General points
These may look at the public value of geospatial activities and seek to align these activities with wider social and economic goals, such as growth, efficiency, environment, public trust etc Studies may consider a specific policy, such as a location strategy or the implementation of INSPIRE, or they may assess the economic or societal impacts of either public sector or industry-wide geospatial activities.
Case studies
A 2010 study, The Value of Geospatial Information to Local Public Service Delivery in England and Wales, concluded that real output of local government increased by over GBP 230m in 2009 as a result of the accumulated productivity benefits of using geospatial applications; GDP for England and Wales was over GBP 320m higher in 2009 using GI; projecting forward to 2015, GDP for England and Wales would be an estimated GBP 560m higher using GI; better policies and actions could improve GDP by GBP 600m by 2014-5.
A study on The Economic Value of Spatial Information in New South Wales for 2017 and 2022 estimated that total net benefits from improvements in productivity attributed to the use of spatial information, services and analytics would increase from AUD 923m in 2017 to AUD 1,395m in 2022. Key sectors included emergency services, insurance and ambulance services (AUD 339.5m to AUD 390.8m) smart buildings and infrastructure (AUD 360 bn to AUD 360 bn) and land and property administration (AUD 4.4m to AUD 248.4m).
A UK Geospatial Commission study in 2018 ‘An Initial Analysis of the Potential Geospatial Economic Opportunity’ examined known public sector and private sector use cases and concluded that government could unlock up to £6-11 bn per year of economic value in the private sector. The analysis focused on productivity impacts, e.g. labour / time savings, fuel savings, e.g. in route optimisation, and material savings, e.g. reduced error rates in construction. The methodology involved 1) identify use cases; 2) estimate potential impact on gross value added (GVA) 3) estimate adoption rate. The main private sector themes were sales and marketing, property and land, infrastructure and construction, mobility and natural resources. The main public sector themes were housing, land and planning, security and emergencies, transport and logistics, environment and citizen engagement and service delivery.
The Lithuania INSPIRE 2020 country fiche outlines the costs and benefits of the Lithuania Spatial Infrastructure (LSI), a large part of which covers the implementation of the INSPIRE Directive. Between 2009 and 2019, LSI implementation costs amounted to EUR 11.6m. Annual savings of around 20.000 working days were identified which, in terms of average wages, amounts to EUR 1.2m. It was noted that time savings do not necessarily equate to financial savings. Socio-economic benefits were assessed from EUR 0.9m in 2014 to an average of EUR 1.8m in subsequent years.
The Netherlands Geospatial Economy Report, 2021 estimated the geospatial economic impact in the Netherlands to be EUR 35.5 bn annually. The geospatial industry was estimated to have generated EUR 1.05 bn in revenues in 2019. It was concluded that the use of geospatial technologies has a strong multiplier effect and could result in productivity impacts representing 60% of the Netherlands Gross Value Added (GVA). The total business impact of the geospatial industry was valued at EUR 31 bn. Estimated consumer benefits based on a “willingness to pay” approach mounted to EUR 4.5 bn annually. Of this total, the time saved by commuters by using digital maps was estimated at EUR 2.5 bn and fuel savings due to improved navigation was estimated at EUR 1.95 bn. Furthermore, in comparison to 2010, CO2 emissions from vehicular traffic had reduced by 18.5% with the use of digital maps.