World Status of National Spatial Data Clearinghouses

Abstract

In December 2001, a survey of the World Wide Web was carried out to assess systematically the state-of-the-art of national spatial data clearinghouses around the world. The aim of this Web survey was to evaluate the status and the spatial distribution of the clearinghouse implementations and to find out the similarities and differences between them. Each clearinghouse was characterized by the following criteria: the year of first implementation; the number of data suppliers; the type of data accessibility; the metadata-standard; the number of datasets; the most recently produced dataset; the number of Web references; the number of monthly visitors; the frequency of Web updates; the language used; and the use of maps for searching and registration-only access. For 59 countries, a national clearinghouse has already been established. The results of this Web survey show a large variety in history, use, content, and management. way. This article presents only the results of data collected the month of December 2001. Web Survey Methodology In order to assess national clearinghouse developments around the world, a Web survey was undertaken. The main intention of this survey was to examine the condition (status) of national clearinghouses. Added to this survey is the word “Web” to emphasize that the needed information was mainly collected on the Web. Because of the easy access to the clearinghouse sites, the Web is an excellent means by which to gather the needed information quickly and objectively on a regular temporal basis. In this case, a traditional research survey, which would collect information by asking a set of pre-formulated questions in a predetermined sequence in a structured questionnaire to individuals (Hutton 1990), would not be a suitable approach to collect the needed information quickly, objectively, and easily. The Web survey began in December 1999 and was conducted in a systematic and periodical manner. The procedure consisted of the following two steps: 1) making an inventory of all existing national clearinghouses on the Internet; and 2) measuring several characteristics to describe each clearinghouse. The inventory (step 1) was compiled by extensive browsing of the Internet, reading related literature, and contacting experts and several Webmasters. Clearinghouses were characterized (step 2) based on the following criteria: ease of measurement, objective character, and clear presentation of history, content, and use and management of the clearinghouse. The following 12 characteristics were measured: 1) the year of first implementation; 2) the number of data suppliers; 3) the type of data accessibility; 4) the metadata-standard used; 5) the number of datasets; 6) the most recently produced dataset; 7) the number of Web references (AltaVista and Google); 8) the number of monthly visitors; 9) the frequency of Web updates; 10) the languages used; 11) the use of

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