Geographic Information Systems (GIS) – Bringing it All Together (Part 2)

By: Valrie Grant, Managing Director GeoTechVision

 

In the last article we looked at how government through the use of policies can help to drive the use of spatial information or tools in the process of economic development. GI policies sets the stage for building out the nation’s spatial data infrastructure (SDI).Since, spatial data is used in both government as well as in the private sector for decision making and planning, a national SDI would facilitate the availability and access to spatial data for all levels of government, commercial and non-profit sector, academia and citizens. It allows data providers and users to participate in the growing use of digital spatial information for planning and decision making purposes.

What is Spatial Data

Infrastructure – SDI?

SDI is often used to denote the relevant collection of technologies, policies and institutional arrangements to facilitate the availability of and access to spatial data. SDI provides the mechanism that allow users to discover, understand, view, access, and query spatial information of their choice from the local level to the global level,