This third book in the GISDATA series focuses on the widespread use of geographical information systems GIS in European local government. The editors include a wide range of applications carried out by different professional groups, and offer the opportunity of studying the extent to which diffusion of innovations like GIS are sensitive to national issues such as cultural context, institutional setup and the availability of data.; The book answers key questions such as: what can be learnt from research on organizational behaviour in relation to technological innovation?; what are the classical features of the GIS diffusion process?; to what extent is the adoption and utilization of GIS facilitated - or impeded - by the organizational culture within which it takes place?; and what mechanisms can be applied to enhance the diffusion of GIS? The book covers aspects of diffusion in the following European countries: UK, France, Italy, Poland, Denmark, The Netherlands, Germany, Greece and Portugal.
Ian Masser has been fascinated by the notion of spatial data infrastructures in recent years and followed their implementation in different parts of the world with considerable interest. His research has been the subject of several books. The most recent of these, 'Building European SDIs,' describing the ground breaking INSPIRE initiative, was published by ESRI Press in June 2007. A second edition of this book containing details of developments since the approval of the INSPIRE Directive was published in July 2010.
He was Professor of Urban Planning at the International Institute for Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation (ITC) in the Netherlands between 1998 and 2002 and Founder Chairman of the Association of Geographic Information Laboratories in Europe (AGILE) from 1998 to 2000, President of the European Umbrella Organisation for Geographic Information (EUROGI) from 1999 to 2003 and President of the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Association (GSDI) from 2002 to 2004.
