Essential Information for IT Professionals

To fully realize the capabilities and benefits of geographic information and GIS technology, spatial data needs to be shared and systems need to be interoperable.

Geographic information system (GIS) technology is evolving beyond the traditional GIS community and becoming an integral part of the information infrastructure in many organisations. The unique integration capabilities of a GIS allow disparate data sets to be brought together to create a complete picture of a situation.

GIS provides essential information tools for many levels of society. As IT professionals, you need the best tools to be able to

• Coordinate and communicate key concepts between departments within an organisation
• Share crucial information across organizational boundaries
• Manage and maintain a central spatial data infrastructure, often within a service-oriented architecture (SOA)

GIS technology illustrates relationships, connections, and patterns that are not necessarily obvious in any one data set, enabling organisations to make better decisions based on all relevant factors. GIS technology is also being used via the Internet and Web services.