Value Added Spatial Applications
It’s clear that the major supplier of spatial data in
Google don’t capture the spatial data they use in both GoogleMaps and GoogleEarth, but they do deliver a huge value add to the Government generated spatial data that makes up their base maps.
It’s ironic, yet in my mind not peculiar, that some government agencies license GoogleMaps by way of an enterprise license, which in effect delivers government data back to government at a price. This license fee is of course not for the spatial data but for the nice cartographic presentation, the convenience of accessing this data via the Internet with performances rivaling internal system performance, and of course to remove commercial marketing that will surely follow. In other words one can only assume that if those agencies had to do the same with their own internal geographic information systems (GIS) it may have well been judged as not being economically viable given the online service already available.
By way of example NuMaps is taking Australian Bureau Statistics (ABS) data and presenting it as DemographicDrapes or Thematic Map overlays back into Government via webservices.
ABS Census data is literally strewn throughout government, because it’s such a rich and useful data set (well done ABS) that it’s needed in many analyses. However, the process of getting the appropriate attributes into a GIS is tedious and time consuming. It’s also duplicated being undertaken many times over within any number of government agencies. I would not dispute that end users are not getting demographic data they need.
But, if one is available, why not use a subscription webservice that allows your standard GIS or mashups to connect to these published DemographicDrapes?
The point is; Google and other web pioneers have changed the way we view and interact with spatial data. Now it’s freely available over the Internet at fast enough speeds (and even faster when we move up into the hyper-fast broadband era just around the corner). I predict more and more private sector companies will deliver value added spatial products in this manner, thus changing the spatial landscape even further.
This is a natural demarcation of who should do what.
On one hand the public sector has the responsibility to collect accurate and timely agency information on behalf of the general public, whilst on the other hand the private sector has the innovation and risk capital to add value to these data by way of new features and services in a competitive marketplace.
The spatial future is going to transform and it will include loose co-operation of Government and Industry via the same data assets. Bring it on!
Brad Spencer is
Brad Spencer
September 8, 2009 at 2:36 am
Government as a Platform – GaaP
A new acronymn [GaaP] maybe? I like it!
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how_tim_oreilly_aims_to_change_government.php
Tim O’Riley is preaching the good word in this article. The concept of Government as a Platform (GaaP) on which they provide a framework that the private sector can build many innovative applications is the future – this is the collaboration we need.
This concept is entirely consistent with Software as a Service (SaaS) and Information as a Service (IaaS) trends that are steaming along and that will persist. In the spatial arena its a Spatial Data Infrastructure!
How soon we get there is a function of our leadership and visionaries like Tim.
Brad…