Information Policy and the Spatial Constitution of Digital Geographic Information Markets

abstract

Information policy has become one of the key instruments for the commodification and marketization of goods in contemporary capitalism. However, the spatializing role of this and other legal regimes has not been explored in depth. Among the categories of goods whose production and circulation is shaped by information policy, geographic information is increasingly salient in the digital economy due to the strategic and economic value derived from its integration of location and context. This article explores the role of information policy regimes in spatially bounding, structuring, and regulating digital geographic information markets. This is conducted through a Polanyian economic geographic approach that contextualizes, integrates, and synthesizes two types of geographic information market formations, and focuses on the institutional dimension of information policy regimes. In developing this approach, the article argues that legal regimes (in this case information policy) are capable of spatializing markets by structuring, integrating, and delimiting the actions of states and other actors, such as private corporations and consumers, within particular jurisdictions. The empirical section of the article illustrates this argument by showing how three aspects of information policy—(1) intellectual property, (2) infrastructure, and (3) commercialization—shape specific configurations of digital geographic information markets within the various administrative scales in the European Union, a globally influential jurisdiction for information policy, and where a regional digital market is in the process of construction. The article concludes by arguing that a Polanyian economic geographic approach provides a solid basis with ample versatility to account for the necessary integration of a legal perspective into the analysis of new kinds of goods (such as digital geographic information) and the spatialities of their emerging market configurations.

Key words:

• intellectual property
• geographic information
• digital economy
• information markets
• legal frameworks
• information policy

Acknowledgments

The author would like to acknowledge the editor-in-chief of Economic Geography and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable insights and suggestions during the writing and review of this article. At various stages of its development process, this article benefited from the incisive comments and helpful feedback of Allen J. Scott, Eric Sheppard, Brett Christophers, and Leqian Yu. The author is grateful for their support. All errors and omissions remain the author’s responsibility. This work was supported by UCLA Graduate Division [Dissertation Year Fellowship] and the University of California Institute for Mexico and the United States [Doctoral Dissertation Research Grant].