With the greater autonomy of the local levels, appear new needs of observations. The current deficiencies of the local observation led a study group on the territorial wealth, to try to look otherwise at their territories by experimenting new methods. At first, the group went to the construction of a database fed by existing data. The limits of this work brought to us to question in a reflexive way our approach. So, the first assessment of this experience brings us to advocate the adoption of a methodological posture consisting in "raising the chain of the datum " and to recommend the creation of new data to fill the deficiencies of the territorial information.