Geographic Information Systems: An Introduction, 3rd Edition

20.3 Public or Private Organization of Geodata

In the discussion regarding public or private organization of geodata, strategies must suit prevailing market conditions. But as market conditions change, prudent strategies must encompass alternative approaches with respect to organization of production and the market situation. Organization of production can be based on a decentralized, centralized, or semidecentralized approach, in which the producing organization is responsible for reasonable standardized data interchange between providers and users.

The market situation is likely to be composed of a variety of user groups with common interests only in limited (local) geographical areas and in cost sharing of centralized geodata. Market demand from a single major user would normally be inadequate to fully finance such data provision. Only a homogenization of demand would enable any uniformity of supply to be implemented.

Depending on the organization of the production side and the market, public agencies, which often operate national databases, may choose among various business approaches:

1. Supplement basic data with other standard data and distribute the combination as a standard package to all users (extended map production).
2. Supplement basic data with other standard data to compile tailor-made user products.
3. Supplement basic data with user-specified data to compile tailor-made user products.
4. Coordinate data interchange without being involved in production but with responsibility ...