GIS’s move into the mainstream has also been aided by the fact that it’s now possible to easily integrate it with other applications, thanks to industry-standard databases and programming interfaces.

Not only do users no longer have to be specialists to work with GIS, the users can be anywhere. The high-bandwidth needs of image-intensive geospatial files used to necessitate that users be close to the server, but the application can now be used in a distributed environment and even with remote users through the Web. "Within three years, GIS technology will be largely invisible," predicts Dave Sonnen, a Blaine, Wash.-based analyst with IDC Research (a sister company to CIO’s publisher). "It’ll just be part of the infrastructure, and IS will be handling geographic information just like integers and floating point queries within a buffer."

GIS and the Business

According to Daratech, a Cambridge, Mass., market research company, the total revenue from GIS software topped $1 billion in 2001, which represented a growth of 9 percent in 2001 over 2000. The biggest spenders on GIS are primarily in the regulated sector: electric, gas and other utility companies that use the technology to manage and maintain their distribution pipeline networks.

Rubicon Oil, a Sacramento, Calif.-based fuel and lube service company, uses the @Road Internet Location Manager to track its drivers on their daily routes, improve productivity, and monitor oil changes and maintenance records. These mundane tasks have taken on increased importance since Sept. 11. In the months following the terrorist attacks, Ron Quin, an operations manager with Rubicon, was visited by both the FBI and the California Highway Patrol looking for assurances that his fuel tankers couldn’t be hijacked and used for terrorism. Those worries became even closer to reality when at 9 one night, not long after 9/11, the @Road application showed one of the company’s drivers 40 to 60 miles off his route and out of contact. Another driver close by checked on the situation and discovered that the first driver had stopped for a meal. The establishment of electronic parameters to monitor vehicle travel is called "geofencing," and it has become an increasingly critical application for GIS, particularly among fuel and hazardous material transport companies looking to keep a close eye on their shipments.

Homeland security issues have further heightened the demand for GIS-enabled technologies. In April of 2002, Home Depot cofounder and former CEO Bernie Marcus pledged $3.9 million to equip a new emergency response center for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and a portion of the donation was used to purchase handheld GIS-enabled technology. Currently, it’s a logistical challenge for CDC investigators to track the exact time when and location where investigators take a sample. With technology provided by Symbol Technologies and LinksPoint software, investigators will attach a bar code to each blood sample taken from an ill person or anthrax sample taken from a site, and scan it with the handheld geopositioning device. Back at CDC headquarters, that information will populate a database that will show a complete record of each sample. "This will help speed the CDC’s analysis and response in public health emergencies where lives are threatened," says Charles Stokes, president and CEO of the CDC Foundation in Atlanta.