ABSTRACT
Since the first edition of this book, the advances in Online GIS have been significant. There are the obvious changes to technology including internet speed and availability. However, there is also a greater willingness for organisations to share their data online. Global initiatives such as Web 2.0, Gov 2.0 and the Semantic Web have fueled this push for better access to information, as have changes in society where users demand easy and immediate access to a wide range of spatial information through Web services. They want this data anywhere, anytime. There is the power of the Internet and global search engines, and the value added when a spatial context is given to data. Online GIS is no longer the domain of the spatial specialist, but now supports many aspects of life and work, and the diversity of online resources makes the need for metadata even greater than it was a decade ago.
