GIS is also at work in more tranquil settings. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Washington, D.C., is implementing an enterprisewide GIS application from ESRI across its many agencies. Similarly, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) uses the software to predict fires based on the proximity to known fire-starting agents such as railway tracks, where flying sparks can ignite brush, and major highways and cities, where a tossed cigarette can start a blaze. Once a fire breaks out, the USFS uses GIS to map the spread and predict where it’ll go. Not only has GIS radically improved the business processes across multiple agencies, it has already proved to be a smart investment, according to Dennis Lytle, GIS program manager for the service center agencies at USDA. "Our benefit-cost analysis has shown that even with all the expenses, we’ll find a payback in year of 2004," he says.

Picture Place

Eastman Kodak has discovered that an entirely new industry has sprung up around the use of GIS and digital cameras. All of Kodak’s professional cameras?which cost more than $2,000?have a serial port built in that supports a GPS receiver. That allows photographers not only to track the time that a photo was taken but also the latitude and longitude. Weekend warrior photographers, pilots and farmers alike have found that they can build incredibly precise aerial maps either for their own use or as a side business. Since digital cameras can be used for infrared, it’s easy for users to create digital maps with layers using software from companies like Canto. Jay Kelbley, worldwide product manager for professional digital cameras at Kodak in Rochester, N.Y., offers the example of a farmer who could locate a specific area on a color map and then go down a layer into infrared to look for water moisture and crop infestations in his fields.

The Future of GIS

For businesses, the biggest story in the future of GIS may very well be Web services. A number of smaller companies such as Questerra in Charlottesville, Va., and Vicinity in Sunnyvale, Calif., are providing companies with the ability to do complex spatial queries with enterprise data through a Web interface. Those companies will host your data and even combine it with other third-party data resources if you want.

Service on Site

Another of the most important emerging areas within GIS will be location-based services, which is the wireless application of GIS ranging from onboard navigation systems in cars to business uses like petroleum prospecting and exploration. Already, services such as OnStar’s Virtual Advisor are being used to pull traffic advisories to a vehicle as well as less germane information such as financial, entertainment and sports news. In the future, the possibilities of such systems are almost limitless. They could be used to access a home electronic monitoring system and to track where the kids are, if they happen to be wearing their GPS bracelets. "Cell phones will become surveying devices," says Jack Dangermond, president of Redlands, Calif.-based ESRI. "As people move around they’ll know where they are relative to other things: what kind of neighborhood you’re in, where a certain kind of restaurant is or how to get somewhere."