Inter-organizational GIS Databases Activities: Mechanism and Motivation

This is a one-year standard award. As large-scale information-sharing technologies become more widespread, it is critical to understand the contextual elements that make them succeed and fail. Geographic information systems are a case in point. A substantial amount of research and experience indicates that, in spite of governmental calls to the contrary, few public agencies and governments are willing to share geographic information across organization boundaries, leading to substantial duplication and inefficiencies. Difficulties are experienced even by organizations that are willing to share their GIS products. The primary objective of this research, a collaborative project with IIS-9812520, is to formally identify and verify factors and processes influencing governmental agencies' sharing of geographic information across boundaries. The project focuses particularly on behavioral and organizational factors that can facilitate or inhibit the free flow of geographic information. A large-scale mail survey of key respondents and decision-makers in selected local, state, and federal agencies will be used to study the key information -sharing decision criteria and coordination factors, and which information sharing configurations yield greater benefits. This work is a substantial step toward a realistic and useful model of the information sharing process for agencies that would benefit from free information exchange but to date have been loathe to make their information available to other parties. It will also contribute valuable insight in support of the nationwide initiative in developing the spatial data infrastructure.