Assessing the motivators and barriers of interorganizational GIS data sharing for address data in South Africa

Abstract

Address data within geographic information systems (GIS) is used as reference data to link personal and administrative information, thus making it possible to locate and deliver goods and services to eligible persons. Preferably, every country must develop and maintain a single national address database (NAD) to eliminate data redundancy and provide a common point of reference across the board. In South Africa, the challenge is that there are separate address databases, which are developed and maintained by various public and private organizations – with little or no cooperation on data sharing. Currently, the establishment of a Committee for Spatial Information (CSI) which is tasked with the implementation of the South African Spatial Data Infrastructure (SASDI) and the publication of the South African Address Standard (SANS 1883) offer organizations an opportunity to collaborate towards the creation of a single address dataset. This research posits that the implementation of a successful data sharing initiative depends on the understanding of motivators and barriers of organizations participating in it. The research applied the case study method – with a semi-structured questionnaire – to assess the issues that motivate or obstruct GIS data sharing among three address organizations in South Africa. The results identified significant motivators that underlie the data sharing activities, e.g. reduced cost of data collection, improved data quality; and equally identified significant barriers that make organizations reluctant to enter into a data sharing initiative, e.g. data copyright and ownership, high staff-turnover, and lack of financial and technical resources. Although the case studies focused on address data in South Africa, the research findings can equally apply to other spatial datasets and are relevant for the successful implementation of the South African Spatial Data Infrastructure (SASDI).