Malgorzata Gajos
University of Silesia
Będzińska 39, 41-200 Sosnowiec, Poland
tel./fax +48 32 2918418
E-mail: gajos@us.edu.pl
In a linear conception of time, the future is the portion of timeline which is still to occur. Can such definition of the future be accepted for considerations about the future of geoinformation systems? Possibly yes in general considerations, but no when a criterion is assumed like territory and GIS development level in such area. GIS development rate in highly developed countries is arguably higher than in developing countries. What is the present for the first is the future for the latter.
Various aspects can be contemplated in terms of GIS future, e.g. development of tools, software, infrastructure, and end-user requirements. Timeframe is of importance, too, when discussing GIS future. As attendees to the GIS Vision 2025 Conference we are supposed to forecast GIS in 20 years to come. What will be the growth rate world-wide and in individual countries till 2025? Obviously, it will be related to advanced technologies, educated communities and available geoinformation.
This paper is designed to present, notably for Poland, aspects of information society’s access to geoinformation, from the prospective of civic GIS developments. The paper analyses briefly more than 40 years of world-wide GIS growth. Then, some information access barriers are specified, which should be abolished in shorter or longer term. Such barriers are mainly of legal, economic, and organisational nature, they include, however, issues of IT ethics and culture. Another article tries to answer the question of what future will be in terms of accessing geoinformation. One of the components of such future should be addressed to the citizen as geoinformatics and GIS ought to serve the mankind since they are only tools, instruments of exploring the nature and the world other than the objective per se. For the access to geoinformation be user-friendly and effective, efforts should be undertaken and followed through which are aimed at integrating, standardising, and improving the law to disseminate data and knowledge access.
Information access is the vital need of the IT society. Available GIS technology makes it possible to build wide and network-based GIS infrastructure of global, national, regional, and local, where spatial information may be generated and diffused. The present GIS growth rate results in standard user needs being frequently overtaken. Indeed, some people today are not aware of the growth. Many, often surprising, GIS applications demonstrate the GIS and geoinformatics generalisation, and give evidence of those technologies development being useful and requisite.
When speaking about the future, the question still holds true: is the building of increasingly more systems leading to the IT society and innovativeness of higher importance than building of information systems on existing resources combined with an attempt to integrate and harmonise them? Today, the main task is to embed the geoinformation into extensively developing communications and IT technologies in the informatics and knowledge-based society. It is equally important to visualise processed data so that high quality is guaranteed for the information and easy reception. Beyond doubt, implementation of such projects and prioritisation of civic needs shall fully serve the society in 2025 while the terms: geomarketing, GIS in health care, and GIS fun will be known to every citizen of such society.