ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces current technical approaches to data provenance. It problematizes those approaches in current urban spatial data by highlighting two interrelated issues: a failure to differentiate individual people from data points derived from their actions, which, in turn, results in an inscription of meaning into data that may not exist in the world. The chapter proposes a mesoscale data-encounter that recognizes both that all data need not be explicitly spatial and that sets minimum standards for a 'more than' technical data provenance for urban spatial data. It also problematizes technical definitions of data provenance to propose a more contextual form of provenance for urban spatial data that emphasizes its mediated and constantly changing nature amidst society and technology. The chapter highlights both data provenance and the very meaning of data itself, its ontological status, exist differently for distinct types of data.
