Research project:
Spatial Data Infrastructure and Public Sector Innovation (2007-2010)

The strategic and generic character of the proposed research project is situated in its research object as well as in its method.

The research object of the project is the relation between a spatial data infrastructure and public sector innovation. As information is the basic resource of governments to fulfil its tasks in a complex society, databases become the backbone of public administrations. Three major datasets have to contain data on citizens, on companies and organisations as well as on geographic information. In this project the focus is on geographic information. A lot of information in the public sector has a geographic component, so the large-scale roll-out of a spatial data infrastructure will be of great strategic importance in itself and to the further development and innovation of public administration practices.

Administrative practices may and will be affected by the increasing use of geographic information. Tasks, functions and responsibilities will be re-allocated and new forms of responsiveness and accountability will emerge within and between different levels of government as well as in the interfaces with the private sector, the not-for-profit sector and civil society.

The method of the project supports a generic approach of SDI-development. First, the project looks at SDI-development from an interdisciplinary perspective. A combination of public administration, sociology, law, economics and geomatics has to guarantee a comprehensive view on the development of an SDI. Second, the development of an SDI is looked upon in all its phases. Starting with the (1) acquisition of needed resources, over the (2) processing of resources to the (3) utilisation of an SDI. In this way, each phase will be studied and analysed from an interdisciplinary perspective, but also in a static, comparative static and sometimes even dynamic way.

The central research question of the project is the following:

What are the technical, legal, economic, sociological and public administrative requirements to develop an operational Flemish Spatial Data Infrastructure, consistent with international standards that is efficient, effective, flexible and feasible?