GIS

Books
Principles of Geographic Information Systems by ITC
Fundamental of Geographic Information Systems by Kang-tsung
Chang (McGraw-Hill)
Concepts and Techniques of Geographic Information Systems by C.P. Lo
(Prentice-Hall)
An introduction to geographical information systems by Ian Heywood
(Pearson Education India)

When geographic problems arises?

Where GIS is required?
What type of questions are answered by GIS?
Is it something very new?

Some Examples of Geographic Problems

Health care managers
solve geographic problems (and may create others) when they decide
where to locate new clinics and hospitals.
Delivery companies
solve geographic problems when they decide the routes and schedules of
their vehicles, often on a daily basis.
Transportation authorities
solve geographic problems when they select routes for new highways.
Geodemographics consultants
solve geographic problems when they assess and recommend where best
to site retail outlets.

Some Examples of Geographic Problems

Forestry companies
solve geographic problems when they determine how best to manage
forests, where to cut, where to locate roads, and where to plant new
trees.
National Park authorities
solve geographic problems when they schedule recreational path
maintenance and improvement
Governments
solve geographic problems when they decide how to allocate funds for
building sea defences.

Geographic Problems Classification

Scale, or level of geographic detail
Intent, or purpose.
Time scale

Scale or Level of Geographic Detail

The information needed to service the building is local - the size and shape
of the parcel, extent of the building, the slope of the land and its
accessibility using normal and emergency infrastructure. The global
diffusion of the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic,
or of bird flu in 2004 were problems at a much broader and coarser scale,
involving information about entire national populations and global
transport patterns.
Scale or level of geographic detail is an essential property of any GIS
project.

Intent or Purpose
Some problems are strictly practical in nature - they must often be solved
as quickly as possible and/or at minimum cost, in order to achieve such
practical objectives as saving money, avoiding fines by regulators, or
coping with an emergency.

Others are better characterized as driven by human curiosity. When

geographic data are used to verify the theory of continental drift, or to map
distributions of glacial deposits, or to analyze the historic movements of
people in anthropological or archaeological research, there is no immediate
need to solve the problem - rather, the intent is the advancement of human
understanding of the world.

Time
Third, geographic problems can be distinguished on the basis of their time
scale. Some decisions are operational, and are required for the smooth
functioning of an organization, such as how to control electricity inputs into
grids that experience daily change in usage. Others are tactical, and
concerned with medium-term decisions, such as where to cut trees in next
year's forest harvesting plan. Others are strategic, and are required to give
an organization long-term direction, as when retailers decide to expand or
rationalize their store networks

10

Some Technical Specialities of Geographic Information

It is multidimensional, because two coordinates must be specified to define a
location, whether they be x and y or latitude and longitude.
It is voluminous, since a geographic database can easily reach a terabyte in
size
It may be represented at different levels of spatial resolution, e.g., using a
representation equivalent to a 1:1 million scale map and a 1:24000 scale one
It may be represented in different ways inside a computer and how this is
done can strongly influence the ease of analysis and the end results.
It must often be projected onto a flat surface
It requires many special methods for its analysis
It can be time-consuming to analyze.
Although much geographic information is static, the process of updating is
complex and expensive.
Display of geographic information in the form of a map requires the retrieval
of large amounts of data.
11

Spatial
The adjective geographic refers to the Earth's surface and near-surface.
Spatial refers to any space, not only the space of the Earth's surface. But it
is used with the same meaning as geographic.
Another term that has been growing in usage in recent years is geospatial
means a subset of spatial applied specifically to the Earth's surface and
near-surface.

12

Data and Information

Data consist of numbers, text, or symbols which are in some sense neutral and
almost context-free. Raw geographic facts, such as the temperature at a specific
time and location, are examples of data.
When data are transmitted, they are treated as a stream of bits; a crucial
requirement is to preserve the integrity of the dataset. The internal meaning of
the data is irrelevant in such considerations.
Data (the noun is the plural of datum) are assembled together in a database.
Information is differentiated from data by implying some degree of selection,
organization, and preparation for particular purposes. Information is data
serving some purpose, or data that have been given some degree of
interpretation.

