Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/58583

Title

Inhibitors and facilitators in high speed networking of spatial information systems

Author(s)

Newton, Peter W.;  Zwart, P. R.;  Cavill, M. E.

Abstract

This chapter reports on the findings of a survey of spatial information systems organisations designed to identify some of the factors that may influence their rate of take-up of high speed, broadband telecommunications networks and their development of integrated image/graphics systems. High speed broadband networks represent, par excellence, an icon of the technology which will underpin the advanced sectors of the information economy. They have as their heritage, earlier telematic services such as telegraph, the public switched telephone network and more recently digital data networks. Where these earlier networks reduced the barriers of geography and time, high speed broadband networks eliminates them. Furthermore, their capabilities (speed, capacity, etc.) confer revolutionary opportunities for developing systems to: (i) overcome current bottlenecks in information transmission (generated by the increasing rates at which digital data is being captured and stored) and maximise opportunities for electronic delivery; (ii) undertake new tasks and applications and define entirely new markets. New high speed telecommunication technologies provide new possibilities in business and organisation. They also create new risks. When to lead and when to follow (and at what distance) become vital business decisions for both private and public sector organisations. Since the early 1980s high speed services have been growing at a consistently higher rate than all data network services considered as a whole. This growth emanates from two sources. One source is via network substitution. Another is via new demand. A particular subset of potential new customers for metropolitan area network (MAN) technology represented the focus for the preliminary analysis. The commonality among the organisations chosen for case study was their graphics/image data as a central component of their work activity. The business sectors chosen for study included: those involved in the development of land information systems (LIS), organisations undertaking significant remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) activity and organisations which employ AM/FM or CAD. The principal information sought in each case study included topics such as business mission, the geography of the organisation's operations, the volume of document generation, current and likely future communications operations. The organisations surveyed are listed in the Appendix to this Chapter.

Publication type

Book chapter

Source

Networking spatial information systems, rev. ed. / P. W. Newton, P. R. Zwart and M. E. Cavill (eds.), pp. 251-263

Publication year

1995

Keyword(s)

Computer networks;  Information systems management;  Networked data;  Spatial information systems

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

ISBN

9780471962274, 0471962279

Copyright

Copyright © 1995 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Peer reviewed