Building European spatial data infrastructures

摘要

Last year I read the PhD thesis of Henk Koerten, called 'Taming Technology' (Koerten 2011). Henk is a sociologist who has observed and subsequently analysed spatial data infrastructure (SDI)-related cases in the Netherlands. His main conclusion is that a successful case needs a 'narrative anchor'. A narrative anchor is a simple non-technical phrase or story with the ability to ground activities for a considerable time. According to Henk, spatial data infrastructures currently lack such a clear narrative anchor.The story told in the book of Ian Masser clearly contributes to the development of such a narrative anchor for spatial data infrastructures. It consists of five well-written and clearly connected chapters. The first chapter provides an overview of the role of geoin-formation and GIS in society. Building on this societal setting an elementary explanation of GIS and the reasons for the development of SDIs are presented in Chapter 2. In this chapter also the components of SDI are described. In Chapter 3 stories on the development of SDIs in European member countries are presented. In Chapter 4 the INSPIRE story is told and finally in the last chapter prospects for SDI future developments are discussed. The book is nicely illustrated with a good balance between photos, maps and diagrams. In separate boxes SDI stories of people and a few countries are presented. The box stories add a strong human dimension to the storyline of the main text that is more abstract. It is, however, a pity that the author did not include a list of key SDI websites. This might be handy for the intended audience who want to read more. In the last chapter, the metaphor of 'patchwork quilt or collage' is introduced in an attempt to explain different SDI development paths.Although metaphorically strong, the relevance for SDI is not convincingly described.