13

GIS Answer the Questions Related to:

Location.
Where is the nearest bookshop?
Where is Sun Temple located in India?
Where are areas of forestry in which Indian Sandal trees can be found?
Patterns.
Where do high concentrations of students live in this city?
What is the flow of traffic along this motorway?
What is the distribution of crime incidents in Allahabad?
Trends.
How are patterns of retailing changing in response to the development of
out-of-town superstores?
Where have glaciers retreated in the European Alps?
Where have changes to the population of polar bears occurred?

14

GIS Answer the Questions Related to:

Conditions.
Where can I find holiday accommodation that is within 1 km of a wind
surfing beach and accessible by public transport?
Where is there flat land within 500 m of a major highway?
Where are there over 100,000 potential customers within a 5-mile radius of a
railway station?
Implications.
If I move to a new home in this location, how far will I be from the office,
gym or coffee shop?
If we build a new theme park here, what will be the effect on traffic flows?
What would be the time saving if we delivered our parcels using this route,
rather than an alternative?

15

Generic Questions Answered by GIS

The generic questions that a GIS can help to answer can be summarized as:
Where are particular features found?
What geographical patterns exist?
Where have changes occurred over a given period?
Where do certain conditions apply?
What will the spatial implications be if an organization takes certain
action

16

Definition
A container of maps in digital form

The general public

A computerized tool for solving geographic Decision makers,

problems
Community groups, planners
A spatial decision support system

A mechanized inventory of
distributed features and facilities

Management scientists,
operations researchers

geographically Utility managers, transportation

officials, resource managers

A tool for revealing what is otherwise invisible in

geographic information

Scientists, investigators

A tool for performing operations on geographic

Resource managers, planners
data that are too tedious or expensive or inaccurate
if performed by hand
Table : Definitions of a GIS, and the groups who find them useful
17

GIS Definition
GIS is a computer system that can hold and use data describing places on
the Earths surface
Rhind
GIS is a set of tools for collecting, storing, retrieving at will, transforming,
and displaying spatial data from the real world for a particular set of
purposes.
Burrough
GIS is a system for capturing, storing, checking, integrating, manipulating,
analyzing and displaying data which are spatially referenced to the Earth.
Department of the Environment

18

History of GIS
The first GIS was the Canada Geographic Information System, designed in the
mid-1960s as a computerized map measuring system. The Canada Land
Inventory was a massive effort by the federal and provincial governments to
identify the nations land resources and their existing and potential uses. The
most useful results of such an inventory are measures of area, yet area is
notoriously difficult to measure accurately from a map.
A second innovation occurred in the late 1960s in the US Bureau of the Census,
in planning the tools needed to conduct the 1970 Census of Population. The
DIME program (Dual Independent Map Encoding) created digital records of all
US streets,
The UK Experimental Cartography Unit (ECU) pioneered high quality
computer mapping in 1968; it published the worlds first computer-made map in
a regular series in 1973 with the British Geological Survey. The ECU also
pioneered GIS work in education, post and zip codes as geographic references,
visual perception of maps, and much else.
20

History of GIS
National mapping agencies, such as Britains Ordnance Survey, Frances
Institut Geographique National, and the US Geological Survey and the
Defense Mapping Agency (now the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency)
began to investigate the use of computers to support the editing of maps, to
avoid the expensive and slow process of hand correction and redrafting.
Remote sensing also played a part in the development of GIS, as a source of
technology as well as a source of data. The first military satellites of the
1950s were developed and deployed in great secrecy to gather intelligence,
but the declassification of much of this material in recent years has provided
interesting insights into the role played by the military and intelligence
communities in the development of GIS.
Next pages summarizes the major events of GIS in the past decades.

