There is enormous value in the spatial data that has been collected over the last 10-15 years. To set it in a European context, it was estimated in 1999 that the then EC states had assembled geospatial datasets worth $36bn. The value of these datasets is not an issue, but the process of joining them up is. A National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) needs to create a structured model of reference datasets, which supports consistent integration of geographic information, leading to easy, automated exchange and analysis of application information from different sources.

The NSDI also aims to establish a consistency in georeferencing, in the modelling, integrity and connectivity of geographic information. Above all it is the referencing structure that allows for the continued maintenance of the data relative to the NSDI. The building blocks essentially are known as Master Data.These are unintelligent indexes to semantically consistent and understood information. In Great Britain, these are Ordnance Survey TOIDS™, the National Street Gazetteer street references and the Basic Land & Property Units. It is conceptualised in the figure below.

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