Spatially enabled society

This is a paper from Bridging the Gap between Cultures (FIG Working Week 2011), Marrakech, Morocco, 18-22 May 2011 published by International Federation of Surveyors (FIG). http://www.fig.net/fig2011/index.htmThe term 'spatially enabled society' describes the emerging cultural and governance revolution offered by pervasive spatial information technologies and spatially equipped citizens. Spatially enabled societies make possible, amongst many other things, sustainable cities, GFC early warning systems, smarter delivery of housing, improved risk management, and better macroeconomic decision making. The concept is not about managing spatial information, it is about governing society spatially. Spatially enabled societies represent the realization of the promises offered by building spatial data infrastructures (SDIs) and reforming land administration systems. These building blocks, established over decades, make possible spatially enabled societies. Without tools for managing metadata, building complete national cadastres, modelling and integrating the 3rd dimension, and much other foundational work, spatially enabled societies cannot emerge. This paper explores the notion of spatially enabled societies further. Example applications are used in the discussion. The paper also demonstrates how, despite the grand possibilities of revolutionary spatial technologies and spatially aware citizens, existing infrastructures including SDIs and land administration system will still require an ongoing governance structure for spatially enabled societies to be maintained.18-22 Ma