[Sdi-latinamericacaribbean] Fwd: Geographic Information Markets 4

[Kate Lance]

** apologies for cross posting **
   
  This message comes from the European GI Policy Discussion List...  I thought the report from the U.K. might be interesting to those of you who are conducting (or considering conducting) interoperability/information sharing assessments in your respective countries.
  Regards,
  Kate
  http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/documents/Geographic%20final%20251105.pdf
  Geographic Information: An Analysis of Interoperability and Information Sharing in the United Kingdom

Christopher Corbin <corbinceh at ntlworld.com> wrote:
  Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 07:44:53 +0000
Subject: Geographic Information Markets 4
From: Christopher Corbin <corbinceh at ntlworld.com>
To: EGIP <european-gi-policy at jrc.it>

On the 29th November 2005 the UK Government  e-Government Unit http://www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/e-government (a unit within the Cabinet Office) quietly published a report titled:

Geographic Information: An Analysis of Interoperability and Information Sharing in the United Kingdom.  This report is based on the results of a 2004 survey on interoperability and information sharing.

The report can be downloaded from the following URL:

http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/schemasstandards/egif_document.asp?docnum=971 

The survey was directed at the UK public sector and took place over the period 8th November to 31st December 2004 and attracted 207 total responses of which 65% were from local government, 21% were from central government with 14% from other parts of the public sector.

Chapter 3 of the report contains a Summary of the Findings which have been copied into this email below as a taster!

Figure 5 on page 12 of the report  provides a histogram of the areas covered by respondent’s datasets and it maybe of interest to compare this with the contents of the INSPIRE data annexes I, II and III. 

Figure 10 sets out the non technical Barriers to data sharing and raises an interesting aspect related to public sector culture and how effective the UK Governments Modernising Government programme has been since its launch back in 1998! 

Figure 17 sets out the metadata standards in use which are varied and Figure 18 set outs the barriers to metadata creation.

The reports findings are also worth comparing with the recently published INSPIRE Country report Spatial Data Infrastructures in the United Kingdom: State of play 2005 available on the INSPIRE web site at URL:
http://inspire.jrc.it/reports/stateofplay2005/rcr05UKv83.pdf

The report is limited in that it presents the data obtained from the survey and contains no analysis nor any recommendations perhaps leaving this to others within society to do!  Interestingly Appendix 3 of the report  contains the Geospatial Information Survey Terms of Reference and several of the Primary Objectives appeared to have not been met or missed.  For example “The final project report will analyse and report these findings and make recommendations for future work;” and “Final report will be published next spring.”  Nevertheless the report is welcomed and is of interest to all within the geographic information community that have an interest in spatial data infrastructures and interoperability.  The report maybe of interest to others that have an Interest in the development of the European Information Society and Knowledge economy.    

According to information released under the UK Freedom of Information Act 2000 the survey cost in the region of  £21,564.64 (Euro 30500 approximately) as such a wider dissemination and use of the report would improve the return on this e-Government Unit initiative and investment.  

One senses from reading the report that perhaps the  e-Government Unit has a certain reticence about the report as it contains a disclaimer at the head of every page, indicates that the survey could be of use to the Geographic Information Panel (http://www.gipanel.org.uk ) , makes no reference to the Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information ( http://www.appsi.gov.uk/ ) which has wider interests related to data sharing, access and use, and makes no statement as to what the Unit intends to do with the report now that it has been published.  With these points in mind and the publication of the report it seems that the e-Government Unit has lost interest in this initiative and is now happy to place the report into the archives to gather dust on the hope that another part of society will pick up the baton and run with it to address the issues highlighted!  

It is also interesting to note that the role of the voluntary sector and civil society do not appear within the responses to the survey yet the e-Government Unit acknowledges in its other initiatives that to deliver an inclusive eGovernment agenda both of these sectors need to be involved as well as the public and private sectors. (As an example reference the recent presentations at the EU TRANSFORMING PUBLIC SERVICES Ministerial eGovernment Conference ( http://www.egov2005conference.gov.uk/proceedings/index.asp ), held in Manchester on the 24 November 2005 at which the head of the eGovernment Unit and UK Government  CIO, MR Ian Watmore took part.  (Note: Mr Watmore provided a covering letter for the GI Survey – reference chapter 2 Methodology and summary of the report – the covering letter is not contained within the report only referenced))  

Chris (Corbin)

Brighton
Sussex
England

Telephone: +44 (0) 1273 553110
email: corbinceh at ntlworld.com 


Copy of Page 6 of the above mentioned report.

Chapter Three: Summary of Findings

3.1. 207 total responses;

3.2. 49% participate in data sharing projects;

3.3. Top two data providers: Ordnance Survey and Office for National Statistics;

3.4. Top four areas covered by data sets: Geographical Names, Administrative units,
Coordinate referenced systems and Geographical grid systems;

3.5. 43% are currently gathering or creating data;

3.6. Of 302 responses (respondents were allowed to submit their top three), 24% of the
responses identified Central Government as the major data sharing partner. Other
government agencies and local authorities were identified respectively as second
and third;

3.7. Of 302 responses, 4% identified trading funds as partners in data sharing;

3.8. 86% of data is not paid for;

3.9. Of the 14% of data which is purchased, the majority (35%) is purchased from the
private sector;

3.10. The major barrier to data sharing is lack of awareness of the information held by other
organisations;

3.11. 79% of the respondents use GIS, of which 29% use a spatial database, a large object
oriented database;

3.12. 51% of the GIS systems support XML which very closely represents the number of
respondents who identified themselves as engaging in a data sharing project (49%);

3.13. ESRI at 33% is the major GIS system in use;

3.14. 31% of the respondents, the majority, report using an ‘Other’ metadata standard and
27% report creating their own standard;

3.15. Responses indicated confusion about metadata standards generally;

3.16. Of the 20% of respondents who indicated that they didn’t create metadata, the
majority of the responses focused on resource issues and a lack of support;

3.17. 36% report spending over £50k on their initial capital investment in GIS;

3.18. 14% report data procurement costs in excess of £100k per annum.

  


			
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