Out of the basement: Moving from mapping to enterprise GIS

Enterprise GIS: An old promise
In the early 1990’s we started to refer to GIS as “Enterprise GIS.” While this term has begun to be a buzz-word used to refer to any method of implementing GIS, at its heart Enterprise GIS suggests the delivery of some very specific capabilities. In our view, critical capabilities associated with Enterprise GIS include:

a GIS that integrates geographic data across multiple departments and serves the entire organization
a GIS that provides desk-top access via LAN and WAN connection to any worker who needs access – in other words, Enterprise GIS fully supports client-server operability
a GIS that provides access to other information systems in the organization using the map as an index to and integrator of the organization’s information systems.

This last point is quite important. Enterprise GIS is not a method to provide automated map plotting capabilities to the entire organization. The vision and promise of Enterprise GIS is its ability to be an essential or core technology that integrates information across the many “islands of computer information” that exist in any organization.

Ironically, since the very early days of GIS the user public expected to receive this vision of Enterprise GIS, but after investing years implementing GIS found themselves with an automated mapping system that queued map plot requests.

Why? Well, up until the last 6-8 years GIS technology simply did not possess the technical ability to deliver Enterprise GIS. For example, until the early 1990’s GIS software could not support a “logical view” of a database – the ability to access and report data from multiple database tables – it could only report from a single data table. Without this capability, it was technically impractical to use GIS as a spatial integrator of multiple information systems; it even made using GIS for anything more than a map-plotting tool difficult.

The good news is that several GIS vendors now provide all the capabilities needed to implement Enterprise GIS – a GIS that provides desktop access to multiple departments and that can serve a pivotal role in integrating data across an organization’s disparate information systems.

The bad news is that the gap that existed for almost 20 years between user expectations for GIS and what GIS could technically deliver has resulted in at least three obstacles to realizing the promise of Enterprise GIS:

The vast majority of the organizations who have implemented GIS have a “back room” mapping and map plotting system
Many of these organizations have lost the political will (and perhaps the confidence and understanding) to promote the expansion of their mapping systems to realize the substantial benefit of Enterprise GIS
The IT methods essential to the design and implementation of Enterprise GIS are not widely known and uniformly practiced – many implementation consultants are still practicing what they know: how to implement an automated mapping system.

Implementing Enterprise GIS requires a concerted effort that involves organizational development, proper design, implementing requisite computing infrastructure and establishing appropriate institutional mechanisms. The remainder of this paper presents the successful approach undertaken by the City of Fort Worth to move from its “basement” mapping system to implement true enterprise GIS. Using this experience, we conclude by identifying critical issues we believe must be addressed as part of any organization’s implementation of Enterprise GIS.

The city of fort worth's experience

Background By 1996 the City of Fort Worth, Texas had over 10 years experience with GIS, having implemented an automated mapping system in the early 1980’s. As is typical to GIS implemented in that time period, the system provided map maintenance and map plotting services to a wide range of City departments, but failed to meet the needs and expectations of many departments. As a result, while the City supported an “enterprise” automated mapping system, several departments implemented dissimilar GIS software that better addressed their data analysis needs.

In 1996 the City reorganized its central data processing department and brought in a new generation of information technology (IT) managers. The new IT Director, Michael Di Paolo and his Assistant Director Shirley Sanger established what is now know as the City’s Information Systems and Services (ISS) Department. Their mandate was to improve support for the City’s information technology needs and operations. Di Paolo won early approval for dramatic moves, two of which were considered central to achieving a contemporary enterprise-computing environment:

the development of a high band-width LAN and WAN infrastructure, and
the implementation of Enterprise GIS.