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For this, the latest in our GISDATA series, the team of editors at the University of Sheffield's renowned Department of Town & Regional Planning have brought together leading experts who describe the diffusion of GIS in local government in nine European countries - Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Portugal. For each country, the recent diffusion of this technology is set against the background of the national institutional context, the structure of local government and the availability of digital data. It is then analysed in a systematic way in terms of the extent of diffusion, length of experience, main applications areas and predominant hardware and software.
These national case studies were undertaken by expert teams in each country following an agreed methodology. Their comparative evaluation highlights two important features. First, that there is a strong relationship between the extent of GIS diffusion in local government and the national data infrastructure in terms of the availability of digital data, responsibilities for its collections, updating and dissemination, government policies and co-ordinating mechanisms. Second, that in each country the professional cultures that have come to be predominant in local government play an important role in shaping the main applications of GIS, along a scale that sees strategic planning at one end and cadastral and land information system application at the other.
