| Benefits of Enterprise Web GIS |
Examples |
| Improves Access to data and Promotes Data Sharing |
- The Web provides easy access to information, whether it is spatial or non-spatial data
- Better access can be provided to existing spatial data eg.
utility assets, property details or customer locations, making it useful to all areas of an enterprise
- Access to non-spatial enterprise data can be made mucheasier within a Web GIS
- Web GIS promotes information integration. Many users need access to data from different sources and in different types, and these can be easily combined on a single map in a GIS
- This data can then be easily shared among many users
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| Promotes the power of GIS to support decision making |
- GIS functionality is tremendously useful and powerful. Web GIS allows this powerful functionality to be made available to many users, even over the Internet
- GIS is a powerful tool for the capture, management, manipulation, analysis, modelling and visualisation of spatially referenced data for solving complex planning and management problems
- Users can view data, see how it relates to other data, and analyse patterns and relationships between many datasets visually. This is vital for many users, whether you are trying ;to target new customers, planning the next sales campaign, deciding on a store location, or identifying risk associated with providing insurance cover. You can then use the analysis results to plan the correct course of action
- GIS is also a very powerful logistic planning and management tool eg. routing. Complex GIS functionality can be simplified and made available to many more users with Web GIS. Vehicles and filed staff can be tracked and more effectively routed to emergencies or target destinations. This has efficiency, cost and customer relationship benefits
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| Web GIS Demystifies Spatial and Enterprise Data |
- Web applications, and especially Web GIS, can provide very intuitive interfaces to often complicated GIS and enterprise data. GIS helps users to understand data through the common language of location
- GIS and enterprise data can be easily deployed in a Web GIS, and as Web applications are easily accessible to 'everybody' including the public via the Internet, GIS data will be more widely available and will be increasingly used
- Many people in organisations do not realise the wealth of information available to them. GIS helps to inform users of what is available and show how it can be used to best effect
- Improved access to vast amounts of data can result in Information Overload for a user. Web GIS can help reduce Information Overload by filtering out data which is not required. Users select only the data they require by specifying their Area of Interest (AOI) which filters out data they don't require
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| The Web Reduces Techno-phobia by Giving Users Exactly What They Require |
- Ease-of-use - we all want that. Well Web GIS delivers on what it promises. Web GIS can really be easy to use
- Users are many and varied, with different requirements of an application and different skill levels. Web GIS can be configured easily to give users the exact functionality they require. To ensure users are not overwhelmed by functionality
- New functionality can be added to Web GIS applications to suit the requirements of different user groups. The functionality can be very simple or more complex to allow an experienced/specialised user to gain maximum benefit
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| Saves time and money for IT departments and GIS administrators |
- Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Web GIS is cheap to deploy as (a) client machines can be basic PC's as they are only required to run the browser and (b) the application is deployed in one place, on the server(s) (depending on the configuration and to support many users)
- Web GIS technology is easier to upgrade and maintain than desktop GIS
- Web GIS are easy to implement, both from a systems and data perspective
- Web GIS can be more easily integrated with existing IT infrastructure, especially enterprise RDBMS. The Web GIS can easily link to existing legacy databases, removing the requirements to store data in two places
- Web GIS can be easily expanded to include more functionality with new modules, as user requirements and new technology (eg. mobile) dictate
- Web GIS are scalable. More users can be added, with different levels of functionality available to them. More data can be added. Servers can be easily upgraded to cope with the increased demand (depending on hardware configuration)
- Web GIS often performs better (is faster) than traditional desktop GIS mainly because less data travels on the network. This reduces the impact on the network and may result in reduced IT infrastructure costs
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| Better Access to Spatial Data by the Public |
- Web GIS allows enterprises to easily and quickly disseminate data to the public. Prior to the Web access would probably not have been possible or the public may have had to get printed maps from these organisations
- Much of the information which citizens will require access to is spatially related, and Internet GIS applications should make this access easy and intuitive. Citizens will also be able to communicate with government agencies, updating information and sub-scribing to services
- Citizens will also become big users of spatial data through Location Based Services (LBS). Citizens can be located (see LBS under Mobile GIS), and they can be provided with requested services based on their known location eg. where is my nearest garage and how do I get there
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Improves Data Capture and Management
| - It is often simpler and quicker to update through a Web browser; access is easier, and editing tools are simpler, often customised specifically for that task. This is certainly the case with Web GIS
- New and updated data is made available to users quicker, as the web GIS can access the most up to date maps and data
- If Web GIS applications are linked to Mobile GIS applications, data capture is more streamlined and reliable. Whether data, which is captured on location in the field, is updated 'real-time' or is uploaded when the field worker returns to the office, the process is more efficient saving time and money
- Web GIS users can easily access Metadata. Metadata is information about the data eg. its source, lineage, accuracy etc. It is often vital for users to know where data came from and it's reliability. Metadata is frequently difficult to create and manage as well as access, so Web GIS makes the whole process simplier
- New versions of background mapping and third party data can be made available to users more easily
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| Reduces Pessures on GIS Professionals |
- With Web GIS users don't need to go to specialised staff to locate and retrieve GIS data. They can access it themselves and they have the tools to manipulate it
- Users can easily print their own maps, which was often a major workload on GIS staff
- Data originators eg. field surveyors can now input data themselves, rather than relying on GIS staff, which means the data is updated and made available quicker
- Specialist GIS professionals will then be able to deploy /their skills in other areas to improve the overall quality of /Web GIS services within an enterprise, and keep abreast of new technology eg. Mobile GIS
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| Allows New Options for Data Access and Application Delivery |
- Web GIS information and services can be delivered to an enterprise through Application Service Providers (ASP). This means that an internal division or external company takes responsibility for all or some GIS services, and provides access to them on subscription either by volume use or for a fixed fee
- The above model is often used for subscription to external data where the alternative would be to purchase and maintain large volumes of data
- ASP can provide access to Hosted Applications, which means that it's not only the data that is hosted by the ASP. It may be cheaper for an enterprise to access the application externally, resulting in reduced TCO because there is no need to implement, maintain and upgrade specialised applications and data and the applications can be upgraded more easily as there is a larger user base
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Overview
