Title: GISC 6383 Geographic Information Systems Management
1GISC 6383 Geographic Information Systems
Management Implementation
Introduction The Challenges
- Dr. Ronald Briggs
- University of Texas at Dallas
- Program in Geographic Information Sciences
2Course Objectives
- to understand the fundamentals of implementing
and managing Geographic Information Systems
within modern organizations - maximizing the liklihood of success
- minimizing the liklihood of failures
3Who is in Attendance?
- Graduate Students pursuing degrees
- GIS Professionals seeking additional skills
- People who think GIS holds promise
- Students who couldnt care less - need the hours
and the time fitted their schedule
4Texts
- Tomlinson, Roger Thinking about GIS GIS
Planning for Managers ESRI Press, 2005 2nd ed.
(1st ed is OK) - Zeiler, M. Modeling our World The ESRI Guide to
Geodatabase Design ESRI Press, 1999 - Alternative Texts to Tomlinson
- Huxhold, William E. and Levinsohn, Allan G.
Managing Geographic Information System Projects
New York Oxford, 1995 - Harmon and Anderson The Design and implementation
of Geographic Information Systems Wiley, 2003
5Alternative Texts and Useful Books
- Management/People focused
- Obermeyer, Nancy J. and Pinto, Jeffrey K.
Managing Geographic Information Systems New York
The Guilford Press, 1994 (dated and very
academic) - von Meyer, Nancy and R. Scott Oppman Enterprise
GIS.URISA, 1999, 98 pp. (set of case studies) - Derek Reeve, GIS, Organizations and People
London Taylor Francis, 2000 (UK case studies) - Heather Campbell and Ian Masser GIS and
Organizations London Taylor and Francis, 1995
(earlier edition of Reeve) - Technology focused
- Korte, George B. The GIS Book Santa Fe Onword
Press, 5th Ed. 2001 - Hohl, Pat GIS Data Conversion Strategies,
Techniques, Management Santa Fe, Onword Press,
1998 - Yong-Qi Chen and Yuk-Cheung Lee Geographical Data
Acquisition Springer-Verlag, 2001, - Shashi Shekhar and Sanjay Chawla Spatial
Databases A Tour Prentice Hall, 2003
6ESRI PRESS Application area series
- Public Sector
- OLooney, John Beyond Maps GIS and Decision
Making in Local Government, 2000--- excellent! - Fleming, Cory The GIS Guide for Local Government
Officials , 2005 - Huxhold, W.E. ArcGIS and the Digital City A
hands-on approach for local government, 2004 - Green, R.W. Open Access-GIS in E-Government, 2001
- Green, R.W. GIS in Public Policy
- Amdahl, G. Disaster Response GIS for Public
Safety, 2001 - Green, R.W. Confronting Catastrophe A GIS
Handbook, 2002 - LeGates, R. Think Globally, Act Regionally GIS
and data visualization for social science and
public policy research, 2005
7ESRI PRESS Application area series
- Private Sector/Specific Application Areas
- Boyles, C.T. Measuring Up The Business Case for
GIS, 2004 - Harder, C. GIS Means Business, 1998
- Lang, L. Managing Natural Resources with GIS,
1998 - Harder, Christian Enterprise GIS for Energy
Companies, 1999 - Lang, Laura GIS for Health Organizations, 2000
- Godin, Lisa GIS in Telecommunications, 2001
- Lang, Laura Transportation GIS, 1999
- Godin, Lisa GIS in Telecommunications, 2001
- Herzog, David Mapping the News GIS in
Jounalism, 2003 (features UTD!) - Harder, C. Enterprise GIS for Energy Companies
1999 - Lang, L. Managing Natural Resources with GIS,
1998 - Hanna, K GIS for Landscape Architects, 1999
8Semester Student Assignments
- Provide a State-of-the-Art Technology Assessment
report for a selected topic - class presentation to be made on assigned date
and accompanied by written evaluation - See course outline for example topics you may
select others - 2 or 3 people per group (no more and no less 12
groups max.) - Prepare a GIS Implementation Plan for an
organization, using principles outlined in class - 1. By or before date of Midterm, identify
organization and send me e-mail outlining your
intentions. - 2. Turn in your written report (target 10-15
pages) at semester end. - See course syllabus for exact due dates.
