ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates on assessing the technical worth of the geographic information system (GIS) being implemented in the case studies. The research findings suggest that realizing the theoretical potential of a technological innovation is a difficult process. The technological determinist perspective conceptualizes implementation as largely a matter of developing technically operational applications. Failure to achieve utilization is therefore regarded as a result of inadequacies in the technology or the incompetence of users. The key commercial spatial data set for the case studies was the Ordnance Survey's digital maps. The managerial rationalist and social interactionist perspectives view difficulties in securing effective implementation to be a consequence of either inadequacies in the managerial strategies adopted or a lack of accord between the technology and the values and practices of the particular organizational culture. The experiences of one of the county councils studied were highly instructive with respect to the nature and existence of corporate data sets.
