Community Participation and Geographic Information Systems - Chapter 22

Part III PPGIS futures © 2002 Taylor & Francis Chapter 22 Mutualism in strengthening GIS technologies and democratic principles: perspectives from a GIS software vendor Jack Dangermond 22.1 INTRODUCTION Educated and informed citizens are essential in a democracy where power is vested in the people and exercised by them. Policy and decision-making at all levels of government frequently involve geographically related issues such as the environment, transportation, natural resources, energy, agriculture, defense, trade, economics, and social welfare. GIS technology is the golden thread that is weaving its way through the fabric of democracy. Fundamental to many of the societal issues that are surfacing in the twenty-first century, the widespread use of GIS has value beyond simple efficiency, profitability, or even communication (Figure 22.1). By combining a range of spatially referenced data, information media, and analytic tools, GIS technology enables citizens to prioritize issues, understand them, consider alternatives, and reach viable conclusions. When the public has access to timely, accurate information about the geographic aspects of the issues they seek to resolve, they and their representatives are better able to evaluate alternative courses of action, form opinions, and vote wisely. 22.2 PERCEIVING SPATIAL DATA People seem to have a natural sense of place and for the significance of geography as it relates to human activities. This is perhaps best evidenced in the remarkable ability of the human eye-brain combination to recognize and understand the human environment. Humans are capable of quickly extracting great amounts of information from spatial images, but until recently, the tools for applying this sense of place in any detailed way to large-scale problems were either very difficult to use or entirely lacking. Enter GIS technology, which helps make intricate and abstract problems real and concrete. While it does not simplify the problems, it does help to manage their complexity more effectively – far better than maps alone. GIS is making it possible for citizens to approach political problem solving with © 2002 Taylor & Francis 298 J. Dangermond Figure 22.1 Geography is fundamentally affecting the major forces of the twenty-first century. tools that even senior government officials lacked a decade ago. They can evaluate practical consequences of decisions, monitor the implementation of past decisions, and follow events as they unfold – all in real time. Today, community residents are using GIS in a number of ways to evaluate their neighbourhoods with spatially referenced data, such as assessor and par-cel data to compare their area’s property values with those in other regions. Recognizing disparities helps to bring about changes in services and support such as infrastructure and crime prevention. The resources are now available for citizens to evaluate consequences of decisions, monitor implementations, and follow events as they unfold. Armed with this kind of relevant informa-tion, neighbourhoods are in better positions to lobby their elected officials. 22.3 NEW, BETTER APPLICATIONS FOSTER WIDESPREAD USE With a history of less than 30 years, GIS software products have undergone an expansive transformation from highly customized one-of-a-kind prod- © 2002 Taylor & Francis Mutualism in strengthening GIS and democratic principles 299 ucts to less expensive out-of-the-box generic GIS products. Cheaper hard-ware along with more highly developed software programs provide an array of applications to users whose training need not be highly specialized. Developments in related technologies are also fueling the continual growth and expansion of GIS applications. These include wireless access to the Internet, higher data transfer rates, improved remote sensing, and the con-struction of global databases. All of these applications include geographic knowledge and the data and tools to leverage it. ESRI has worked to introduce new, easier methodologies and tools, such as a richer data model that makes knowledge more accessible, and a strong and enriched data management technology. Software development efforts have focused on usability, software architecture, development environment, spatial analysis, modelling, cartography, data management objects, data-base models, metadata standards, interoperability, and dissemination of knowledge on the Internet. ESRI’s latest products, ArcInfo 8 and ArcIMS 3, promise to boost GIS into the mainstream of IT. Released in 1999, ArcInfo 8 marked a significant redesign in professional GIS software. It takes advantage of the modern concepts of software engineering and GIS theory, and is easy enough to be accessible to anyone familiar with desktop computing. User interfaces and Figure 22.2 As GIS technology evolves, geographic data will be imbedded into most infor-mation applications and services. © 2002 Taylor & Francis 300 J. Dangermond wizards are key features of ArcInfo 8, which are accessed through three applications representing the fundamental methods of how people interact with a GIS – maps, data, and tools. An important element affecting the growth of public involvement in GIS is the Internet. Immensely popular, the World Wide Web has stimulated development of GIS products that exploit its special capabilities. And the future is bringing improved access to the Internet. With wireless access to the Internet at very high data transfer rates, geographic information is becoming increasingly accessible to everyone, everywhere, at any time (Figure 22.2). 22.4 STRENGTHENING INTERNET MAPPING For several years, ESRI has been growing its Internet mapping and GIS technology. During this time, the primary focus was developing server-based mapping and geoprocessing solutions by offering Internet extension solutions for ArcView GIS and MapObjects. Although this has been very successful with thousands of user deployments, ESRI is now launching the next phase of Internet Map Server (IMS) technology, ArcIMS 3, which enhances the server-based architecture with software that enables users to take advantage of clientside processing in addition to server processing. A key feature of this new technology is that data is optionally streamed directly from servers to clients, and it can be combined with local data. ArcIMS 3 acts as an integration tool for reading local and network-based data in the same browser. In addition and equally important, data can be streamed simultaneously from multiple IMS sites. Leveraging GIS data to many users, the ArcIMS software represents a major step forward in creat-ing a distributed GIS architecture. Agencies throughout the world can pub-lish data and services for users to access directly via a simple browser interface. New ways of cooperation are opening as users integrate distrib-uted data with their local data. By increasing the accessibility to GIS-based information, organizations and society in general are maximizing the use of their existing spatial data investments. 22.5 OPEN ACCESS TO GEOGRAPHIC DATA Technological development is leading us toward a future in which all geo-graphic change will be measured by various kinds of instruments. These measurements will flow into information networks where they will be accessible to everyone. This flow of information is destined to transform society just as it is profoundly changing how organizations operate. GIS provides the fundamental elements of any information system – geographic measurement, analysis, integrated decision-making, and support for coor- © 2002 Taylor & Francis ... - tailieumienphi.vn