21

CHAPTER 1 SYSTEMS, SCIENCE, AND STUDY

19

Table 1.4 Major events that shaped GIS

Date

Type

Event

Notes

The Era of Innovation

1957

Application

1963

Technology

First known automated

mapping produced
CGIS development initiated

1963

General

URISA established

1964

Academic

Harvard Lab established

1967

Technology

DIME developed

1967

Academic and general

1969

Commercial

UK Experimental Cartography
Unit (ECU) formed
ESRI Inc. formed

1969

Commercial

Intergraph Corp. formed

1969

Academic

Design With Nature published

1969

Academic

First technical GIS textbook

1972

Technology

Landsat 1 launched

1973

General

First digitizing production line

1974

Academic

AutoCarto 1 Conference

1976

Academic

GIMMS now in worldwide use

1977

Academic

Topological Data Structures

conference

Swedish meteorologists and British biologists

Canada Geographic Information System is developed by
Roger Tomlinson and colleagues for Canadian Land
Inventory. This project pioneers much technology and
introduces the term GIS.
The Urban and Regional Information Systems
Association founded in the US. Soon becomes point
of interchange for GIS innovators.
The Harvard Laboratory for Computer Graphics and
Spatial Analysis is established under the direction of
Howard Fisher at Harvard University. In 1966 SYMAP,
the first raster GIS, is created by Harvard researchers.
The US Bureau of Census develops DIME-GBF (Dual
Independent Map Encoding Geographic Database
Files), a data structure and street-address database for
1970 census.
Pioneered in a range of computer cartography and GIS
areas.
Jack Dangermond, a student from the Harvard Lab, and
his wife Laura form ESRI to undertake projects in GIS.
Jim Meadlock and four others that worked on guidance
systems for Saturn rockets form M&S Computing,
later renamed Intergraph.
Ian McHargs book was the first to describe many of the
concepts in modern GIS analysis, including the map
overlay process (see Chapter 14).
Nordbeck and Rystedts book detailed algorithms and
software they developed for spatial analysis.
Originally named ERTS (Earth Resources Technology
Satellite), this was the first of many major Earth
remote sensing satellites to be launched.
Set up by Ordnance Survey, Britains national mapping
agency.
Held in Reston, Virginia, this was the first in an
important series of conferences that set the GIS
research agenda.
Written by Tom Waugh (a Scottish academic), this
vector-based mapping and analysis system was run at
300 sites worldwide.
Harvard Lab organizes a major conference and develops
the ODYSSEY GIS.

The Era of Commercialization

1981

Commercial

ArcInfo launched

ArcInfo was the first major commercial GIS software

system. Designed for minicomputers and based on
the vector and relational database data model, it set a
new standard for the industry.
(continued overleaf)

22

20

PART I INTRODUCTION

Table 1.4 (continued)

Date

Type

Event

Notes

1984

Academic

Basic Readings in Geographic

Information Systems
published

1985

Technology

GPS operational

1986

Academic

1986

Commercial

Principles of Geographical
Information Systems for Land
Resources Assessment
published
MapInfo Corp. formed

1987

Academic

1987

General

International Journal of
Geographical Information
Systems, now IJGI Science,
introduced
Chorley Report