- See Web site for additional details.
9What is a GIS?
- A GIS allows the geographic features in real
world locations to be digitally represented so
that they can be abstractly presented in map
(analog) form, and they can be worked with and
manipulated to address some problem.
- It can be the basis for
- conducting a project,
- running one or more departments
- within an organization,
- or for managing an entire enterprise.
10Real World
A city wants you to propose a plan for
re-organizing its primary operations (80 of
which are geographic based) so that standard
daily operations, as well as longer-term decision
making, can be accomplished more speedily and
efficiently. You propose an inter-departmental
shared GIS to replace paper maps and documents
associated with daily operations and to improve
data and information flow between departments to
enhance and speed-up decision-making.
11Real World
- Texas Super High Speed Rail asks YOU to propose
alternative routes, with initial cost estimates,
for high speed rail lines linking Dallas,
Houston, San Antonio. The initial plan should be
ready next month. You use GIS to examine
alternative corridors and estimate costs.
12An Oil company wants to start documenting its
oil production by well. They own or lease over
30 thousand wells worldwide. Set up a GIS that
can accept reporting data on a daily basis and
analyze production trends.
- Add natural features
- Add human features
- Add socio-economic data
- Utilize industry standard commercial database
(Oracle, SQL Server, etc.)
13 A City wants YOU to supply it with all its base
mapping, set up its new computers/GIS network so
maps can be shared between departments, train
its users and make quarterly updates for them
until they hire a GIS Coordinator. They need a
proposal in two weeks.
14Real World
You are an intern in the city fire department.
The fire chief has heard of GIS and thinks it
could help them with their planning. Being young,
educated, somewhat computer literate, but not
trained to go out on fire-trucks (thus in the
chiefs eye relatively useless), you are asked to
research this and make recommendations.
15GIS Scope
- Project
- Single department application (Departmental GIS)
- Multi departmental application
- Enterprise system (Enterprise GIS)
- Multi Institutional endeavor (Community GIS)
16Level I Project
- Institutional Environment
- Expected result is a product
- Project has an end date
- Costs paid by project
- No long-term support expected no commitment to
GIS - little or no organizational impact
- GIS Implementation Approach
- One-time effort
- need best tool for the job
- consultant or contractor may do entire thing
- Benefit
- product produced on-time within budget
- highway feasibility study completed
- rail line corridor study complete
17Level II Single Department(but perhaps multiple
of them!)
- Institutional Environment
- Small Institution or Single Department
- Well-defined, existing business function to be
supported - Ongoing support is required but no major
commitment to GIS - Little or no reorganization e.g. manual drafters
shift to GIS workstation - Managed by departmental responsible for business
activity - Corporate support nice, but not needed
- GIS Implementation Approach
- PCs, with local department network
- File-based spatial data maybe CAD focused
- Little or no integration with attribute databases
- Little or no sharing of information within or
beyond department - Benefit
- supports specific business task more effectively
and efficiently -
Example automate map production or manage storm
water drainage system
18Level III Multi-Department/Service Resource
- Institutional Environment
- Mid-size to large institution, more than one
department - More significant commitment of staff and budget
to GIS - Ongoing support and update strategies essential
- Some organizational or functional adjustments
required - perhaps run as a service department or managed
by cooperating departments - corporate support helps, but not essential
- GIS Implementation
- Multiple, networked PCs
- Topological GIS data
- Relational database
- Some information sharing between departments
- Benefit
- Improves effectiveness of specific business tasks
- Improved operational efficiency
- Integration of business functions
- Better use of limited resources
-
Example automate map production and manage storm
water drainage system
19Level IV Enterprise System
- Institutional Environment
- Usually medium to large institution, multiple
departments - High level long-term commitment of staff and
resources to GIS - Organization-level strategic planning via formal
methodology, distributed implementation and
maintenance - Incorporation of GIS as part of organizational
infrastructure for production of services
significant organizational adjustments - corporate management support and involvement of
corporate is essential - GIS Implementation
- Distributed client-server networks
- Integration of multiple GIS, database, and
related technologies - Multi-department data sharing,
- standards and metadata essential
- Benefit as for multi-department, plus
- Emphasis is improved effectiveness (better ,not
just cheaper!) - Consistent information
- Better decision making
- Better external service to citizens and customers
Example Calgary Implements Enterprise
GIS ARCNews, v. 21, 2, 1999
20Level V Multi-Organizational
- Institutional Environment
- public organizations, most probably industry
alliance possibly, but anti-trust laws may be a
problem - Multi-participant organizational structure for
planning and policy - Distributed maintenance responsibilities across
organizations - Long-term, high level commitment among
participating organizations - Significant reorganization of functions across
organizations - GIS Implementation
- Distributed maintenance of shared elements
- Data exchange facility via Internet or other WAN
- Data integration from multiple technologies
- standards and metadata paramount
- Benefits
- lower costs to citizen/tax payer
- enhanced competitive position
Example State government, metropolitan area,
industry alliance
21Scope of Management Challenge
- Know how to use GIS as a tool
- route fire or garbage trucks
- draw maps
- Understand how GIS can be used to meet the goals
and objectives of your unit or organization - reduce losses from fires
- enhance service to citizens/customers
- Appreciate the challenge of integrating GIS
enterprise-wide into the organization to enhance
its efficiency and effectiveness - This is what we will do!!!
