GIS has not changed since 1995

Recently at a conference I was thumbing through the program pamphlet, searching for thought provoking presentations. I just about tossed it in the trash and walked out. There was only 1 topic different than other presentations I have seen in the last 13 years. What has happened to GIS being the new and exciting solution? Why do we still have presentations with the topic…”Data Aggregation: Combining sewer information across county and city lines”. Who cares? GIS is stuck in the year 1995, back when the craze was moving data from paper maps to the digital world.

When are we going to start USING our data? We are stuck in a technological time warp in which GIS software is no longer seen as a tool for analytics, but for transactions. Remember the days when people went to school to study geography, which explained the “reasons” places and cultures are located where they are? Who has ever studied geography to maintain data?

I found it very interesting at this conference, I was engaged in an argument with a federal government worker about the use of metadata. Really? Tell me what GIS people use metadata for. Business Intelligence (BI) systems have taught us a lot about the need for metadata. It is used to automate business transactions, functionality, and analytics. In other words, the system uses metadata. GIS needs to enact metadata in the same manner – it should not be a bunch of facts that .005% of the users just read about.

We need a shake-up in GIS. Come on people, let’s solve business problems. Give questions and answers to executives that were once considered too complicated to resolve.