The Expanding Role of GIS in Business and Government Spatial Data Infrastructure for Economic and Community Development Remarks by Prof. Joseph Ferreira, Jr. MIT,

Wharton Impact Conference, August 21, 2002 Joseph Ferreira, Jr. MIT Technology-driven Issues and Trends How ‘place’ is recorded, The usefulness of Administrative Records (AR), Changes in metropolitan information infrastructure, Implications for economic and community development

Wharton Impact Conference, August 21, 2002 Joseph Ferreira, Jr. MIT How ‘place’ is recorded Old Way (1:250,000 scale) –County, city, SMSA, census tract –Standardized, federal datasets (Census, USGS,…) New Way (1:25,000 scale) –Census block and block-group, zip, Tiger –Geocoding addresses, Mapquest, GDT,… Next Way (1:2,500 scale) –Parcel, person, building, feature –GPS location, Ankle braclet, Community asset,…

Wharton Impact Conference, August 21, 2002 Joseph Ferreira, Jr. MIT Usefulness of Administrative Records Traditional study strategy –Special surveys: census, activity report, phone survey,… –Customized, cross-sectional ‘snapshot’ Administrative Record alternative –Transactional records: registry of deeds, building permit, DMV, housing court,… –Event-driven, hard-to-(re)use, voluminous

Wharton Impact Conference, August 21, 2002 Joseph Ferreira, Jr. MIT Changes in Metro Information Infrastructure Rapid growth of standardized, spatially disaggregated, georeferenced data Progress in regional consistency (e.g., parcel data for metro Portland, OR, with consistent land use, zoning, valuation) Progress in Federally-supported ‘framework datasets’ (State & NSDI efforts, Enviromapper) Critical mass of networked, graphics/GIS capable workstations and Web servers

Wharton Impact Conference, August 21, 2002 Joseph Ferreira, Jr. MIT Changes in Metro Information Infrastructure - BUT Hard to cross-reference all the data Many access/sharing/privacy issues Data centers can’t keep up (too much data, too many updates) E-government and Mapquest-like services are good but limited ‘automation’ efforts Must shift from ‘data center’ to ‘web services’ infrastructure

Wharton Impact Conference, August 21, 2002 Joseph Ferreira, Jr. MIT Chaining Web Services Chained Web Services (virtual data centers) Isolated Data Centers

Wharton Impact Conference, August 21, 2002 Joseph Ferreira, Jr. MIT Implications for CSS Virtual data centers (portals) can: –Tap administrative records more easily –provide cost-effective customized value-added But, they require different expertise, sophistication, partnerships And new methods for data access, privacy protection, cross-referencing, funding

Wharton Impact Conference, August 21, 2002 Joseph Ferreira, Jr. MIT Next Steps and References Organizational efforts and urban ‘testbeds’ Next-Generation Community Statistical Systems conference: Paper: “Information Technologies that Change Relationships between Low-Income Communities and the Public and Non-profit Agencies that Serve Them” 7ferreira.html 7ferreira.html