Administrative decentralization, a challenge for the use of public data

As is well known, following the 1978 Constitution a decentralized model of territorial organization was established in Spain, characterized by the existence of at least three administrative levels: the state, the regional and the local, which in turn consists of several levels depending on the corresponding Autonomous Region (provincial, insular, county ...). As regards the scope of Public Administrations, in general this organizational model assumes that each body is assigned its own competencies, which it can exercise independently with respect to the others.

The competencies are divided among several public bodies in certain matters, which can be an added difficulty for infomediaries offering value-added services based on the reuse of information held by all of them. Indeed, it may be the case that some of the competent authorities have available a large catalog of information that complies with the standards of open data while the rest on the other hand either only offer electronic data in formats that are non-reusable by an automated system or else they are simply still immersed in a management environment based on paper. This diversity of issues can also lead to a special difficulty when all relevant and useful data related to a material area is to be integrated through a single application enabling its reuse.

The case of tourism in Spain

There is no better way to appreciate the scope of this problem than to project it on a concrete example. Take the case of tourism for its enormous importance in economic terms, since the weight of this sector in Spain exceeds 11% of GDP. At the state level competencies correspond to a particular department, the Ministry of Energy, Tourism and Digital Agenda, which performs its functions through a specific State Secretariat; while at the same time, other bodies have been created with their own legal personality, such as the autonomous body Turespaña, in charge of boosting Spain worldwide as a tourist destination, as well as the public entities Paradores and SEGITTUR, a state company that, in line with its institutional commitment to innovation, even has some open databases. On the other hand, many entities linked or belonging to the state public sector have functions assigned to them that are relevant for the tourism sector, such as air transport, railways or weather forecasting. Nor can we forget the state ownership of internationally recognized tourist areas of a cultural nature such as certain museums.

Administrative competences in tourism are not limited to the General State Administration. The Autonomous Regions have a very important role which is also reflected in the fact that they are opening their own specific information systems for tourism, with some very outstanding projects. However, as in the case of the State, in the autonomous regions there is also a multiplicity of competent entities and bodies, either specifically dedicated to the tourism sector, or with an indirect effect, such as nautical activities, the processing of administrative procedures related to the recognition of cultural heritage or, inter alia, the management of natural spaces or the management of transport and communications outside municipal areas. On the other hand, local authorities - especially municipalities - have important tourist information, regarding for example urban spaces, collective passenger transport, the management of cultural facilities, such as theaters and exhibition halls, leisure activities managed directly or promoted together with private entities ...

This jurisdictional fragmentation is an added hindrance for the development of applications based on the reuse of tourist information in the hands of the public sector, especially if what is intended is to offer a comprehensive service that should also incorporate data of interest held by private entities, such as certain types of properties (churches and other religious spaces) or leisure services (theaters, cinemas, amusement parks, sports events ...).

There are certain tools that facilitate access to information at the level of general standards to prevent disintegration as well as specific sections in public catalogs. There is a risk that the fragmentation of competencies characteristic of our model of administrative organization will also impact on the operation of technology and ultimately end up becoming an inhibitor of innovation and, therefore, of competitiveness. Promotion of technological innovation in the service of tourism means a decisive commitment to greater cooperation and coordination of openness of data on the part of the authorities concerned, thus ensuring not only technical, semantic and legal, but also organizational interoperability.