A Model for Implementing the UN-IGIF in Geospatial Information Infrastructure Development for Indonesian Local Governments

Abstract

Indonesia's Geospatial Information Infrastructure (GII) has evolved from the Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) and is now governed by Law No. 4/2011 on Geospatial Information. Its primary aim is to provide the necessary facilities and infrastructure to enhance geospatial information management across national and local government agencies. On the international stage, the United Nations adopted the Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (UN-IGIF) to improve the management of geospatial information for its member countries and support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The UN-IGIF is designed for national-level implementation, making it essential to identify suitable indicators that can be applied at the local government level. This study evaluates the implementation of the nine strategic pathways of UN-IGIF for local governments in Indonesia. Data were obtained from questionnaires with 103 respondents and interviews with twelve local government officials. They were used to assess the importance of the indicators in the nine UN-IGIF strategic pathways in developing GII at the local government level. The insights from the questionnaires and interviews were then used to create a logic model for GII development in local governments in Indonesia based on UN-IGIF. To develop the logic model, twelve local governments were divided into five classes according to the problems they encountered to simplify the logic model's development. The findings highlight that three strategic pathways, governance and institutions, data, and capacity and education, showed a significant and positive impact when implemented in GII development. For less developed local governments, a cautious approach has to be taken since the adoption of UN-IGIF is influenced by local context and the state of geospatial information utilization. Nonetheless, the UN-IGIF, which was initially designed for implementation at the national level, can be adapted to support GII development in local government in Indonesia and potentially elsewhere. Successful adaptation of the UN-IGIF requires consideration of the local context and governmental settings, which can vary significantly between regions and countries.