Understanding the value of geographic information in

turbulent times

Steven Feldman

Changing environment

• Economic crisis demands better RoI• Shift from producer centric to customer

responsive organisation• Changing perceptions of value

Budgets under `pressure

Return on Investment

Cost does not equal value• Because geodata is expensive to produce does

not mean that it is valuable to customers• Customers determine value with their choices

Private Sector doesn’t necessarily do it any better

“Creating, maintaining and delivering a comprehensive, high quality map

database is a multi-step, labor-intensive process. We currently employ over 270

employees in our centralized production facility and a global workforce of over

700 geographic analysts in 32 countries”

Financials (2007)

Revenue $853m (~€604m)

Data creation & distribution costs $396m (~€280m)

• At street level at the point of consumption data is

The old adage• Data equals 75-90% of the cost of a solution• Not necessarily• Driven by data monopolies and rigid pricing

that did not reflect the different value that the same data brought to different applications

Check before you dig

We are National Mapping Agencies

Street maps are becoming

commodities

Strengths

• Cadastre• Large scale mapping• Precision• Process

Weaknesses• Cadastre• Large scale mapping• Precision• Process

Cairo – June 2008

Cairo – June 2009

Focus

Multi-purpose

Best of breed

Strengths

• Cadastre• Large scale mapping• Precision• Process

Than

k You

Steven FeldmanKnowWheree: shfeldman@gmail.comw: http://GIScussions.blogspot.comt: http://twitter.com/stevenfeldman