1988

General

GISWorld begins

1988

Technology

TIGER announced

1988

Academic

US and UK Research Centers

announced

1991

Academic

Big Book 1 published

1992

Technical

DCW released

1994

General

Executive Order signed by

President Clinton

1994

General

OpenGIS Consortium born

1995

General

First complete national

mapping coverage

1996

Technology

Internet GIS products

introduced

23

This collection of papers published in book form by

Duane Marble, Hugh Calkins, and Donna Peuquet
was the first accessible source of information about
GIS.
The Global Positioning System gradually becomes a
major source of data for navigation, surveying, and
mapping.
Peter Burroughs book was the first specifically on GIS
principles. It quickly became a worldwide reference
text for GIS students.
MapInfo software develops into first major desktop GIS
product. It defined a new standard for GIS products,
complementing earlier software systems.
Terry Coppock and others published the first journal on
GIS. The first issue contained papers from the USA,
Canada, Germany, and UK.
Handling Geographical Information was an influential
report from the UK government that highlighted the
value of GIS.
GISWorld, now GeoWorld, the first worldwide
magazine devoted to GIS, was published in the USA.
TIGER (Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding
and Referencing), a follow-on from DIME, is described
by the US Census Bureau. Low-cost TIGER data
stimulate rapid growth in US business GIS.
Two separate initiatives, the US NCGIA (National Center
for Geographic Information and Analysis) and the UK
RRL (Regional Research Laboratory) Initiative show the
rapidly growing interest in GIS in academia.
Substantial two-volume compendium Geographical
Information Systems; principles and applications,
edited by David Maguire, Mike Goodchild, and David
Rhind documents progress to date.
The 1.7 GB Digital Chart of the World, sponsored by the
US Defense Mapping Agency, (now NGA), is the first
integrated 1:1 million scale database offering global
coverage.
Executive Order 12906 leads to creation of US National
Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), clearinghouses, and
Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC).
The OpenGIS Consortium of GIS vendors, government
agencies, and users is formed to improve
interoperability.
Great Britains Ordnance Survey completes creation of
its initial database all 230 000 maps covering
country at largest scale (1:1250, 1:2500 and
1:10 000) encoded.
Several companies, notably Autodesk, ESRI, Intergraph,
and MapInfo, release new generation of
Internet-based products at about the same time.

CHAPTER 1 SYSTEMS, SCIENCE, AND STUDY

21

Table 1.4 (continued)

Date

Type

Event

1996

Commercial

MapQuest

1999

General

GIS Day

Notes
Internet mapping service launched, producing over 130
million maps in 1999. Subsequently purchased by
AOL for $1.1 billion.
First GIS Day attracts over 1.2 million global participants
who share an interest in GIS.

The Era of Exploitation

1999

Commercial

IKONOS

2000

Commercial

GIS passes $7 bn

2000

General

GIS has 1 million users

2002

General

Launch of online National Atlas

of the United States

2003

General

Launch of online national

statistics for the UK

2003

General

Launch of Geospatial One-Stop

2004

General

National Geospatial-Intelligence
Agency (NGA) formed

Launch of new generation of satellite sensors: IKONOS

claims 90 centimeter ground resolution; Quickbird
(launched 2001) claims 62 cm resolution.
Industry analyst Daratech reports GIS hardware,
software, and services industry at $6.9 bn, growing at
more than 10% per annum.
GIS has more than 1 million core users, and there are
perhaps 5 million casual users of GI.
Online summary of US national-scale geographic
information with facilities for map making
(www.nationalatlas.gov)
Exemplar of new government websites describing
economy, population, and society at local and
regional scales (www.statistics.gov.uk)
A US Federal E-government initiative providing access to
geospatial data and information
(www.geodata.gov/gos)
Biggest GIS user in the world, National Imagery and
Mapping Agency (NIMA), renamed NGA to signify
emphasis on geo-intelligence

24

mouse clicks in their desktop WWW browser, without

ever needing to install specialized software or download
large amounts of data. This research project soon gave
way to industrial-strength Internet GIS software products
from mainstream software vendors (see Chapter 7).
The use of the WWW to give access to maps dates
from 1993.

The recent histories of GIS and the Internet have

been heavily intertwined; GIS has turned out to be a
compelling application that has prompted many people to take advantage of the Web. At the same time,
GIS has beneted greatly from adopting the Internet
paradigm and the momentum that the Web has generated. Today there are many successful applications
of GIS on the Internet, and we have used some of
them as examples and illustrations at many points in
this book. They range from using GIS on the Internet to disseminate information a type of electronic
yellow pages (e.g., www.yell.com), to selling goods
and services (e.g., www.landseer.com.sg, Figure 1.14),
to direct revenue generation through subscription services (e.g., www.mapquest.com/solutions/main.adp),
to helping members of the public to participate in important local, regional, and national debates.

