We may not think about it too much, but good quality information is critical in helping us all effectively plan and organise many aspects of our busy lives.  The quantity of available information has become overwhelming, accelerated by ever advancing web-based technologies and data sharing requirements.

Whether we need to access information for business or personal purposes, we often take the information presented to us at face value without recognising the significance of good data governance.

Unfortunately, any weaknesses in data governance are often only exposed when things go wrong - as witnessed by recent high profile examples of breaches in data security with personal data being leaked by both public and commercial organisations alike. Reacting appropriately to infringements like this is important, but of more importance is proactively developing robust data governance processes and procedures that mitigate against such risks in the first place.

Less publicly, key decisions on infrastructure improvements, resource allocation and increasing service efficiency rely on current, complete and accurate location-based information. This information is often sourced from third parties at differing specifications and quality thresholds and aggregated, repurposed or passed on to suit the task in hand. This is all made so much easier with the availability of powerful, low/no cost GIS software and the internet to freely transfer or share data with anyone. Yet how confident are we that the location-based information we’re relying upon is truly fit for purpose?

As a data consumer, do we always know the heritage of the data we are using, do we know of any conditions on use or reuse of the data, restrictions on data sharing or any quality constraints that may affect its reliability and relevance? Do we have confidence in its currency, completeness and accuracy and how can this be assured? As a data provider, do we have robust data management process and procedures in place covering the entire data lifecycle from creation to destruction? Do we have appropriate data quality assurance and control measures in place throughout the workflow process? Do we understand the risks and liabilities of data quality issues that may affect our end users?

The INSPIRE Directive is founded on 5 solid principles of good data governance and will encourage all public organisations involved to adopt a best practice approach that should benefit data consumers and data providers alike. Good quality metadata will help to increase confidence and judge fitness for purpose. Standardised web services will help to find, access and share a wide range of location-based information that should promote wider use of data collected at public expense.

Will INSPIRE go far enough? I’m not sure. As is often the case, the key issues are cultural and organisational, not technical, and I hope we see inspirational leadership driving the necessary changes to data governance within organisations. Investing in an organisation’s data and information assets is just as important as the significant investment that goes into other tangible assets such as land, property or human resources. However, against a backdrop of eroding public sector budgets, it will be more challenging than ever to secure the commitments needed for effective data governance and to enable delivery of the INSPIRE vision.

Forth Valley GIS offer a GIS Data Management Training Course that covers best practice in data management.

Our flagship product Location Centre is a fully hosted GIS web service that includes INSPIRE compliant features for metadata and web services.