Suitability of Service Oriented Architecture for Solving Gis Problems

Nowadays spatial data is becoming as a key element for effective planning and decision making in all aspects of societies. Spatial data are those data which are related to the features on the ground. In this way, a Geographic Information System (GIS) is a system that captures, analyzes, and manages any spatially referenced data. This paper analyzes the architecture and main features of Geographic Information Systems and aims at discussing some important problems emerged in the research of applying GIS in the organizations. It focuses on some of them such as lack of interoperability, agility and business alignment. We explain that SOA as a service oriented software architecture model can support the transformation of geographic information software from "system and function" to "service and application" and as the best practice of the architectural concepts can increase business alignment in the enterprise applications.