ABSTRACT
Geographic Information Systems have revolutionised the way spatial data/information is acquired, stored, managed, and displayed. In the past the acquisition of spatial data was done mainly with analogue theodolite and levels, and the recording and storage of these data were done in analogue manner. Data management was a very cumbersome exercise and the display was in the form of paper maps. Recent developments in information and digital technologies, communication and satellite technology, and improved computing speed and computer hard disk space, have impacted tremendously the way spatial data is acquired, stored, managed, and displayed. The development has created a revolution in spatial information technology in a way never experienced before. Today, virtually every human activity is spatial. Some schools of thought stipulate that in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom as much as 7580% of all the activities is spatial. There is correlation between geospatial information technology development and economic development. Developed countries of the world are associated with high spatial information technology development. Conversely, poor economic development is associated with low spatial information technology development as witnessed in developing countries of the world. The development of Geographic Information Systems and associated technologies has created and is still creating employment opportunities all over the world. It has also led to changes of curricula of training institutions, and new training opportunities are being created. Transfer, sharing access to and development of spatial data standards have become major issues. We now discuss spatial data infrastructure as a major requirement for development, as has long been done with regards to other infrastructures such as roads, rail and waterways, electricity, and water supplies. Geographic information has been employed in several fields such as management of disasters, vehicle tracking systems, forestry, utilities management, oil exploration, environmental management, health management, census, and
mineral resources development, governance (EIS Africa, 2002) and – the focus of this paper – coastal management.
