In order to provide a basis for quantitative and qualitative assessment of SDIperformance, a clear definition and a theoretical framework for SDI are needed. From the various definitions and frameworks of SDI available in the literature, the productional and the geographic information process perspective were selected, combined and extended. From the productional perspective, SDI-development is a dynamic process in which suppliers and users of spatial data interact to add value to the data by using them in applications and processes. The geographic information process perspective incorporates the "information acquisition -delivery -usage" chain. The extension proposed in this article leads to a network perspective on SDI. The nature of this perspective is described for the Flemish SDI. Its applicability to characterise and underpin the assessment of SDI is tested using a Social Network Analysis (SNA) focusing on the network structure parameters "density", "distance" and "centrality". The SNA confirms the applicability, usability and extensibility of the network perspective to characterize the SDI, to describe the data flows between stakeholders and to analyse the behaviour of the different (types) of stakeholders within the network. We conclude that SNA should likely be complemented by an impact analysis of different SDI setups on business processes which will provide a good basis for a holistic SDI-performance assessment.

Geospatial information infrastructures (GIIs) provide the technological, semantic, organizational and legal structure that allow for the discovery, sharing, and use of geospatial information (GI). In this chapter, we introduce the overall concept and surrounding notions such as geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial data infrastructures (SDI). We outline the history of GIIs in terms of the organizational and technological developments as well as the current state-of-art, and reflect on some of the central challenges and possible future trajectories. We focus on the tension between increased needs for standardization and the ever-accelerating technological changes. We conclude that GIIs evolved as a strong underpinning contribution to implementation of the Digital Earth vision. In the future, these infrastructures are challenged to become flexible and robust enough to absorb and embrace technological transformations and the accompanying societal and organizational implications. With this contribution, we present the reader a comprehensive overview of the field and a solid basis for reflections about future developments.

The use of spatial data has become a key factor in numerous public sector processes. However, recent evidence suggests that the seemingly obvious benefits of spatial data use and sharing often stay beyond reach. This paper examines whether the performance of spatial data in inter-organisational processes depends on the structural characteristics of the process involved. Process structure here refers to the way in which tasks are divided and coordinated between the organisations in a process chain, and to the allocation of the spatial data handling tasks in that process. Spatial data performance describes the level of access, use and sharing of spatial data in the process. The paper presents the results of a comparative case study of interorganisational public sector processes in the fields of urban planning, flood management, population registration, environmental permit delivery and road safety monitoring. The findings suggest that spatial data performance in inter-organisational processes depends on the interplay between the structural characteristics of the process. Unfragmented processes with embedded activities that are related to spatial data are apparently linked to a high level of spatial data performance, while fragmented processes without centralised coordination, or processes in which the spatial datarelated activities are separated from the actual process, seem to relate to lower levels of spatial data performance.

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