ABSTRACT
Similar to many research and application elds, geography has moved from a datapoor and computation-poor to a data-rich and computation-rich environment. The scope, coverage, and volume of digital geographic datasets are growing rapidly. Public and private sector agencies are creating, processing, and disseminating digital data on land use, socioeconomic conditions, and infrastructure at very detailed levels of geographic resolution. New high spatial and spectral resolution remote sensing systems and other monitoring devices are gathering vast amounts of geo-referenced digital imagery, video, and sound. Geographic data collection devices linked to locationware technologies (LATs) such as global positioning system (GPS) receivers allow eld researchers to collect unprecedented amounts of data. LATs linked to or embedded in devices such as cell phones, in-vehicle navigation systems, and wireless Internet clients provide location-specic content in exchange for tracking individuals in space and time. Information infrastructure initiatives such as the U.S. National Spatial Data Infrastructure are facilitating data sharing and interoperability. Digital geographic data repositories on the World Wide Web are growing rapidly in both number and scope. The amount of data that geographic information processing systems can handle will continue to increase exponentially through the mid-21st century.
