ABSTRACT
The ability to innovate is generally regarded as fundamental to organizational survival. Governments throughout the world are expending considerable resources searching for technological innovations and novel techniques which it is assumed will increase industrial as well as administrative competitiveness. The innovation that provides the focus for the study is geographic information systems (GIS) and the organizational context is British local government. GIS are essentially a set of computer-based technologies which are able to store, display, manipulate and analyse spatial data, most particularly map-based information. The current stage of development of GIS technologies makes this an opportune time to examine the experiences of users. The initial purchase of any new product is usually associated with a great deal of enthusiasm and expectation. The organizational environment that provides the backcloth for the introduction of GIS, is British local government. The chapter also presents an overview on the key concepts discussed in this book.
