The range of government-related activity that is facilitated by, and generates geographic data is tremendous. Commonly-circulated figures claim that 80% of data collected and held by government has a spatial component; that 80% of all geographic data is owned or held by government sources, that 40% of all geographic data sales by a user-payment National Mapping Agency are to government.
Here's a short list of government-related activities which can't be carried out without access to geographic data and spatial analysis.
- Political Canvassing and Campaigning
- 'Contact Your Representative' government feedback services
- Planning + Building Permissions Monitoring
- Public Transport Planning
- Social Housing planning and administration
- Local Taxation/Benefits allocation services
- Emergency and Maintenance Services Planning
- Environmental Monitoring and Analysis
There are also many civic-infrastructure activities which need geodata:
- Wireless Network Planning
- Location Based Services
- Spatial Web Search and Local Business Directory Services
- Local Information Access and Publishing
- Location-based marketing and media
OpenGeoData allows local organisers and voluntary organisations to build useful, simple spatial services. It allows enthusiasts and non-profits to build experimental services like geocoder.us or mapbureau.
In the UK, as of Nov 2004 Phil Hope is the minister at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister responsible for overseeing the remit of the Ordnance Survey, and he is also the 'Freedom of Information champion'. A [http://www.publictechnology.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1998&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0 recent speech by Phil Hope on the importance of geodata to e-government] was given to the AGI.