Building the case for a bottom-up approach to SDI stakeholder collaboration – experiences from South Africa

Abstract. Inclusive governance remains a challenge for the South African Spatial Data Infrastructure (SASDI). This is evidenced through the limited participation of sub-national government in SASDI and the challenges they experience with access to fundamental geospatial data. The purpose of this paper is to make recommendations for enhancing the role of sub-national government and other users in SASDI. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives from municipalities and the municipal land use application process was used as a case study. The interviews confirmed that municipalities are striving to operate efficiently, but that limited access to fundamental geospatial data constrains them. Based on the results, it is recommended that access to geospatial data be improved through an integrated approach to stakeholder collaboration, coordinated by the SASDI. Such collaboration would proactively pursue inclusive governance and could significantly improve access to fundamental geospatial datasets.