Organizational (soft) GIS interoperability: Lessons from the U.S.

Despite the numerous difficulties, many agencies and institutions in the United States and worldwide practice sharing of geographic information systems (GIS) and data, amounting to local, regional, national and international spatial data infrastructures. While the evidence on coordinated GIS development and spatial data sharing accumulates, there have been a few systematic evaluations of mechanisms and factors that facilitate or obstruct interorganizational GIS efforts. Moreover, the issue of "interoperability" has been addressed primarily in technical terms with its "soft" or organizational side mostly neglected. This paper presents results from several recent studies in the U.S. context. It explores the nature and effectiveness of interorganizational interaction, coordination and implementation processes, and assesses the benefits from achieving organizational interoperability.