Open data in spatial data infrastructure: the practices and experiences of Poland

Abstract

As an important facilitator in e-government and society in general, Open SDI merits an assessment of its characteristics and the monitoring of its development. The aim of the study was the proposal of the SDI openness assessment approach based on existing openness assessment frameworks, as well as the presentation of the Polish Spatial Data Infrastructure (PSDI) development towards openness. The results indicated that ten geodetic and cartographic databases fulfilled ten out of eleven criteria of data openness, according to the methodological assumptions, and reached a 3-star level of openness. The need for further development of the infrastructure towards sharing public administration data is recognized, as well as non-governmental data that meet the open data criteria, thus contributing to the openness of the SDI. The proposed assessment method, referenced to a five-level data openness system and providing clear scoring benchmarking for assessing SDI openness, may be used for comparative analysis of SDI openness in different countries, including EU Member States that draw on the experience of the implementation of the INSPIRE Directive.