National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis

This technical report is the result of a literature search performed under the NCGIA Initiative # 4 - The Use and Value of Geographic Information. This initiative is part of a larger research agenda focused on the impediments to the adoption of GIS in organizations. At the Initiative # 4 Specialist Meeting, (May, 1989, University of Maine), it was quickly realized that determining the use and value of information would not be an easy task. Of great concern to the attendees of this meeting were research topics that would (1) develop taxonomies of information use, (2) develop a methodology for assessing the value of information, and (3) develop a model of the diffusion of technology. This technical report is in response to the second research topic.

Previous work on the economic evaluation of GIS is limited. For this reason, the first step of the research plan is an extensivebibliographic search aimed at identifying the concepts and methods used by other disciplines to address the value of information. Articles on the value of information were found in the economics, information science, and management sciences literature. Computer searches were conducted on several data bases using the following keywords: value, information, value-added, valueanalysis, cost/benefit, evaluation, decision making, and decision analysis. The bibliography presented here is a subset of the results of the computer searches, containing only articles deemed relevant to the investigation into the value of information, either theoretical orempirical studies.