FACTORS EXPLAINING DIFFERENCES IN NSDI DEVELOPMENT STATUS BETWEEN THE DEVELOPED AND DEVELOPING WORLD

Abstract

National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) implementation and development face numerous challenges. Though the motives are the same, NSDI development must run through the developmental policies and national agenda of the respective countries. Differences in regulatory frameworks and national interests affect NSDI implemtation, making comparative assessment of NSDI development of countries a complex process. This paper presents comparative assessment of factors responsible for differences in NSDI implementation development status of four case studies countries; Canada, Switzerland, Malaysia and Nigeria using Key Variable model. The 14 indicators of NSDI components for each country were collected through literature review and the result analysed using qualitative approach. The result shows that there are currently twelve assessment models of which four of them; 1. INSPIRE State of Play, 2. Key variable, 3. Goal-oriented SDI assessment view, and 4. Multi-view SDI Assessment are currently in practice for NSDI development assessment. Further, the study identified 8 key elements of NSDI as critical factors that explain difference in NSDI development status of developed and developing countries. These key elements include (1). Willingness to share data, (2) human capital, (3) capacity building, (4) access mechanism, (5) funding, (6) Social political stability, (7) metadata availability and (8) interoperability. While (1) availability of digital data and (2) SDI awareness are less critical.