The Internet has proven very popular as a vehicle

for delivering GIS applications for several reasons. It
is an established, widely used platform and accepted
standard for interacting with information of many types.
It also offers a relatively cost-effective way of linking
together distributed users (for example, telecommuters
and ofce workers, customers and suppliers, students
and teachers). The interactive and exploratory nature of
navigating linked information has also been a great hit
with users. The availability of geographically enabled
multi-content site gateways (geoportals) with powerful
search engines has been a stimulus to further success.
Internet technology is also increasingly portable this
means not only that portable GIS-enabled devices can be
used in conjunction with the wireless networks available
in public places such as airports and railway stations,
but also that such devices may be connected through
broadband in order to deliver GIS-based representations
on the move. This technology is being exploited in the
burgeoning GIService (yet another use of the three-letter
acronym GIS) sector, which offers distributed users access
to centralized GIS capabilities. Later (Chapter 18 and
onwards) we use the term g-business to cover all the
myriad applications carried out in enterprises in different
sectors that have a strong geographical component. The

Components of a GIS
The components of a GIS include
Hardware
Software
Data
People
Infrastructure

25

Hardware
GIS run on the whole spectrum of computer systems ranging from portable
personal computers (PCs) to multi-user supercomputers, and are programmed in
a wide variety of software languages. Systems are available that use dedicated
and expensive workstations, with monitors and digitizing tables built in; that
run on bottom-of-the-range PCs or notebooks; and that run on portable Personal
Data Assistants (PDAs), tablet PCs or handheld GIS/ GPS devices. In all cases,
there are a number of elements that are essential for effective GIS operation.
These include:
the presence of a processor with sufficient power to run the software;
sufficient memory for the storage of large volumes of data;

a good quality, high-resolution colour graphics screen; and

data input and output devices (for example, digitizers, scanners, keyboard,
printers and plotters).

26

Dedicated GIS workstation

27

Desktop GIS

GIS on tablet device

GIS on a mobile

28

GIS on a hand-held field computer

Software
There are a number of essential software elements that must allow the
user to input, store, manage, transform, analyse and output data.
This can be as simple as a standard Web browser (Microsoft Explorer or
Netscape) if all work is done remotely using assorted digital services
offered on large servers. More likely it is a package bought from one of
the GIS vendors, such as
Intergraph Corp., Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI)
Autodesk Inc., MapInfo Corp. Etc

29

30

31

People
People refers to GIS professionals and users who define the purpose and
objectives, and provide the reason and justification for using GIS.

32

Infrastructure
The infrastructure refers to the necessary physical, organizational,
administrative, and cultural environments that support GIS operations. The
infrastructure includes requisite skills, data standards, data clearinghouses,
and general organizational patterns.

33

Data
All GIS software has been designed to handle spatial data (also referred to
as geographical data). Spatial data are characterized by information about
position, connections with other features and details of non-spatial
characteristics.
Database consists of a digital representation of selected aspects of some
specific area of the Earths surface or near-surface, built to serve some
problem solving or scientific purpose. GIS databases can range in size from
a megabyte to a petabyte.

34

68 PART II PRINCIPLES
Biographical Box 3.2

Prince Henry the Navigator

Prince Henry of Portugal, who died in 1460, was known as Henry the
Navigator because of his keen interest in exploration. In 1433 Prince Henry
sent a ship from Portugal to explore the west coast of Africa in an attempt
to find a sea route to the Spice Islands. This ship was the first to travel
south of Cape Bojador (latitude 26 degrees 20 minutes N). To make this
and other voyages Prince Henry assembled a team of map-makers, sea
captains, geographers, ship builders, and many other skilled craftsmen.
Prince Henry showed the way for Vasco da Gama and other famous 15th
century explorers. His management skills could be applied in much the
same way in todays GIS projects.

