vallue
and geographic information databases. Integration of the
information itself puts a radically different perspective on
the work process. Staff now need to question how the
information will be used and to what end in order to expli
citly capture the relevant relationships of map elements in
the database. This requires an information perspective.
This, in turn, affects the tasks within the organization
while at the same time new ones are created i.e. data
base manager, database administrator, application pro
grammers, etc.
Decentralization
The decentralization of production capabilities occurs
when conventional expertise as expressed in software
can be used by non-experts. Examples include GPS,
digital photogrammetry, automated bank tellers and air
line reservation systems.
In our profession the most profound impact of this charac
teristic is the loss of monopoly of governmental carto
graphic production agencies. This requires a complete
rethinking of mandates and recognition of how the power
ful relationships shift between and inside institutions. A
good example of this was the challenge levelled at the
Ordnance Survey of Great Britain by the joint utilities,
land registry and municipalities to accelerate by a decade
or so the completion of the large-scale digital topographic
database of Great Britain by reducing the number of
feature codes drastically. The challengers had carried out
a pilot project to prove their point, and the Ordnance
Survey was faced with an unprecedented situation. This
was during the period of the so-called Chorley Commis
sion on the Handling of Geographic Information in 1986.
However, the real exploitation of this character of the
technology requires some kind of supporting infrastruc
ture, such as the active control system for GPS, or the
networks necessary for automated bank teller and airline
reservation systems. This concept is now gaining more
Political system
dient Information
plana
technical scientific
advice
pilot products
dient
technical advise
Input
technical advice
product specifications
and quality control
product
feedback
Production
management
Executive
Engineering support
Product development
and more credibility and is variously known as infor
mation technology infrastructure of which geo-informatics
infrastructures are subsets. This infrastructure is the
collection of electronic, physical, and education facilities,
together with the databases policies and standards all of
which govern and promote access to and use of infor
mation. There is a growing literature on this subject.
The re-evaluation of the mandates of national mapping
agencies and the question of information infrastructure
may lead to clarification of the mission of these organiza
tions. This was reported in a study on the future of the
national mapping division (NMD) of the U.S. Geological
Survey by the National Academy of Sciences. ,,As the
21st century begins and this nations economy continues
to be transformed by technology from one dominated by
production utilizing natural resources, to one based on
service, transportation and information, it will increasingly
require the support of what might be called an information
infrastructure. This infrastructure will include not only
myriad data sets (and a spectrum of public and private
sector organizations to create or gather them), but also
complex systems for co-ordinating, storing, processing,
managing and distributing them. From this perspective it
would appear in the best national interest for USGS/NMD
to be transformed prior to 2010 from a mapping service
organization to the federal agency responsible for struc
turing and co- ordinating the geographical or spatial
component of the national infrastructure. Such a transfor
mation can take place gradually, but it requires that clear
vision of ultimate goals be in place so that all subsequent
technological and institutional development occur in an
orderly and purposeful fashion".
Customization
The technology promotes customization of products at
relatively low cost. The trend is increasingly towards
responsiveness to niche markets and special purpose
Planning 4
Marketing
Production
Data sources
Data
Transformation
Information
Modeling, analysis
management
Products
Positioning
Digital images
Analogue images
Attributes survey
Maps
Geodesy
Image processing
Analogue/digital
photogrammetry
Attribute data
transformation
Quality control
Integrated
information model
(including real time
models)
Geo-processing
Information
representation
Quality analysis
Generic, eg.:
spatial data, maps
statistical data
Decision support
eg.: resource mgt,
planning, operations
infrastructure mgt
adding
End
user
Fig. 3. Functions in a geo-informatics
organization.
394
NGT GEODESIA 93 - 8
