ABSTRACT
Spatial data infrastructure as a notion and a set of practices has made inroads in African countries since the ’rst Committee on Development Information (CODI) conference in 1999 (CODI-I 1999). Still, SDI is fraught with problems and arguably slower to implement in Africa than in more economically developed regions (Georgiadou and Homburg 2008; Homburg and Georgiadou 2009). The most recent of’cial report on SDI activities by African states mentions the lack of policies, the reluctance of governments to implement policy guidelines, and the lack of clarity on roles and responsibilities at national, provincial, and local levels as the major impediments to SDI implementation (United Nations Economic Commission for Africa 2009).
