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Many Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are located on one of the most disaster-prone regions of the world. In terms of the intensity, frequency and increasing impact of natural and environmental disasters, SIDS are identified among the most vulnerable regions in the world (Boto and Biasca 2012). They frequently face extreme weather events such as hurricanes and cyclones, resulting in high cost damages to socio-economic infrastructure and environment (UNESCO 2020). International organizations claim that future losses related to disasters will represent a potential challenge for SIDS development (UN-OHRLLS 2021; UNFCCC 2007). According to disaster risk management literature, they are expected to lose each year almost 20 per cent of their total social expenditure (UNISDR 2015a; CRED EM-DAT 2020a). For instance, the 2017 hurricanes Irma and Maria alone caused damages to the productive sector estimated at USD 2.7 billion in only three SIDS in the Caribbean region: Dominica, British Virgin Islands, and Antigua and Barbuda (OCHA-UN 2018). The Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) plays an important role to support disaster risk managers. SDI is about the "facilitation and coordination of the exchange and sharing of spatial data between stakeholders in the spatial data community" (Crompvoets et al. 2004, p.665). It facilitates the integration, processing and sharing of dynamic information coming from different sources (UN-GGIM 2018; Hu et al. 2022). Furthermore, it helps in accessing and disseminating reliable and up-to-date authoritative datasets in the framework of emergency mapping workflow (Ajmar et al. 2015; Mansourian, Rajabifardb, and Zoeja 2005). In case of severe disasters events, emergency mapping teams (EMT) help government agencies on improving the performance in the collection and distribution of geographic information and services to support the disaster management activities. EMT has emerged as a collaborative effort to support decision-makers on the definition and sharing of a common operational picture regarding the status of the impacted communities. EMT operations can be described as an integral part of the disaster risk management (DRM) actions. They contribute to the preparedness, response and recovery and reconstruction phases of the DRM lifecycle. However, despite the significant contribution that SDI can deliver to the wide range of stakeholders in charge of the disaster risk management lifecycle, our knowledge about the identification of how and what to prepare for implementing an SDI to reach a specific goal, remains limited. Moreover, most studies have been primarily focused on SDI issues in developed countries. Therefore, there is a paucity of systematic research that analyses specific SDI implementation challenges in developing countries, in particular in SIDS settings. First, research focused on SDI has been oriented on engineering challenges, including evaluation of performance or operational status of the SDI implementation. Second, other investigations focused their attention on SDI governing system and the key processes that enable or constrain SDI governance. Macharis & Crompvoets, (2014) worked on a multi-actor multi-criteria methodology for evaluating different development alternatives for SDI for Flanders. In the disaster risk management domain, Mansourian et al., (2005a) worked on the development of an SDI conceptual model for disaster management in Iran. Whilst, a more recent study worked on the assessment of SDI development and its ability to strengthen the resilience of the SIDS in the Caribbean region (Gómez, García, and Santiago 2020). In this dissertation, we aim to contribute to fill the gap in the knowledge about how the existing and potential SDIs can facilitate the performance of the emergency mapping team operations in the context of Caribbean SIDS. Hence, we formulate the following main research question: How can Spatial Data Infrastructures facilitate the performance of Emergency Mapping Team Operations in the Caribbean Small Island Developing States? In order to answer this main research question, the investigation is divided into five sub-research questions. These sub-research questions were addressed in separated chapters, using a mixed method approach, and based on the combination of quantitative and qualitive research techniques. In Chapter 2, we developed a cross-sectional survey to identify users' requirements, in term of geospatial and non-geospatial information and services for EMT operations at the country level in the Dominican Republic (DR) as an example of Caribbean SIDS. In Chapter 3, we developed and analyzed three SIDS cases to identify general users' requirements for EMT operations at the regional level in the Caribbean SIDS. In Chapter 4, we expanded the scope of our analysis working on the identification of users' requirements for disaster risk management at the national level in the Dominican Republic. In Chapter 5, we addressed the identification of critical factors for enhancing SDI performance to reach a specific goal, in this case for disaster risk management tasks in the SIDS settings. Finally, in Chapter 6, we applied the multi-actor multi-criteria analysis to assess governance scenarios for an SDI implementation to facilitate emergency mapping operations in the Dominican Republic as an example of Caribbean SIDS. In Chapter 2, we followed a general four stages methodology proposed by Maguire & Bevan (2002) to identify a set of users' requirements for EMT operations at the national level in the DR as an example of Caribbean SIDS. Herein, we administered a cross-sectional online survey targeted to all members of the government unit in charge of executing the EMT tasks and operations in the DR. Based on the responses