GIS and policy information

• Using GIS to compare effectiveness of policies
• Using GIS for realising more transparency and accountability

Using GIS to compare effectiveness of policies

GIS is a visually appealing tool to compare the effectiveness of different levels of government and other public organisations. This may be the effectiveness of government at country, provincial or municipal level and of other public organisations that cover a geographical area. By visualising the effectiveness of these entities one can draw new conclusions. If effectiveness of these entities are compared against each other and are related to the extent of a problem, one may reach to a conclusion whether the policies of these entities produce the intended results.

Example: effectiveness of policy compared geographically

In our report 'Combating money laundering and terrorism financing' the Netherlands Court of Audit has mapped the performance of the regional offices of the Public Prosecution Service and that of the regional forces of the police. By relating the available information on the performance to the geographical areas of these entities we have gained an insight into the results of their policy implementation.

Using GIS for realising more transparency and accountability

GIS is a means to enhance transparency of government policy that has a geographical scope and to increase the transparency of the policy outcomes. Examples are decentralised policy measures or subsidies that have a geographical component. According to the Netherlands Court of Audit, more transparency means that there is a clear relationship between policy goals, financial flows, effectiveness and results. Enhancing transparency does not just mean more information, just better information. For instance through a better use of the available data.

Geographical overviews (for instance by maps) can serve not only to support the written text in a report or a large data set in a table, but they also offer the reader the opportunity to comprehend in a quick way large numbers of data and to view the overall picture at a glance. Also, the reader may draw his own conclusions depending for what purpose he looks at the map(s). Thus, a policy officer at a government department views a country map with data on municipalities differently than a policy officer at a municipal or provincial office.

Example: Enhancing transparency of development cooperation

In our report 'Development Aid', the Netherlands Court of Audit has explored a new geographical approach to enhance transparency of development cooperation. It considers which countries receive development aid and the goals it is spent on. Its projected findings are projected clearly onto maps of the world. This exploratory study provides openings to make development cooperation budgets and accounts more transparent.