Geographic Information Systems: An Introduction, 3rd Edition

17.10 Creating National Geographic Databases and Developing New Business Sectors

Creating a national database raises numerous strategic questions on such subjects as public versus private financing, product organization, data content and quality, and so on. Many countries have addressed these questions and have created national databases of a variety of data, including property data, road data, environmental data, elevation data, statistical data, addresses, building data, and so forth.

The creation of a national database may be compared to the development of a new market—the guidelines are equally valid in the public and private sectors.

Principles of evolving strategies

All strategies start with the initial decision of whether to maintain the status quo (the zero alternative) or to select among alternatives to create a national database. Of course, the status quo decision requires no strategy. Strategies afford the means of selecting among alternative courses of action.

Strategies are best based on cost-benefit analyses, which rely on both costs and benefits being expressed in monetary units. Quantifying the costs and benefits of various courses of action is perhaps the greatest challenge of the entire strategic decision process. Strategies must also include consideration of organizational factors, such as production, storage, distribution, and updating.

All planning presupposes some experience with the subject. However, as a national geographic database is often the first of ...