GeoData Policy

The Wisconsin Land Information Association regional meeting on October 16-17, at the Heidel House Resort in Green Lake, focused on ”Building the case for GIS and return on investment (ROI).” Doug Adams gave a dynamic presentation on a ROI case study conducted by Baltimore County, Maryland. For more information on their efforts, see the following links:

• GIS saves Baltimore County, MD $4 million dollars annually (Government Technology, August 2008)
• Baltimore County’s GIS Strategic Plan Reveals a Significant Return on Investment (ESRI, Sept 2008)
• Baltimore County’s GIS Strategic Business Plan (Revised February 2008)

Baltimore County’s GIS Benefit*

• 119,377—Hours saved with the use of GIS
• $4,052,895—Money saved with the use of GIS (total number of hours saved at $33.95 per hour)
• $606,626—Other benefits realized from the use of GIS (e.g., agriculture preservation program, savings derived from performing work in-house as opposed to using consultants, and revenue collected from data request fees)
• $4,659,521—Total annual benefits realized from the use of GIS
• 121.03%—Percentage of annual benefits realized from the use of GIS after its cost is subtracted
• 221.03%—Percentage of money saved with the use of GIS

Another innovative presentation on ROI comes from IndianaMap.

• IndianaMap’s ROI Report (2008)

See also the following resources:

• The Business Benefits of GIS: An ROI Approach (ESRI, 2008)
• Economic Justification: Measuring Return on Investment and Cost Benefit Analysis (NSGIC, 2006)
• Building a Business Case for Shared Geospatial Data and Services: Financial and Strategic Analysis for a Multi-participant Program (GITA, 2007)
• Economic theory as it applies to Statistics Canada: a review of the literature [public sector information] (2008) A review of economic theory in the context of public sector information, commissioned by Statistics Canada, begins with a brief summary of neoclassical economic theory including the concept of market failure in order to lay the groundwork for the rest of this paper. The failure of neoclassical theory to account for information led to the development of an economics of information. The literature on the history of information economics, the definitions of information, the concepts of information as a commodity, as a public good, and as a contributor to social value are addressed. The review then focuses on the arguments that arise around the issue of public sector versus private sector supply of information and the pricing of information. The last sections of this review look at the information on official statistics, summarize the findings of the review and make specific observations and recommendations regarding Statistics Canada?s production and dissemination program. This literature review focuses on economics literature and the economic arguments put forward in government studies and policy documents.
• Socioeconomic Effects of Public Sector Information on Digital Networks:
  Toward a Better Understanding of Different Access and Reuse Policies
  4-5 February 2008 Paris France. Organized by U.S National Committee for CODATA, Board on International Scientific Organizations, U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development – WPIE workshop on public sector information. Session One: Introduction and opening presentations; Session Two: Different approaches for evaluating the direct and indirect economic and non-economic benefits and costs of PSI access and reuse policies in the online environment; Session Three: Measuring the economic and social costs and benefits of the PSI: evaluation of the existing approaches and suggestions for future work.
• Financing the NSDI: National Spatial Data Infrastructure – Aligning Federal and Non-Federal Investment in Spatial Data, Decision Support and Information Resources (2000)