Geographic Information Systems in Government Software

Posted by admin on January 27, 2012 under Government Software | 2 Comments to Read

G-I-S. These 3 little letters are taking the public sector by storm. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are the latest trend in the Public Sector and from our perspective, this trend has some serious staying power.

In its simplest form, GIS is the mapping of geographical and spatial data. These systems allow organizations to create “layers” to the maps that provide additional information different segments of the map.

As GIS technology has evolved, so too has the demand for the types of information that can be added as layers on the maps within the system. Within the last couple of years, we have seen software demonstrations of several Permitting and Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) software systems that have either architected their product to be “GIS-centric” or are working closely with leading GIS vendors to integrate systems. One advantage of these systems is the ability to provide added layers of metadata on the map that can be accessed even to external users (e.g. citizens, stakeholders, contractors, developers, etc.).

We expect to see GIS-centric systems continue to gain market share as municipalities look to upgrade their current permitting and EAM systems. Many organizations have GIS departments, often as a sub-set of their IT departments. These departments will become more and more important as technology continues to trend toward an enterprise focus.

DaveD_PDX said,

So what are some of the government business systems that have GIS capabilities? Are we talking about integrated financial-centric systems like MUNIS? Or just asset management and permitting?

Is everyone building on top of ESRI, who seems to be the dominant GIS provider? Or are any vendors doing their own thing?
admin said,

Great questions Dave! GIS-centric applications in the current market tend to be those with land/equipment requirements such as permitting and EAM. Some of the more recently developed applications include additional modules/functionality such as Emergency Response and Customer Information Systems. Another emerging trend is tying GIS to business analytics.

In general, government ERP software packages like MUNIS, New World, etc. are not re-architecting their systems to be GIS-centric, rather, they are interfacing to GIS. Depending on the ERP, some systems have open APIs and web protocols allowing financial information to become an additional layer(s) on the map within the GIS.

There are several players in the GIS market depending on the size and complexity of the organization. Certainly, ESRI tends to be the most well-known and has positioned themselves as a leader in GIS technologies.