Spatial data infrastructures for cities in developing countries

Abstract

The cities of the developing world face major problems in managing growth and their urban infrastructure. The experiences of cities in the developed world have usually proved inappropriate in developing countries and consequently new and innovative solutions are continually being explored for these cities. Geographic information systems and the underlying spatial data infrastructures appear to offer significant potential to assist in managing human settlements in developing countries. In examining the status of spatial data infrastructures in developing countries, the first part of the paper compares cities in developing countries to those in the developed world. It then highlights issues facing developing countries in establishing spatial data infrastructures to support efficient urban land management. The paper describes the Bangkok Land Information System as an example of a city attempting to use spatial information technologies to manage the urban environment. This case study, together with the experience of the authors, are used to describe generic issues involved in the development of spatial data infrastructures for cities in similar socio-economic conditions. The paper provides a technical and institutional framework for the development of spatial data infrastructures for cities in developing countries. The paper concludes by suggesting that simple, low cost, project oriented, easily maintained and user-friendly spatial information technologies have the best chance of success.

Web 2.0 Broker: A standards-based service for spatio-temporal search of crowd-sourced information

“…They comprise a set of policies and standard activities promoting the creation of geospatial information services to assist diverse user communities in collecting, sharing and exploiting geospatial resources (Nebert 2004;Masser, 2005;Bishop et al, 2000;Davis et al, 2009). In this context, GIIs play a key role as facilitators and coordinators of geospatial data at regional, national and global scales (Dessers et al, 2012).…”

Regulating urban upgrading in developing countries

“…Some themes that need further exploration include (a) solidarity/community resistance to eviction 16,17 (b) self-help and incremental house building as important ways for the poor to secure decent housing [18][19][20][21][22][23] (c) ways to increase government capacity for monitoring and planning settlements [24][25][26] (d) the problem of middle-class capture of the housing for the poor (e) the role of middlemen in land acquisition ( f ) social capital and a more holistic approach to improve housing 27,28 (g) the gendered effects of regulations 29 (h) the impact of national economics on policies addressing informal settlements 30,31 (i) the question of whether to 'hire in' skilled people for house building/construction or whether local communities should try to acquire those skills themselves 32 ( j) the promotion of traditional materials and traditional skills (k) whether or not the housing deficit of a country is a result of building regulations rather than an actual housing shortage.…”

Village Level Information System – A Tool for Decentralized Planning at District Level in India

“…Over the last decade, districts in developing countries enthusiastically embraced Geographical Information Systems (GIS) (applications) and the supporting spatial data infrastructures (SDI) (the geodetic control and common base maps) (Bishop et al, 2000). It is foreseen that where geographical aspects are important for rural management, decision-making and planning, these GISs and SDIs would help to improve the efficiency of these rural management activities.…”

“…Useful SDIs, in the form of Spatial DSS for rural land use planning (Adinarayana et al, 2000) and identification of priority sites for watermills in a watershed (Durga Rao et al, 2002), have been developed to implement in the government sponsored watershed manage-ment schemes. However, simple, low cost, project oriented, easily maintained and user-friendly spatial information technologies have the best chance of success (Bishop et al, 2000).…”

“…The adoption of new spatial information technologies in developing countries should also be considered in the context of these main steps and approaches. However, these approaches should be modified by taking into account the following factors which can impede the adoption of spatial information technologies in developing countries : need for awareness and management support; data standards; data availability; personnel; resources; procedures; vendor support; successful implementation; and data integration (Bishop et al, 2000).…”