The third big change is the users of Internet GIServices and the service providers. According to a recent research from ComScore Network ((http://www.ebrandz.com/newsletter/2005/July/1july_31july_article1.htm), online map users are a huge market. Currently, Time Warner's [MapQuest.com] has estimated 43.7 million U.S. visitors in May 2005, the [Yahoo!Maps] has 20.2 million users, Google Map (maps.google.com) with 6.1 million and Microsoft’s MSN MapPoint (mappoint.msn.com) has 4.68 million visitors, according to ComScore Networks. (http://www.ebrandz.com/newsletter/2005/July/1july_31july_article1.htm). This is a huge market for online mapping services comparing to traditional GIS users. It is very interested to see the new online mapping providers, such as Google and Amozon.com to join the market of online mapping and provide more diversified geospatial information services.

One unique feature for Google online mapping services is that it provides an open API (application programming interface) for connecting to other Web applications. For example, programmers can get free API codes to overlay the Google maps and satellite images with their own applications, such as realtor markets, GPS tracking, or external business works. This open Google-Map API attracted more software developers and users for creating more useful web mapping services. After the successful story of the Google API, the Yahoo!Map and Microsoft are also releasing similar functions in the middle of 2005.

Another fast-growing domain is the wireless location-based services (LBS) on mobile devices, such as PDAs, PocketPCs, or mobile phones. Many GIS vendors and Internet GIServices providers started to focus on this market in 2005 and created many interesting applications, such as “Google Mobile Local Search” (http://mobile.google.com/loc_search.html). With the progress of wireless technology, including Wi-Fi, WiMAX, and 4G cellular phone systems, people can access on-line maps and Internet GIS from anywhere via portable devices. Year 2005 is a boost point for the new types of mobile GIS applications.

Figure 4. A Web mapping tools for high school teachers and students.
(Http://geoinfo.sdsu.edu/hightech) (ArcIMS map created by Anthony Howser).

In Year 2005, we also see more and more different types of Internet GIS applications for various users. Internet GIS and Web mapping have been applied in homeland security, disaster management, business market, transportation, city planning, and K-12 educations. Figure 4 is an example of Internet GIS (ESRI’s ArcIMS) adopted in a high school biology course and the web maps were used by high school teachers and students for their field survey in San Diego Bay (http://geoinfo.sdsu.edu/hightech).

Along with the three big changes in both academic research and commercial markets of Internet GIS, the new pretty face of Internet GIS will attract more people to use it and it will transform the way people live, work, and behave. The general public will have different way to collect, analyses, and distribute information – geographically. These changes in Internet GIS will provide a testimony for the first law of geography. According to Dr. Waldo Tobler (Emeritus Professor at UC-Santa Barbara, Geography Department), the first law of geography is "Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related to each other." If we apply this law into the changes in Internet GIS, we can see that “Everything can be related to a spatial factor, and near things are more “sale-marketable” to potential users”. (Yes, you will more likely to buy a ice-cream cone from your neighborhood store rather than a distant supermarket store ten miles away).

So, in the future, when you go to the online shopping store, like Amazon.com, you might be able to virtually “walk” on the Broadway Street in Downtown San Diego and then click on a cozy bookstore located in the corner of your computer screen. Then you “enter” the virtual book store to buy an antique book published in 1922. Or you can physically walk on a street with your cellular phone beeping a $5 discount e-coupon for a coffee shop in the next street block (the cellular phone can detect your location by GPS and then advertises all e-coupon from the nearby stores within 100 meters).

Figure 4. The NASA World Wind Application (An Open-Source Internet GIS example). (http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/).

I have one last note for the future development of Internet GIS. Although the private GIS vendors and software companies play an important role for the future Internet GIS development, such as ESRI, Microsoft, Google, and Intergraph. The Open Source Software Society will also become a strong player in the technological advancement of Internet GIS. For example, the very popular NASA World Wind is an excellent Internet GIS application, which creates a virtual digital earth to display various scientific data and to overlay multiple NASA satellite images (Figure 4). Since it is an Open-Source Project developed by NASA. People can add various applications beyond the original functions of World Wind.

In summary, this paper made a first attempt at explaining three major changes in 2005 (awareness, technology, and users) for the development of Internet GIS. As time wears on, more progresses and changes will be made in Internet GIS, leading to infinite possibility and great potentials. The pretty face of Internet GIS will be constantly changing. As a GIS professional and a faculty member at a university, I am very curious to see if we can discover a real killing application in Internet GIS. A really useful Internet GIS application can be used for everyone in everyday. , just like watches or cellular phones. I hope that at the end of 2005, we might be able to see one or two Internet GIS applications emerged from the thousands of GIServices and become the ONE. Let’s wait and see.