Diffusion of Spatial Data Infrastructures: Private More Inspired than the Public SectorA Case of Tanzania

Spatial data is a key resource for national development. There is a lot of potential locked in spatial data and this potential may be realized by making spatial data readily available for various applications. SDI (Spatial Data Infrastructures) provides a platform for the data users, producers and so on to generate and share spatial data effectively. Though efforts to develop spatial data infrastructures started worldwide in the late 1970s, SDIs are still perceived by many institutions as new innovation; as such, they have not penetrated to all institutions to bring about effective management and development changes. This paper is reporting on a study conducted to assess SDI Readiness Index for Tanzania. The study aimed at identifying problems undermining SDI implementation in Tanzania, despite its potential in bringing fast socio-economic development elsewhere in the world. This paper is based on a research based on views from stakeholders of geospatial technology industry in Municipal Councils, Private Companies and Government Departments in Tanzania. Results indicated that Private Companies are more inspired than Government institutions towards implementation of SDIs. And those problems affecting implementation of SDIs are lack of National SDI Policy, lack of awareness and knowledge about SDIs, limited funding to operationalise SDI, lack of institutional leadership to coordinate SDI development activities, lack of political commitment from the Government. It is recommended that delibate efforts be devised to raise awareness of SDI amongst the Tanzanian community.