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GI Science and technology - where next?


Josef Strobl
Center for Geoinformatics
Salzburg University, Austria
josef.strobl@sbg.ac.at

For some time now GIS has been expected to turn a corner and enter into the mainstream of computing, and maybe society. Chances are there that this will happen through a more 'location aware' society supported by services built on positioning, distributed geospatial databases and connected with ubiquitous telecommunication coverage. Will GI science lead the way, or will GI technology drive developments

Due to the potential of 'location' to serve as the critical link connecting the virtual and real worlds it is argued that the geospatial domain plays a critical role in establishing the business foundations of any information society.

GI-*?
When we discuss current trends and a vision where we expect to be standing several years from now, we first have to establish a clear frame of reference. GI Systems as software architectures link technology and methods to application and business domains. GI Science researches the conceptual background and methodology frameworks implemented in GI Systems and guiding applications.

GI manifested in geospatial data collections and data streams represents the real world, thus describing application domains and making them accessible for digital workflows. GI technol-ogy reaches beyond the software in GISystems to include sen-sor systems and dedicated interaction devices from handhelds to vision aids.

For a discussion on trends and visions, we will have to pursue an integrated perspective with a focus on what we will be able to do many years from now. The science behind that, it's trans-lation into technology and systems, and the availability of mul-tiple and detailed digital representations of past, current and future realities are being integrated towards future capabilities.

All GI-* combined will serve the purpose of providing an explicitly 'spatial user interface' for our world across all its different scales, facets, themes and user perspectives.