Spaces
Spaces information is that which is most commonly associated with geography. When you are looking at a map what you are viewing is largely spaces information - information about the physical land surface and boundaries.
Spaces information is seen, within the geographic information industry, to incorporate:
- Physical Data - Information about the physical land surface, roads, rivers and so on
- Boundary Data - Information that defines the extent of an area for administrative, legislative or statistical reporting purposes.
These definitions are taken from the first 'Key Geographies' paper.
Spaces information, as defined in the One Scotland - One Geography strategy, is information about the physical land surface such as local authority boundaries or electoral wards. But spaces information also includes offshore data. For example, when you think about the geography of Scotland you may think of a map showing the land surface area. However, Scotland not only includes the land surface area but also a significant offshore area including fish and oil reserves.
For the fishing industry the drawing of catchment areas is absolutely critical and all fishing boats are equipped with sophisticated tracking devices to ensure they do not stray from these European Union defined boundaries. Indeed spaces information is the basis of all geographic information analysis and is crucial to daily business and government in Scotland by, for example, calculating agricultural subsidies to farmers.