Figure 3.2 Prince Henry the

Navigator, originator of the Age of
Discovery in the 15th century, and
promoter of a systematic approach to
the acquisition, compilation, and
dissemination of geographic
knowledge

48

since representation is at the heart of our ability to solve

problems using digital tools. Any application of GIS
requires clear attention to questions of what should be
represented, and how. There is a multitude of possible
ways of representing the geographic world in digital form,
none of which is perfect, and none of which is ideal for
all applications.
The key GIS representation issues are what to
represent and how to represent it.

One of the most important criteria for the usefulness

of a representation is its accuracy. Because the geographic world is seemingly of innite complexity, there
are always choices to be made in building any representation what to include, and what to leave out. When US
President Thomas Jefferson dispatched Meriwether Lewis
to explore and report on the nature of the lands from the
upper Missouri to the Pacic, he said Lewis possessed a
delity to the truth so scrupulous that whatever he should
report would be as certain as if seen by ourselves. But he
clearly didnt expect Lewis to report everything he saw in
complete detail: Lewis exercised a large amount of judgment about what to report, and what to omit. The question
of accuracy is taken up at length in Chapter 6.
One more vital interest drives our need for representations of the geographic world, and also the need for
representations in many other human activities. When a
pilot must train to y a new type of aircraft, it is much
cheaper and less risky for him or her to work with a
ight simulator than with the real aircraft. Flight simulators can represent a much wider range of conditions
than a pilot will normally experience in ying. Similarly,

when decisions have to be made about the geographic

world, it is effective to experiment rst on models or representations, exploring different scenarios. Of course this
works only if the representation behaves as the real aircraft or world does, and a great deal of knowledge must
be acquired about the world before an accurate representation can be built that permits such simulations. But the use
of representations for training, exploring future scenarios,
and recreating the past is now common in many elds,
including surgery, chemistry, and engineering, and with
technologies like GIS is becoming increasingly common
in dealing with the geographic world.
Many plans for the real world can be tried out rst
on models or representations.

3.4 The fundamental problem

Geographic data are built up from atomic elements, or
facts about the geographic world. At its most primitive,
an atom of geographic data (strictly, a datum) links a
place, often a time, and some descriptive property. The
rst of these, place, is specied in one of several ways
that are discussed at length in Chapter 5, and there are
also many ways of specifying the second, time. We often
use the term attribute to refer to the last of these three.
For example, consider the statement The temperature at
local noon on December 2nd 2004 at latitude 34 degrees

386

PART V

MANAGEMENT AND POLICY

Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, you will understand:
How to go a b o u t choosing a GIS to meet
your needs;
Key GIS i m p l e m e n t a t i o n issues;
How to manage an operational GIS
effectively w i t h limited resources and
ambitious goals;
W h y GIS projects fail - some pitfalls to avoid
and some useful tips a b o u t h o w to succeed;
The roles of staff members in a GIS project;
W h e r e to go f o r more detailed advice.

in the part of the book focused on high-level management

concepts: success comes from combining strategy and
implementation. It is the role of management in GIS
projects to ensure that operations are carried out effectively and efficiently, and that a healthy, sustainable GIS
can be maintained - one which meets the organization's
strategic objectives.
Obtaining and running a GIS seems at first sight to
be a routine and apparently 'mechanical' process. It is
certainly not 'rocket science'. But neither is it simple. The
consequences of failure can be catastrophic, both for the
organization and for careers. Success involves constant
sharing of experience and knowledge with other people,
keeping good records, and making numerous judgments
where the answer is not pre-ordained.
Clearly we cannot deal with all the relevant aspects of
managing GIS in one chapter. This, then, is a summary
and a pointer to more detailed information for those who
need it. Perhaps the best 'whole book' general overview
of the process of arriving at the running of a successful
GIS has been produced by Roger Tomlinson, based on
40 years of experience in building and consulting on GIS
for organizations across the world (see Box 17.1). He sees
the initial stages of the process as having ten basic steps,
encapsulated in Box 17.2.
GIS as we now recognize it began during the
spring of 1962.

