Virtual Geographic Information System (VGIS)

The implementation and proficient use of GIS, has become so complicated, that it is growing towards a domain in itself Virtual GIS (VGIS) aims at the use of the “knowledge base” inherent in GIS for automatic interpretation of remotely sensed images. VGIS allows the user to deal with abstracted data, hiding technical information about the database and allowing concentration on the user’s particular tasks. The key to its independence porn the actual GIS used is its focus on the users task. Each task can be subdivided into elementary building blocks that act like atoms rn a molecule. As a Jrst step, an interface is introduced, which pees image processing specialists (as well as other inexperienced GIS users) from learning the internals of GIS. This paper presents the VGIS rationale, its concept, the structural design and the first steps toward implementation.