The World Bank commitment to developing geo-referenced information systems is not yet reflected in its operations. This review highlights the relatively low investment level in geo-referenced information systems. Investment in geo-referenced information systems has been concentrated in only a few countries and projects. The review has revealed a skewed investment distribution among Bank operations and countries. There are no clear trends in investment over time to increase the use of spatial information components.
Some projects focus more on the development of geo-referenced information systems than others.
This review has not revealed any clear trends in the volume of investments and their related sectoral distributions. On the contrary, annual fluctuations have been surprising, with an investment peak in 1990 followed by the lowest level in 1991. Land titling and, more recently, environmental planning seem to stimulate investment in geo-referenced systems. Land titling and cadastral activities have been the main applications of geo-referenced information systems accounting for about 55 percent of the total investment. This was expected since these activities require such systems.