17.1 The big picture

This chapter is concerned with the practical aspects of
managing an operational GIS. It is embedded deliberately

However, before actually starting on the process of

acquiring and implementing a GIS, ask the fundamental question: do I really need a GIS? There are many
applications where the answer is obvious - as shown in

Biographical Box 17.1

Roger Tomlinson, GIS pioneer

GIS had many roots, but if one person can be said to be its father, it is Roger Tomlinson (see Figure 17.1:
see also Section 1.4.1 and Table 1.4). Roger pioneered the use of GIS worldwide to collect, manage, and
manipulate geographic data, changing the face of geography as a discipline.
GIS, as we now recognize it, could be said to have begun during the spring of 1962. While on a plane
bound from Ottawa to Toronto, Tomlinson met Lee Pratt, then recently named head of the Canada Land
Inventory (CLI). Tomlinson was chief of the computer mapping division at Spartan Air Services, Ottawa. The
two men discussed a vast mapping project CLI was about to undertake: a multilayer land-use/planning map
of Canada's inhabited and productive land-around 1 million square miles. Tomlinson told Pratt that he
used computers for mapping projects and some of his ideas might work for CLI. Pratt went home and did
the arithmetic, then called Tomlinson. He said: 'We better talk about this, because we've tested out how to
do it manually and it's far too expensive', Tomlinson recalls. Shortly afterwards, he was employed by the
Canadian government, heading its GIS development program, where he was instrumental in developing
the Canada Geographic Information System or CGIS. Many other developments worldwide drew inspiration
from this beginning.
Roger Tomlinson was born in Cambridge, England, in 1933. He flew planes in the Royal Air Force during
the early 1950s and twice led expeditions to the Norwegian Ice Cap (1956 and 1957). He holds BAs from
Nottingham University, England, and Acadia University, Nova Scotia, Canada; an MA from McGill University,
Quebec, Canada; and a Ph.D. from University College, London, England. Tomlinson adopted Canada as his
home country in 1957.
49

CHAPTER 17

MANAGING GIS

387

Dr Tomlinson established Tomlinson Associates Ltd, a firm of consulting geographers, in 1977. As a

geographic consultant, Tomlinson has advised an extraordinary list of clients including the World Bank,
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the US departments of Commerce and Agriculture, US
Geological Survey, US Forest Service, US Bureau of the Census, the Canadian Forest Service, and numerous US
state and Canadian provincial and municipal government agencies - as well as many other bodies worldwide.
He has been a keynote speaker at innumerable GIS conferences across the globe.
Dr Tomlinson's contributions have been recognized by a glittering array of high honors including the 2003
Gold Medal of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, the Murchison Award of the Royal Geographical
Society and - most prestigious of all - the Order of Canada.

Figure 17.1 Dr Roger Tomlinson, GIS pioneer, in 2003 and as he was in 1957 leading an expedition to the Norwegian Ice Cap

50

Technical Box 17.2

The Tomlinson methodology for getting a GIS that meets your needs
Stage

Action

Consider the strategic purpose

Plan for the planning

Conduct a technology seminar

4
5

Describe the information products

Define the system scope

Commentary (after Tomlinson 2003)

Strategic purpose is the guiding light. The system that gets
implemented must be aligned with the purpose of the
organization as a whole.
Since the GIS planning process will take time and resources,
you will need to get an approval and commitment at the
front end from senior managers in the organization.
Think of the technology seminar as a sort of 'town-hall
meeting' between the GIS planning team, the various staff,
and other stakeholders in the organization.
Know what you want to get out of it.
Scoping the system means defining the actual data, hardware,
software, and timing.