Local Spatial Data Infrastructure, a Solid Base for Sustainable Land Management in Germany.

Given the spatial dimension of land, a working spatial data infrastructure (SDI) can enhance land management substantially by providing very valuable spatial information. In Europe, SDI implementation currently takes place at different levels of public administration. Due to an enormous amount of heterogeneous widespread spatial information distributed among many involved parties, local SDIs face a number of specific challenges. In this article a case study from Germany is presented to illustrate the various tasks of local SDI implementation for the purpose of sustainable land management. Four key factors are identified to define a feasible basis for the assessment of an SDI within the federal administrative system of Germany: organizational, legal, functional and technical aspects. Two federal states, Rheinland-Pfalz and Schleswig-Holstein, are selected for the case study to describe the present status of local SDI implementation in Germany. The results of the evaluation are used to identify significant weaknesses and develop recommendations on how to overcome the identified weaknesses. Implementing the recommendations will help to substantially improve the benefit of a working local SDI for the purposes of sustainable land management. In addition, the spatial SDI database which is one of the core parts of an SDI will be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]