In order to make full use of spatial data infrastructures, spatial data sharing (SDS) is essential. Various authors indicate that the attitudes both of individuals and of organizations toward SDS are quite often problematic. For various reasons and motivations, SDS is far from optimal. However, research on individual and organizational behavior in SDS is in its infancy and presents a challenge ...

Why do all electrons have the same charge and why do all protons have exactly the opposite charge? Dirac provided a possible answer by proposing the existence of magnetic monopoles. We propose a simple possible topological explanation of why charge is quantized, involving a tiny permanent magnetic field trapped in the topology of the universe. The idea apparently works for every possible compac...

Germany 3 The successful implementation of Internet-based spatial data infrastructures (SDI) requires the adoption of a compatible suite of standards to enable interoperability. The proliferation of new standards and new versions of old standards raises issues of dependency and compatibility that may impede the implementation of SDI architectures. This article proposes a suite of geospatial sta...