Current issues in spatial data management including spatial data infrastructure, open standards, metadata and web services, multiuser data modelling, legal issues in spatial data use and professionalising the GIS workforce.
An important aspect of the geographic information systems (GIS) industry, which is often overlooked in university education, concerns practical aspects of the management of this technology in the workplace. The term "management" is taken to include everything from writing and responding to requests for a proposal (RFP) to setting up an enterprise-level spatial database. This paper provides an overview of these and many other aspects of GIS management. With the knowledge gained from the paper you should be able, at least, to begin to approach the challenges of managing a GIS project with some forethought and basic knowledge.
| Paper title | Management Issues in Geographic Information Systems |
|---|---|
| Paper code | SURV510 |
| Subject | Surveying |
| EFTS | 0.1482 |
| Points | 20 points |
| Teaching period | Not offered in 2020 |
| Domestic Tuition Fees (NZD) | $1,233.91 |
| International Tuition Fees (NZD) | $5,150.69 |
- Prerequisite
- 216 points (including SURV 208 or SURV 218 or SPIN 201)
- Restriction
- SURV 410, SURV 472
- Eligibility
- This paper supports the 500-level courses in the BAppSc(Hons) GIS degree, PGDipAppSci in GIS, MAppSc in GIS and MSc in GIS.
- Contact
- tony.moore@otago.ac.nz
- Teaching staff
Co-ordinator: Associate Professor Tony Moore
Lecturers: Associate Professor Tony Moore, Fraser Jopson and guest lecturers- Paper Structure
- The paper covers:
- Developing a request for proposal (RFP) and responding to it
- GIS needs assessment
- GIS training and education
- GIS professionalisation
- Legal issues and technological topics such as spatial data infrastructures
- Spatial metadata, standards and open source
- Web services and multi-user spatial databases
- Teaching Arrangements
- There are generally two lectures per week, with four weeks of practical labs to support
the multi-user database assessment task.
Other assessments (RFP, proposal, debate preparation) are undertaken out of scheduled hours. - Textbooks
- Yeung, A. K. W and G. Brent Hall, (2007) Spatial database systems: design, implementation and project management, Springer, New York.
- Obermeyer, N. and J. Pinto (2008) Managing Geographic Information Systems, 2nd Ed., Guilford: New York.
- Graduate Attributes Emphasised
- Global perspective, Interdisciplinary perspective, Lifelong learning, Scholarship,
Communication, Cultural understanding, Ethics, Information literacy, Teamwork.
View more information about Otago's graduate attributes. - Learning Outcomes
- Students who successfully complete the paper will
- Gain a thorough overview of the various aspects of managing GIS technology in the workplace, including procedural issues
- Make an in-depth investigation of stand-alone, single-user workstations through to complex, multi-user, client-server systems that run in large organisations
- Develop deep knowledge of research issues in GIS management, for example: spatial data infrastructures and standards and free and open-source software
- Gain theoretical, task-based and lab-based experience in applying for, seeking expertise for, planning for, initiating and managing the implementation of a GIS from hardware and software selection through database development, end-user training and applications deployment
