GIS Client/Server Systems
Geographic Information System (GIS): Overview
Use of GIS Client/Server Systems by U.S. Government Agencies
Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Census Bureau
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Department of the Interior
Fish and Wildlife Service
Federal Emergency Management Authority
Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Successful Deployment of GIS Technologies in Facilities Management and Transportation
Real Life Application of GIS in Recent Times
Application in other Jurisdictions
The Future of GIS: Opportunities for Application
An Examination of the Use of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Client/Server Systems by U.S. Government Agencies
Introduction
Recent years have seen thousands of business organizations embrace GIS client/server systems in an attempt to improve processes and enhance efficiency. It should, however, be noted that government agencies are also increasingly implementing GIS client/server systems -- particularly in the analysis of complex situations and enhancement of coordination. This case study examines the use of GIS client/server systems by U.S. Government Agencies. In so doing, the case study will be seeking to establish whether or not GIS technologies help U.S. government agencies deliver accountability and transparency, enhance coordination, bring down costs, and increase efficiency.
Geographic Information System (GIS): Overview
A Geographical Information System (GIS), according to Folger (2010, p. 2) "is a computer system capable of capturing, storing, analyzing, and displaying geographically referenced information -- information attached to a location, such as latitude and longitude, or street location." Client-server systems, on the other hand, "divide the processing tasks between the user's own local machine, the client, and a remote and probably more powerful machine known as the server" (Anselin and Rey, 2009, p. 53). In instances where most of the processing is server-based, the client becomes a mere "dumb terminal" (Anselin and Rey, 2009, p. 53). As the authors further point out, this is an arrangement that most federal government agencies often favor.
It is important to note that on paper, most GIS functions can be offered as client-server configurations. However, in practice, as Anselin and Rey (2009) note, the number of GIS applications availed as either public or commercial services are limited.
Historical Perspectives
In the words of Reddick (2010, p. 450), "the use of GIS by government agencies has grown exponentially since the 1980s across the world." However, as the author further points out, it was not until the 1990s that GIS was fully embraced in the U.S. Essentially, the connotations GIS had in 1992 is different from that which it has today. As Anselin and Rey (2009) point out, thanks to new technologies, some significant changes including, but not limited to, marked growth in several application areas and new technologies have brought about numerous changes in the field. To put this into perspective, it is important to note that "in 1992, GIS connoted a single, monolithic software package running on a stand-alone workstation or perhaps a local-area network, and analogous to Microsoft Word or Excel" (Anselin and Rey, 2009, p. 52). At the time, the key purpose of GIS was to make things easier for the user, i.e. By eliminating tasks that were either time-consuming, repetitive, tedious, or prone to error if performed by hand. According to Maling (as cited in Anselin and Rey, 2009), such tasks as map and map data analysis were not only too complex but also repetitive and too tedious. In that regard, therefore, any technology that made analysis effortless and more accurate was desirable. Some of the packages vendors offered, as of 1992, included, but they were not limited to, "Intergraph, MapInfo, ESRI, Wild, Caliper, and Tydac" (Anselin and Rey, 2009, p. 52). At this time, most of the packages were largely differentiated, with some targeting universities, others government institutions and agencies, and yet others corporate entities. There were also cheaper packages targeted at individual and non-corporate users.
Thanks to a number of factors, within the last one and a half decades, some significant changes with regard to GIS technologies have been observed. To begin with, with maps being regarded the primarily source of input, early GIA applications were largely dependent on maps -- and hence areas covered extensively by maps, i.e. forestry and resource management. Later on, it was discovered that there was much to "be gained by adding geographic references to the records contained in the otherwise non-spatial but massive databases of" various entities (Anselin and Rey, 2009, p. 52). It was on the basis of this discovery that a number of database vendors took it upon themselves to develop extensions...
Client server systems are a group of inter-related subsystems which collaborate together to provide a specific solution or service. This computing model structures diverse and distributed applications, which separates tasks between the providers (servers) and service seekers (clients). Keeping the purpose of this paper in view, the provider-server is the Geographical Informative System and the client is the U.S. government. This paper analyzes Geographical Informative System (GIS) as its client
Delphi Study: Influence of Environmental Sustainability Initiatives on Information Systems Table of Contents (first draft) Green IT Current Methods and Solutions Green IT and energy costs Green It and Email Systems Green IT and ICT Green IT and ESS Green IT and TPS Green IT and DSS Green IT and other support systems Green IT and GHG reduction Green IT and the Government Sector Green IT and the Corporate Sector Future Prospects of Green IT in the software industry The paper focuses on how the
Case Study: The Minnesota Bridge/ I-35W Collapse of 2007 Intro The Minnesota Bridge/ I-35W rumbled with high traffic during the rush hour when it dropped 60 feet down (or more) into Mississippi River in 2007, August 1st (Sander & Saulny, 2007). More than 50 vehicles went into the river with the passengers inside. According to Jim Clack from the Fire Department of Minneapolis, more than seven people got killed while an excess
Another study found that there are many different strategies that are utilized when information technology is developed within the federal government and many of these tend to come not from the top managers but from the management instead (Gupta, Holladay, & Mahoney, 2000). Much of this has to do with the fact that the top managers in the federal government are often political appointees and therefore know somewhat less about
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