Data neighbors make a 'Data Community'

Press any GIS technician about their database content and they'll confess they have some extraorganizational data. This means data from somewhere outside their control in a place with different practices. Sharing data for re-use or secondary use in encouraged at the Federal level:

"Prior to its public dissemination, the use of a database is limited to those involved in the collection of data or production, and therefore does not provide the opportunity to contribute broadly to the advancement of scientific knowledge, technical progress, economic growth, or other applications beyond those of the immediate group. It is only upon the distribution of a database that its far-reaching research, educational, and other socioeconomic values are recognized." (National Research Council. (1999). A question of balance: Private rights and the public interest in scientific and technical databases. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. p.34)

Large scale landscape management initiatives data hungry environment with many different stakeholders. Measurements, analyses, models and negotiations distill what is right, wrong, written and unspoken. Data circulates through many channels and is appropriated differently by all data consumers. In this process almost all maps include data from others' works. Organizations that share data about a common landscape connect at a technical level as a 'Data Community'.

Fifteen years of work with students, clients and research have given me first hand experience with the magnitude of data and data sharing in the Puget Sound region. That experience and doctoral studies is about the ecology of information in this Data Community.