No one would be surprised to know that there are challenges to making a national geospatial agenda happen.  When I think across the many conversations, presentations and discussions I've been a part of, it often comes back to one thing - an issue that can be summed up in one line. It's what I'm characterizing as the NZ Geospatial Challenge:

"We've been talking about that for 10 years."

It's amazing how often that line is given life; it's such a consistent assessment of the state of things in New Zealand, across all sectors and levels.

So if we accept that this is our "issue," we need to solve it. To do that we need to address three things:

1. what does it mean?
2. why are we there?
3. how can we get past it to succeed?

What does it mean?

Maybe it's best to describe firstly what it doesn't mean: It doesn't mean we don't understand the problems, the challenges, even the solutions. We do. We are extraordinarily consistent in our understanding and our joined up purpose across all sectors.

That's very important and a necessary first step. But articulation is not enough. We can get ourselves, more significantly as a unified group, to that precipice.  But we hesitate, again as a group, to take that first significant step towards achieving. There are those individuals and organizations doing this already, to be sure: the innovators and early adopters.  And I want to stress that and acknowledge those who are already taking that step and implementing solutions.

But to succeed as a country we need to do these things in numbers. We need that critical mass of participants (the peak of the Rogers Curve - the early and late majority) fully committed and participating.

To be fair, it can never be just about or by us. We need to bring others along: the decision-makers, the funders; supervisors, managers, CE's, councils, politicians, Ministers.

If its hard for us, the knowledgeable, the converted, to take that step into unknown territory, be aware of just how much harder that is for those without our level of understanding of the value of geospatial. It is even darker territory for them, into which they must place their trust, their money, in many cases their reputations.

Why are we here?

Why is this, that last push towards realisation, our issue to solve? I don't know that I can fully answer that, because it's likely based on a complex mix of reasons.  I've heard it said: "It's a New Zealand trait, a Kiwi thing."  I don't believe it myself.  If anything, Kiwis are known both for getting it done, one way or another, and for that sense as a small country of a nation as community, a population that can act in a unified way around a purpose.  New Zealand history is full of examples of that joined up action around a common goal.

And if nothing else, this issue isn't just a Kiwi thing - other countries have found themselves in the same spot, struggled with the same issues.

Maybe it's because our inclination, what excites and motivates us, is the act of identifying a problem and working through, at least conceptually, to a solution.  Then it's on to the next one, leave the doing to someone else.  But there is no pool of "someone else's," ready to implement our ideas.  So we wind up with a collection of solved or at least well considered problems, but no strong set of tangible results.

How do we get past this to success?

So where to now? How can we get beyond this apparent impasse and start to make things happen on a grander scale?  Well as is often the case, I think the best approach is to heed the lessons of those who have gone before us. There is no secret to getting a majority to follow in the footsteps of the innovators and the early adopters. It comes down to a few key things:

Reward and acknowledge those who take those first steps, those who have made the initial attempts to not just do, but to do well and with the best interests of the broader community in mind.  This encourages and highlights preferred behaviours.  And importantly it creates a set of leaders for others to emulate.

Make it a relatively easy proposition for those not yet there.  Hesitation or resistance, to put it in physics terms, is friction. Reduce the friction and you facilitate movement.

Lots of thinking has been done in this regard and from that I see three effective tools at our disposal:

1. Persuade.  Convince, educate and convey.  This requires knowledge, clarity and persistence.
2. Incentivise.  Dangle the "carrot" in terms of financial support especially, but also as recognition within the community.  This requires resources.
3. Direct.  Employ the "stick" as needed.  Secure mandate, develop policy, enact legislation, penalise non-compliance.  This requires strength of conviction.

In combination these three approaches represent a proven and effective means of getting the bulk of us moving in the same direction and helping to realise benefits for the greater good.

From my perspective I'm not overly concerned because I think the most challenging element - securing a unified vision - is well in hand. The doing involves overcoming inertia and especially cultural resistance to change, which can be particularly difficult.  But this is absolutely solvable.

To draw upon a physics analogy again, Newton's Law of Motion describes three relevant truths.  First, that in the absence of forces a body at rest will stay at rest, and secondly, when a force is applied to an object it accelerates in proportion to the strength of the applied force.  But there is also law number three: To every action (force) there exists an equal and opposite reaction.

We have and will continue to experience this push back against our vision, most likely in the form of inaction and entrenching rather active resistance.  Who can really argue against at least some value and benefit from applying geospatial thinking?  But it is possible to embrace the idea yet take no action to implement.

I'm convinced that with the tools at our disposal and especially with the articulated and joined vision that we enjoy, we have plenty of force at our disposal to get things moving, for the good of New Zealand.

Kevin Sweeney

Geospatial Custodian
New Zealand Geospatial Office