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Reconceptualizing the role of the user of spatial data infrastructure

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Abstract

Spatial data infrastructures, which are Internet-based mechanisms for the coordinated production, discovery, and use of geospatial information in the digital environment, have diffused worldwide in the last two decades. Currently, there are about one hundred spatial data infrastructures at the national level and many other at supra- and sub-national levels. These contemporary spatial data infrastructures operate with two main assumptions: formal organizations are the producers and suppliers of geospatial information; users are the passive recipients of information. The recent phenomenon of volunteered geographic information departs from these assumptions. In this paper, we argue that reconceptualizing the user of a spatial data infrastructure can accommodate this new phenomenon. Such a reconceptualization creates a middle ground between spatial data infrastructure and volunteered geographic information, which has important implications for future research.

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Notes

  1. The term ‘VGI’ is used in the remainder of this paper to keep it consistent with the theme of this special issue.

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Acknowledgement

We are thankful to two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and the editor of this special issue for her suggestions that greatly helped to revise this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA

    Nama Raj Budhathoki, Bertram (Chip) Bruce & Zorica Nedovic-Budic

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  1. Nama Raj Budhathoki
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  2. Bertram (Chip) Bruce
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  3. Zorica Nedovic-Budic
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Correspondence to Nama Raj Budhathoki.

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Budhathoki, N.R., Bruce, B.(. & Nedovic-Budic, Z. Reconceptualizing the role of the user of spatial data infrastructure. GeoJournal 72, 149–160 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-008-9189-x

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