This paper describes the history, background, and current status of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards development consensus process. The roots of the formation of the OGC lie in the early 1990s when a very strong market requirement for exchanging GIS data content was clearly stated. At that time, each GIS vendor had their own formats for publishing and/or exchanging their GIS data....

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 particu...

The Internet technology has already changed the Information Society in profound ways, and will continue to do so. Nowadays many people foresee that there is a similar trajectory for the next generation of Internet Grid Technology. As an emerging computational and networking infrastructure, Grid Computing is designed to provide pervasive, uniform and reliable access to data, computational and hu...

Domestic waste water treatment using Onsite Sewage Treatment and Disposal Systems (OSTDS) (also known as septic systems) is a source of nitrogen contamination in groundwater and surface water. Estimating nutrient load from septic systems as a storm water source to surface water bodies is important to reduce nutrient load in support of Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) programs. Software packages ...

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are computer-based tools used to collect, store, manipulate and display spatially-referenced information. They are used to support decision-making in a wide variety of contexts, including spatial planning and environmental management. Because the process of GIS production, from software development to visualization of GIS output, is characterized by politica...

BACKGROUND An internet-based survey of influenza-like illness (ILI)--the Great Influenza Survey or GIS--was launched in the Netherlands in the 2003-2004 influenza season. The aim of the present study was to validate the representativeness of the GIS population and to compare the GIS data with the official ILI data obtained by Dutch GPs participating in the Dutch Sentinel Practice Network. MET...

EB-GIS4HEALTH UK aims at building a UK-oriented foundation evidence base and modular conceptual models for GIS applications and programmes in health and healthcare to improve the currently poor GIS state of affairs within the NHS; help the NHS understand and harness the importance of spatial information in the health sector in order to better respond to national health plans, priorities, and re...

The national spatial data infrastructure (NSDI) and GIS maturity of user organisations are mutually dependent. Only when the GIS maturity of user organisations is at a high level can they direct their needs to the development of an NSDI and the benefits of the NSDI come true to their full extent. To raise their GIS maturity to a level where user organisations can both utilise spatial data compr...

Geographic information systems (GIS) education is at a crossroads in the United States. Since its inception in the early 1990s, GIS has diffused slowly into select groups of K-12 classrooms through the efforts of geography and environmental educators. However, many of the assumptions underpinning the initial period of enthusiasm for the technology are now being questioned. This paper reviews is...