A New Approach for Utilizing GIS in the Enterprise Sohail El-Abd Solutions Development Director Quality Standards Information Technology, Egypt Email: sohail.elabd@qs4it.com Enterprise GIS could be defined as an architecture that integrates geospatial data and services sharing them across an organization. An enterprise includes all the functional departments, people, processes and systems within an organization. This paper discusses different approaches for applying GIS in the enterprise, demonstrating different concepts and architectures, showing the latest technology trends to deal with GIS across the enterprise. First, the paper shows the traditional approach that based on the presence of a Central focal Geodatabase, in which the whole organization datasets are migrated into a consolidated GIS repository, highlighting the drawbacks of orienting the whole business towards GIS, dealing with it as a mission critical issue, not taking into consideration that the GIS may be needed as a complementary aided technology not as a core business leader, the way that may restrict system success and sustainability. The paper then presents the `GIS Services Bus / GSB`approach, which is a new practical approach for applying GIS in the enterprise based on Service Oriented Architecture Technology. The GSB approach is most appropriate for high level organizations that include many different business sectors, where GIS isn’t a mission critical. The paper explains the concept of generalizing Global GIS Services in a common service bus to broaden usability among the whole organization, serving users required data along with the appropriate customized interface, creating on call GIS Services (functions) to be delivered to every user in the organization in defined sequences forming business processes, and creating independent, reusable, standards compliant GIS system, the issue that leads to orienting GIS towards business achieving system applicability, scalability and sustainability.