Paul
 
The figure appears to be based on the assumption that most data contains an address or some information about where a person is or where an event happens: everything happens somewhere. See for instance the Power of Geography website at:
http://www.thepowerofgeography.com/
 
The immediate sources (which I have not actually checked) seem likely to be a report by Oxford Economic Research Associates published in September 1999 and 'the Big Book' on Geographical Information Systems by Maguire, Goodchild and Rhind published in 1991.
 
Tim

------------------
Tim Padfield
Information Policy Consultant
Information Policy and Services Directorate
The National Archives
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Tel +44 (0)20 8392 5381
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-----Original Message-----
From: Archivists, conservators and records managers. [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Brough Paul
Sent: 01 May 2008 10:44
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: GIS question

As a curiosity has anyone who is looking at GIS as an alternative paradigm to text as a means of presenting archival data noticed that everyone quotes 80% as the proportion of data globally that has a ‘geographical’ or ‘spatial’ dimension? Is there an original source for this or is 80% just another of those comfortable ‘statistics’ people like to repeat?

 

Paul

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