Where in the world?
- Article 21 of 26
- M-iD, July 2005
Handling geographic information can be a challenge. But the technology is fast becoming part of the mainstream.
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By far the most efficient way of providing access to geographic data to the whole organisation is through the use of simple viewing software or via an intranet portal. And this need not be a major project. For example, Oracle's application server comes with the Java-based MapViewer that can be used within a browser or integrated into other applications.
Selecting instead one of the many spatial web servers, such as ArcIMS from ESRI, MapInfo's MapXtreme or Autodesk's MapGuide, will also reduce licensing costs, avoid a major software implementation and minimise both network congestion and the load on the database server.
It also makes it far easier to provide geographic information to satellite offices and other remote locations that may have poorer network connections.
GIS and ECM
While bringing corporate geographic information into the RDBMS can make it easier to manage, it is still not as amenable to other aspects of information management as other forms of data.
Enterprise content management (ECM) and records management systems, for example, struggle with geographic information, so links between these systems and geographic data usually have to be loosely coupled.
The GIS side will normally be the focus since it can often create links into ECM systems and to flat files while the converse is often not possible. Unified search, automated linking between documents, workflow and the other aspects of ECM that make it attractive to information managers will continue to remain separate or unavailable within the realm of geographic information.
Chris Haden, UK managing director of information management software and services supplier Anacomp, argues that while ECM vendors are trying to work with geographic information, proper integration will not happen any time soon. “The ECM boys are plugging away, trying to get all document content into their systems. But they're going to have to emulate a GIS and they don't support Oracle Locator. It's too big a job and they're trying to be all things to all men.”
An organisation will therefore need to create a separate information policy for spatial data. This policy, like the main policy, needs high-level input and should not overlook the storage and back-up implications that managing geographic information entails. “There's a lack of awareness of how much it's going to cost to keep that information long enough to make it valuable to the business,” says Haden.
“If you use a GIS for your property portfolio, for example, and know the business is going to keep those buildings for 20 years or so, you've got to keep that GIS data for 20 years. I'm not sure organisations are thinking about the cost of maintaining all the GIS data that they've got to store,” he adds.
Indeed, while geographic information can now easily fit into standard corporate databases, it still needs to be handled differently and with appropriate consideration for its unique qualities.
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