of 16 out of 17 EMT members, we found a set of five users' requirements for EMT operations in the DR: (1) standardization; (2) establishing and maintaining a SDI; (3) partnership arrangements at the local and provincial levels; (4) effective communication among stakeholders; and (5) capacity building. In all, Chapter 2 provided a first step toward a better understanding of the users' requirements and the associated information workflows and tasks that would lead to a superior level of readiness for EMT operations in DR. In Chapter 3, we combined a case study method and a questionnaire survey to identify grounded arguments and a set of users' requirements for EMT operations at the regional level in the Caribbean SIDS. Herein, we conducted a cross-sectional online survey targeted to senior professionals responsible for EMT operations in three selected Caribbean SIDS: Dominican Republic (17), Saint Lucia (8) and Sint Maarten (4). Based on the responses of 29 participants, we found that despite the differences in the degree of maturity of the EMTs in the studied countries, they share a set of essential EMT users' requirements. Herein, we found a set of five users 'requirements that likely lead to practical implications for improving EMT operations in the Caribbean SIDS, namely: (1) institutional arrangements between key stakeholders for overcoming major restrictions for sharing data and map product; (2) Implementing a Cloud-based SDI to enable dynamic integration and delivery of information datasets from multiple spatially-distributed sources; (3) Linking stakeholders at the community level; (4) Partnerships arrangement to foster the participation and trust of external stakeholders, namely, private enterprises, research institutes, universities, NGOs and local organizations; and, (5) Capacity building programs to enable each team member to support others' objectives in an effective and collaborative manner. Our findings also showed that non-technical actions, such as strengthening the organization and coordination capabilities of emergencies response agencies, involvement of local community and first responders and development of technical documentation and procedures, are also important for improving EMT operations. In all, Chapter 3 offers a sound foundation for the development of regional mechanisms to support EMT operations in future mapping actions for humanitarian emergencies. The results of this study may also be useful for international agencies that are helping SIDS in the Caribbean region and other parts of the world to enhance resilience to respond to disasters. Before embarking on their tasks of cooperation, these agencies would study the user requirements of EMT operations in the SIDS they are going to work for. In Chapter 4, we focused our research on the identification of users' requirements for the whole phases of disaster risk management lifecycle in the Dominican Republic, as a typical case of a Caribbean SIDS. Our findings are built upon a national-level online survey targeted to experts and non-experts of geospatial information and services for DRM. Based on the responses from 130 participants, we found a set of seven major users' requirements to better enabling geographic information and services for DRM in the Dominican Republic. Our results indicated that these users' requirements are the following: (1) establishing policies for sharing geo-information; (2) implementing a disaster-oriented SDI; (3) technical standards for real-time data collection; (4) simplified procedures for gathering and accessing of metadata; (5) mobile applications (App) for data collection and alerts visualization; (6) more capacity building programs; and (7) closer community participation using social networks. We stated that social networks are necessary tools to underpin non-traditional stakeholders' participation in providing and disseminating local spatial knowledge from the territory for rapid DRM decisions. Our results also showed that citizens' participation in adopting geographic information and technologies become crucial for DRM tasks. Furthermore, our results highlighted the necessity of more institutional arrangements to facilitate collaboration between agencies in charge of delivering information services. In Chapter 5, we worked on the identification of critical factors to enhance SDI performance to facilitate DRM in SIDS. In this context, we made use of a three-round Delphi survey and Kendall W coefficient to assess experts' consensus on identifying a list of the most critical factors. Based on the responses from 28 international experts in SDI, surveying, and DRM, we identified a list of 23 most critical factors. We stated that despite the level of SDI maturity, these critical factors are important and feasible for implementing in the SIDS context. In overall, we found that people and policy factors are the ones that matter the most for enhancing SDI performance in the SIDS settings. The results of this Chapter also stated that preparation tasks for disaster and emergency occurrences might include involving the potential users and analyzing their users' requirements. These tasks are one of the easiest things and most important things to do. The identified 23 critical factors would support the process of SDI implementation in achieving the harmonization and availability of spatial knowledge from local communities in a more cost-effective and trusted way for DRM. These critical factors constitute practical insights to design a roadmap to harmonize and support national and regional SDI development tailored for future DRM tasks in the SIDS settings. In the final empirical Chapter 6, we made use of the multi-actor multi-criteria analysis (MAMCA) to assess future governance scenarios for an SDI implementation to meet emergency mapping goals in the Dominican