1. City Knowledge A Web-services Approach for the Emergence of Sustainable Municipal Spatial Infrastructures MIT/WPI Fabio Carrera Muenster, September 20, 2006 for the Beyond SDI Workshop @ GIScience

7. Promotes the transformation of municipalities from hunter-gatherers of urban data to farmers of municipal information City Knowledge

27. The Long Tail in Municipal Spatial Data Infrastructures Size of Cities Large Cities Small Cities The total population that lives in small and medium cities is at least as big as that in megacities. Small towns ( “ tail ” ) represent a huge market opportunity. ANY TOWN

28. The Long Tail Change managed by various Departments Planning, Buildings, DPW Other Departments The Long Tail is Fractal. within a Municipal Spatial Data Infrastructure Target main departments ANY DEPARTMENT The Long Tail is Fractal. Starting with the “ head ” makes sense here, though all departments will eventually adopt the CK approach leading to MSDI.

29. The Long Tail Amount of Change by different “ agents ” specific developers, contractors, staff Other agents Again, the “ head ” will yield instant benefits, although the change generated by agents in the tail may be quantitatively just as large. Target all agents eventually major agents within a Department in the MSDI ANY AGENT

30. The Long Tail Change produced via various processes subdivision approvals, construction permits, contracts Other Processes Processes in the head are major vehicles of change. Minor processes in the tail still add up to major change. Eventually all processes will be addressed. produced by agents of change in an MSDI Low-hanging fruits ANY PROCESS

31. The Long Tail Change produced over time BACKLOG Future Change The backlog may be huge but it is finite and worth catching up with. Focusing on the long tail of future piecemeal change will close the loop forever. of processes within an MSDI

32. The Long Tail Although much urban change may be created by few (frequent) actors – red part of tail – many additional actors may infrequently contribute piecemeal change down the long tail – represented here by the yellow portion of the graph. Often, the large number of small actors can cumulatively outweigh the big actors, such that in aggregate they comprise the majority of urban change. Another way to look at the “ Long Tail ” is to consider the red part of the tail to represent the “ Backlog ” and the yellow portion to represent “ future change ” . In fact the long tail is fractal in nature, so the yellow part will itself be composed of a red part and a yellow part… ad infinitum. Yet another way to look at the Long Tail is to consider the two colors to represent not the creation of urban change, but the collection/farming of the data associated with it. Under a CK regime, the red part might represent the bulk of the municipal farming of data obtained through a variety of mechanisms that leverage the 6 tools. The yellow part may represent mechanisms that yield less data or data that are produced by other agencies or by citizens. in 2016