ABSTRACT
This chapter defines the special significance of information and geographic information in the context of the emerging global information economy and deals with the resource, commodity, asset and infrastructure viewpoints. Geographic information must be seen as a special case of information as a whole. The economic significance of geographic information lies in the general referencing framework that it provides for integrating large numbers of different data sets from many application fields in both the public and private sectors. The concept of the information economy assumes that information can be bought and sold like any other commodity. Considering geographic information from the asset standpoint enables a critical distinction to be made between questions relating to access and questions relating to ownership. H. Cleveland identifies several unique and sometimes paradoxical qualities of information which make it unlike other economic resources: information is expandable; information is compressible; information is diffusive; information is shareable.
