There is a drive to create an inclusive open data ecosystem, that includes public, private and academic open data [Loenen et al., 2021]. There is a lot of existing research in Open Government Data [Janssen et al., 2012; van Panhuis et al., 2014; Martin et al., 2013] and plethora of OGD in the Netherlands. Although the private sector produces a lot of data, those are not open, as they are not participating in data sharing. In order, to fill the existing data gap, that OGD create, the EU [Commission, 2018], specifically with the Open Data Directive, started to promote more openness in private sector data, especially geospatial data. So far this, it is only done for public undertakings, as a sector in between public and private Boone and van Loenen [2022]; van Veenstra and van den Broek [2013]. The private sector is not bounded by legislation to share their geospatial data.

This research aims to identify what are the challenges to arrive at an ecosystem with more open private sector data, through the identification of the barriers in the process, in relation to the level of openness they are and how to move forward. Five categories of barriers are identified, strategic, technical, legal, economic, cultural and a multi model with 4 levels of openness is used, to identify the current state of geospatial data sharing of 9 companies in the Netherlands. The results show that companies that are providers of data are mostly sharing internally, trying to share with external users, while companies that are intermediaries are mostly sharing with some external users but they are not sharing fully open data yet, and the companies as user of existing open data are difficult to identify. This research demonstrates the influence of the role of the company in data sharing and the level of dataset, project, department in the barriers that the private sector faces and prevent them from sharing geospatial data in the Netherlands.

Geographic Information (GI) has proven its value with its ability to be used in various fields, which left numerous questions about how this data should be stored, used, and managed. To facilitate the sharing and reuse of spatial data, Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) emerged in the last decades and with the increase in Open Data, the belief emerged that not only the public sector should be involved in SDIs, but also companies and citizens should be included as part of the Open SDI. To evaluate its value and the success of open GI in relation to the participation of users and communities in open SDI is still a challenge. The possibility to improve user participation in open SDI, such as OpenStreetMap, needs to be assessed. This research used preliminary web-based surveys and semi-structured interviews as per Schmidt [2004] with users of the OpenStreetMap, as well as qualitative analyses and combined quantitative approaches, to explore the factors that foster user participation in the community of an open SDI, using a methodology that adapted motivational factors from Budhathoki [2010]. The selection of fundamental intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors were used as indicators in user participation in OpenStreetMap, for both the survey and the semi structured interviews. Surveys showed that participants in this research were mostly heavy contributors, that primarily who are extrinsically motivated to participate mostly because they believe in the main goal of OSM, they value the community and the development of the platform, and trust the system and its users. Moreover, the users have intrinsic motivations to also participate for fun, instrumentality, altruism, to meet their own needs, alignment with the unique ethos and for learning. One of the conclusions that was drawn from this research is that OpenStreetMap is perceived as an Open Data Ecosystem among its users, yet some diving opinions to the perception about Open Spatial Data Infrastructures. Future development points for OSM are the need for stricter standards and safeguards against hostile commercial or external takeovers if OpenStreetMap wants to effectively engage both the public and private sector. Applying a stricter standard for the metadata of datasets that are used by governmental and external parties should guarantee
further re-use and provide sustainability for OSM. This includes an increase in their outreach through better marketing for the relevant potential users and provide further support systems for a new users. Furthermore, the expansion on different spatial data is also desirable, as well creating linked or integrated data with external open data providers. Current government or private SDIs that are in the process of transitioning into user-centric or open SDIs can apply these factors from this research into their own decision making processes if increasing user participation is their end goal.