Effective communication between systems is required if we are to effectively integrate, exchange, and share data and information across platforms, systems, and emerging computing paradigms. Background Information systems and distributed database systems pose problems of interoperability that are related but differ in important ways. Distributed databases are typically designed within a global schema. Usually, different organizations develop systems and applications to address their specific sets of problems. Because these systems are developed independently, the y are unlikely to use the same data model or semantic representation of geographic information.
Interoperability requires full exchange of data between the systems' heterogeneous data models.
For an exchange to take place, a consistent set of interpretations must be provided for the information. Thus, interoperability relies heavily upon communication of information between organizations, application programs, and databases wherein formal language and model representations of complex geographic information have been resolved. Efforts to create standards for the interchange of geographic information over the past 10 to 15 years have produced a number of national and international standards documents. Much effort has been directed at formalizing general aspects of storing and retrieving geographic properties and entities, notably cartographic entities. Metadata comprise a key component for any interoperability scheme.