An integrated conceptual framework for SDI research: experiences from French case studies

Understanding the contribution of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI) to society through improved economic, social and environmental outcomes implies an integrated and dynamic approach. To address this challenge, we propose a research framework that gathers theories and findings from an interdisciplinary study concerning French institutional SDIs. The framework identifies and describes five main components of SDI (external drivers, a social component, patterns of interactions, a technical and informational component and outcomes), their relationships and research hypotheses. External drivers are press events taking place at a global level and impacting digital earth. Our iterative framework, guided by press-pulse dynamics, redresses the balance of SDI components in favor of the social block and links this block to the technical and informational component through two bridges: patterns of interactions and outcomes. It shows how social norms and representations of different types of actors affect collective and individual actions, which then impact the technical and informational component of SDIs. In turn, technical and informational artifacts influence outcomes, thereby modifying human actions and initiating feedback that impacts the original dynamics and processes.