Gets harder!
22Fundamental Management Responsibilities
- Plan!
- Taking the hits as they come is not management!
- If you dont know where you are going, you never
get there - The unexpected should never be expected
- Standardize!
- Free-for-all throughout the organization is not
management! - Standards are paramount
- Document!
- Relying on peoples heads as the depository for
organizational knowledge is not management!
23Take a Break!
24GIS Implementation
- no guaranteed recipe for success
- no cookie-cutter formula to apply
- BUT
- there are general procedures and processes
(models) which can help immeasurably - ignorance of problems past failures is not
bliss - to be forewarned is to be forearmed!
25Context for Successful GIS Implementation(What
you need to understand primary course topics)
- GIS Paradigm
- Use of spatial location as integrating framework
for information - Understanding the GIS paradigm the focus of GISC
6381 Fund. - Geographic Data Management Principles
- Extend data management principles to include
geographic focus - db (database) principles one major component of
this course - Technology
- Select appropriate GIS-enabling technology and
plan to evolve - Addressed via student group technology reports
- Organizational Setting
- Organizational setting a crucial ingredient to
success/failure - Systematic GIS design process essential for
enterprise-wide applications major topic for
this course
26Steps in a GIS Project
- I. Data acquisition (never underestimate the
cost!) - paper maps
- digital files
- remote sensing/satellite
- fieldwork
- II. Preprocessing preparation integration
- format conversion
- digitizing and/or scanning
- edge matching and rectification
- III. Data Management
- variable selection definition
- table design (performance v. usability)
- CRUD policies/procedures Create (data entry),
Retrieve (view), Update (change), Deletion
(remove) - IV. Manipulation and Analysis (all the user
cares about!) - address matching
- network analysis
- terrain modelling (e.g. slopes, aspects)
- V. Product Generation
- tabular reports
- graphics (maps and charts)
Appropriate for a project, but insufficient for
an enterprise implementation.
27GIS Enterprise Planning Process general strategy
retirement savings? boats cars? kids
college? residence?
- Conceptual Design/Needs Assessment/Requirements/
why do it - does it support organizations goal or strategic
plan? - Tomlinson Chap 3, 4, 5 Chap. 11
- Huxhold Chap. 3 Strategic Planning for GIS
- Logical Design what it does
- what business process(es) will be supported?
- Tomlinson Chap 6 ,7
- Huxhold Chap. 5 Systems Design Methodology
- Physical design how it will do it
- hardware, software, data, applications, people
their management - Tomlinson Chap 8, Chap 9, Chap 10
- Huxhold Chap. 4 Implementation Planning
- Implementation getting it going
- actually doing it!
- Tomlinson Chap 12
- Huxhold Chap. 6 Implementation Management
- On-going System Management keeping it going
- operations, maintenance, update and use
- Huxhold Chap. 7 Managing the System
bachelor pad m-no-k core family extended family
Ranch or 3 story floorplans wood or brick tub or
shower
Dirt flies concrete poured Move in.
Living there. Maintenance Home improvements
28if you were building your dream house, would you
use blueprints?