Republic as an example of Caribbean SIDS. Our results are built upon a case study and a cross-sectional online MAMCA survey. The survey was targeted to 25 technical and managerial personnel from four key stakeholder groups involved in SDI development and emergency mapping operations: government (5), emergency mapping team (7), private sector (8), and academia (5). The purpose of this survey was to capture and understand stakeholders' perspectives on different criteria and alternative scenarios for an SDI implementation to facilitate emergency mapping operations. Based on previous research, we purposely selected three scenarios: Going Concern, Increasing Hierarchy, and Increasing Network. The Going Concern alternative refers to the current situation of SDI development in the DR (no official SDI policy in place, led by government organizations and limited participation of emergency mapping team, private sector, and academia). The Increasing Hierarchy scenario is defined by an increase in the hierarchical framework, with additional legal basis for SDI development, led by the government as top-down rule-maker and main source of funding. The increasing Network scenario is defined by an increase of network coordination mechanisms among stakeholders, which enables higher market power to all stakeholders, and lower government responsibility for funding SDI development. Each stakeholder group was required to define their own set of criteria and assessed the weight they attributed to each criterion. Overall, the availability of up-to-date data is considered an important criterion across all stakeholder groups. We found that public-private partnerships and effective communication were also considered as highly important criteria by most stakeholders, except for academia. Some criteria were exclusive to certain stakeholder groups. For instance, open data format, availability of training and SDI awareness were criteria exclusive to government, private sector, and academia, respectively. For evaluation of the alternative scenarios, we applied AHP comparison, using a 1-9 comparison scale (9-to-1-to-9 scale). The overall results of the Chapter show that 'Increasing Network' scenario has the top preference across all stakeholder groups, except for EMT. This group rated 'Increasing Hierarchy' scenario as important as 'Increasing Network'. We found that there is a strong desire to move to a more collaborative and well-coordinated interorganizational network with the participation of all stakeholders involved in EMO and response efforts, namely government agencies, EMT, academia, and private sector. The findings of this dissertation give rise to five main conclusions about SDI perspective to facilitate emergency mapping team operations in SIDS. In general, we found that the attention must be placed on increasing network governance approach for SDI development. In this sense, we stated that more collaborative and well-coordinated inter-organizational networks would better shape the context in which the SDI could be developed to facilitate future EMT operations in the SIDS. The institutional framework, open data policy, partnership arrangements and standardization arrangements for data-capturing methods, metadata, information workflow and quality thresholds, are some of the existing critical resources that EMT operations can benefit from the SDI environment. Our first conclusion relates to the users' requirements for EMT operations. We found that despite differences in the scope of EMT operations and DRM tasks, there is a strong relationship between most of their users' requirements. We found that standardization comes as first user requirement, when referring to saving time and efforts for EMO workflow. The capacity building programs at the local level and the implementation of a Cloud-based SDI are also crucial to enable internal and external stakeholders to collaborate and take full advance of huge sources of (near) real-time information from the field. Our second conclusion relates to the fact that SDI cannot be enhanced with data and technology solutions alone. Our findings revealed that the anticipation of societal, organizational, policy and other non-technical factors together have a strong impact on improving SDI performance to facilitating DRM. Our findings also indicated that more capacity building programs, effective communication among SDI and DRM stakeholders and user involvement are crucial for SDI construction. Our third conclusion relates to the role of the community support for SDI sustainable development. We found that community support is perceived as fundamental for a long-lasting, trusted, and sustainable SDI development to timely attend EMT operations in the SIDS context. Our fourth conclusion relates to how to increase SDI potential from network governance perspective. Our findings show that future SDI development should be addressed by increasing network governance perspective. We identified that the establishment of institutional framework, public-private partnerships and volunteered geographic information are crucial to enabling the effective communication, cross-sector collaboration and users' involvement and interactions to share a common operational picture from the impacted communities. Our fifth conclusion relates to the multiple directions that SDI can benefit EMT operations in SIDS. In specific, we stated that SDI can enable more collaborative interagency networks, real-time coordination, communication and knowledge transfer and, more users' involvement to participate in EMT workflow. SDI can also contribute to the simplification of procedures for gathering and accessing data and metadata from the field. We also highlighted the necessity to optimize the communication and collaboration strategies among all stakeholders involved in emergency mapping operations.