.aspx?
		>>>>> NewsArticleID=433&Display=1
		>>>>>
		> <http://www.crcsi.com.au/pages/news.aspx?NewsArticleID=433&Display=1
		>>>>>
		>>>>> Value of spatial information (2008) According to a new study on
		>>>>> the
		>
		>>>>> economic impact of spatial information released by Australia's
		>>>>> Spatial Information Council (ANZLIC), the spatial information
		>>>>> industry is a major contributor
		> to
		>>>>>
		>>
		>>
		>>>>> the national economy generating revenue of A$1.37 billion in the
		>>>>> 2006/07 financial year. This is a contribution of between $6.4 and
		>>>>> $12.6 billion to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).  The study also
		>>>>> estimated that inefficient access to data reduces the direct
		>>>>> productivity of some sectors by between five and 15 per cent.
		>>>>> The complete study is available for download at
		>>>>> http://www.crcsi.com.au/UPLOADS/PUBLICATIONS/PUBLICATION_324.pdf
		>>>>>
		>>>>> Legal-Econ mailing list
		>>>>> Legal-Econ at lists.gsdi.org
		>>>>> http://lists.gsdi.org/mailman/listinfo/legal-econ
		>>>>>
		>>>>>
		>>>> _______________________________________________
		>>>> Legal-Econ mailing list
		>>>> Legal-Econ at lists.gsdi.org
		>>>> http://lists.gsdi.org/mailman/listinfo/legal-econ
		>>>>
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		>>>>
		>>>> This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
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		>>>>
		>>>>
		>>>>
		>>>
		>>>
		>>
		>>
		>>
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		End of Legal-Econ Digest, Vol 39, Issue 20
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	-- 
	Tracey P. Lauriault
	Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre
	Dept. of Geography and Environmental Studies
	Carleton University
	Ottawa (ON) Canada
	tlauriau at gmail.com
	https://gcrc.carleton.ca/confluence/display/GCRCWEB/Lauriault 

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