29GIS Development GuidesState of New York, Local
Government Technology Services (1997)
http//www.sara.nysed.gov/pubs/gis/gisindex.htm
An 11-step Process
1
2
6
5
3
11
9
9
8
7
4
30A 10-Stage GIS Planing MethodologyTomlinson,
Thinking About GIS
- Consider the strategic purpose
- Plan for the planning
- Conduct a technology seminar
- Describe the information products
- Define the system scope
- Create a data design
- Choose a logical model
- Determine system requirements
- Benefit-cost, migration and risk analysis
- Make an implementation plan
Conceptual Design
Logical Design
Physical Design
Implementation
31Analysis of Requirements
Evaluation of Alternatives
Specification of Requirements
Implementation of System
6. Final Design
7. Request for Proposal (RFP)
14. Implementation
A Fourteen Step Implementation Process!
(assumes external acquisition)
Source Longley, et. al. p. 391
32Five-step Process from Somers/URISA
Conceptual design
Logical design
Physical design
Implementation
Source Rebecca Somers, Quick Guide to GIS
Implementation and Management Park Ridge, IL
Urban and Regional Information Systems
Association, 2001, p.7
33Its not the order or precise structure of the
tasks but rather that, in one way or another, all
get completed.
GIS Development GuidesState of New York, Local
Government Technology Services (1997)
34But..no guaranteed recipe for success!
35Evolution of Issues During ImplementationCampbell
, (1992)
- Technological, associated with system
compatibility - data-related, associated with lack of consistency
between data sets - organizational, associated with data ownership
and control - institutional, associated with how to use
information in the policy-making process
as implementation proceeds
Each challenge must be overcome as the
implementation process proceeds.
36Human Factors ParamountCampbell, 1992
- Organizations, and units in them, jealously guard
their scope of activity and treat with suspicion
proposals that may change this - administrative applications associated with cost
savings are more readily accepted than
decision-making applications to be used by policy
makers - local communities very suspicious of developments
that suggest centralization of information and
therefore power - GIS techies often uncomfortable with social and
political aspects of system implementation and
utilization, thus need to involve
politically-adept users/line managers/policy
makers
37People problems paramount!
- "....As far as your project goes, I'm willing to
help but I'm not sure we are the ideal candidate
for the project. I'm working for the Department
of Natural Resources which covers a lot of
territory Oil and Gas Administration, Water
Administration, Game and Fish Department, Land
Administration, etc. etc. All these departments
are sort of run as little fiefdoms with each not
really working with the others unless they have
to. It's sort of the norm, nobody wants to
coordinate with anyone else. I know from attempts
in the past that it is nearly impossible to get
information or data from these guys. In some
cases we have ended up collecting our own data
just because we couldn't get copies from other
departments. We had a full time planner spend the
better part of a year meeting with department
heads to try to identify their needs, update the
status of various projects, and come up with a
plan for the future. Very frustrating as this was
all work that was going to help them but they
didn't want to cooperate at all. Long story
short, I'm willing to help but can't commit much
time to dealing with these idiots, trying to get
information out of them. This is a weird little
environment and not really like the "real world"
in a lot of respects..." - Quote from an e-mail received by a student in
GISC 6383
38Conclusion GIS Implementation
- a comprehensive, systematic approach to planning,
design and implementation will more likely
produce a successful GIS implementation--but no
guarantees! - GIS is both an enabling technology and a set of
concepts about organizing work and data, thus it
will impact an organizations established way of
doing business - management and institutional issues raise the
greatest challenges, thus must be addressed - The only human that loves change is a baby in
diapers - open, participative processes are more likely to
deal successfully with with these management and
institutional issues ( and the technical ones!),
therefore involve people - GIS is a complex information technology
application, thus many of the same principles
apply as in IT...
39Conclusion Information Technology Implementation
- Organizational change is both a cause and an
effect of evolving information technology - Human aspects of organizational change are more
important and challenging than technical aspects - While information technology can improve
organizational performance, the technology alone
will not transform an organization - Successful implementation depends on planned,
well-conceived and managed integration of
information technology change and organizational
change
A corresponding list of implementation
challenges from an IT text!
40Conclusion GIS within Context
Organizational Context --people and processes
Organizational Context --people and processes
Management
Organizations Goals and Strategies
Technological Environment