ABSTRACT
The need for geospatial information and technology as a tool to help enable a better understanding of the relationship of people, places, and things is now well recognized. Many nations have well established programs for mapping, surveying, and other geographic information. Other nations have been moving toward the improved coordination and integration of geospatial information and technology. However, in the early 1990s these coordination efforts took on a new level of importance as the need for data sharing became evident and technological revolutions in Internet communications and geospatial tools became a part of the building blocks of the information society. The global geospatial information community recognized the opportunity for collaboration among national and regional initiatives to achieve a broad global network and to extend these initiatives into a global infrastructure.
