In my time as Special Minister of State I instigated a number of projects aimed directly at getting common standards, across all jurisdictions and for interoperability. The National Address Management Framework (NAMF) was one such project, which I instigated. SEG projects are vital, and so it’s concerning that the current Government appears to have put them on the back burner.

 

But let me explain why supporting a spatially enabled society through e-government is good politics.

 

Most people would agree that improving the social, economic and environmental circumstances for the people of a nation was a key objective of government. That has always been the case, one could go back literally thousands of years and find that not a lot has changed. The universal business of government generally comes back to such things as property ownership, taxation, defence and the delivery of services, or facilities management.

 

The big difference between then and now is that we use computers rather than stones to record that information, also in today’s world we have politically sensitive issues.

 

Twelve months ago climate change was the number one issue people wanted government to do something about. Today it would be the financial crisis and climate change: but locally don’t forget the environment, border security, employment, health, welfare and transportation. Improving social, economic and environmental circumstances were the general goals I had my sights on when I first began initiating SEG projects.

 

The financial crisis is having an impact worldwide. Experts are saying it, “shouldn’t have happened”, “the signs were there”. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. But the experts are right: it could have been avoided, or at least better contained, if the United States had a better land administration system that was truly spatially enabled. If land transactions and mortgages could have been linked in some accessible form to land use, owner status (i.e. first home buyer) and land values, warnings bells would have been ringing a long time ago.

 

Governments might understand the importance of cadastral information to government processes such as taxation but they have not understood just what a powerful tool it would be if it was made central to a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), thereby becoming effectively ubiquitous or transparent in all government processes and transactions. It could be used in all those other politically sensitive areas.

 

Integrated spatial data can help us navigate ever increasing complexities in the climate change space; whether it be measures to address its causes, or dealing with the consequences (sea level rise, temperature rise, change in snow and rain patterns, etc), or to implement and manage a carbon trading scheme. All these challenges necessitate the use of spatial information and highlight the need for better SDI.

 

Whether it be the protection of the environment, or using the environment for the benefit of society an SDI will always provide the framework for the most efficient measure of success. An SDI backdrop for government decisions can not only give government the confidence to make decisions which are the best decisions, but will form valuable evidence if a country’s environmental record is challenged globally.

 

The management of health and welfare systems are two other politically sensitive areas that can be better managed in a SEG environment. Remember the episode of the English comedy “Yes Minister” when the government built the most efficient hospital in the health system...the one with no patients! Well the increase in costs of health services caused by an ageing population and exponentially developing technology means government needs every possible aide when deciding the location of facilities.

 

Location is the common denominator when one starts to integrate the abundance of social and demographic data required to make important government spending decisions.

 

Similarly the only way to efficiently ensure that welfare is delivered to the most in need and to minimise welfare fraud is through a spatial information solution.

 

In an increasingly instant world; where time is money, and money talks all languages, the provision of efficient transportation by government is highly desirable. Technology in your car is telling you how to get from point A to point B.

 

But it is not just the engineering associated with the planning of roads, rail and other transportation infrastructure that needs spatial information it will be the whole operating and management system. The system will need to know such detail as where commuters are originating from, when, where they’re going to and by what method so that the “system” can adjust accordingly and personal navigators can direct you via the optimum route at that particular moment in time.

 

Good responsive politicians, who want to remain politicians, should be grabbing every possible opportunity so that they can deliver better outcomes to their constituents. An SDI and SEG are the essential tools to do just that. More timely and better decisions will result. It’s a political “no brainer”, its good politics.

 

The challenges of managing spatial data are global but the impacts are local, as are politics.