TITLE:
A Diachronic Perspective on the Use of French Spatial Data Infrastructures
AUTHORS:
Jade Georis-Creuseveau, Christophe Claramunt, Françoise Gourmelon, Bruno Pinaud, Laurence David
KEYWORDS:
Spatial Data Infrastructure, User, SDIs Use, Social Network Analysis
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geographic Information System,
Vol.10 No.4,
August
8,
2018
ABSTRACT: Despite the recent development of many worldwide initiatives, there is still a need for the development of observation frameworks that will provide a comprehensive view of SDI’s use. Amongst the many challenges left, a thorough analysis of the information flows between existing SDIs as well as their respective uses and the way that those evolve over time is an important issue to explore. The research presented in this paper introduces a methodological framework oriented to the study of the SDIs use from a diachronic perspective. The approach is based on a Social Network Analysis (SNA) and questionnaires collected by online surveys. We develop a structural and diachronic analysis based on a series of graph-based measures identifying the main patterns that appear over time. The methodological framework is applied to a series of French SDIs and users involved in environmental management. The study identifies a series of structural differences in the data flows that emerge between the users and SDIs. Last, the diachronic network analysis provides an overall understanding on how data flows evolve over time at different institutional levels.