GIS, Public Service, and the Issue of Democratic Governance

Geographic information systems (GIS) are analytical and decision-making tools that organize, compare, and analyze disparate types of information into one organized system. They have powerful visual display capabilities that present the results of analysis on maps and, in doing so, provide unparalleled power to examine social, economic, and political circumstances. In essence, GIS is the best technology to understand and solve problems related to place and space. The promise of GIS is increasingly reflected in the public administration literature (Brown and Brudney 1998; Masser 1998; Nedovic-Budic and Godschalk 1996; Ventura 1995). However, past observations about GIS have focused more on technique and less on the consequences of those techniques for the public service and democratic society. This article will examine the implications of GIS, which have a bearing on the issue of democratic governance. In doing so, an overview of GIS is followed by an examination of the relationship between this technology and democratic values. GIS: An Overview The heart of GIS is the data and the way they are organized. Generally, two types of data comprise a GIS system: spatial data (pertaining to geography and space) and attribute data (spatially related data, such as population, income, or disease). Spatial data are the cornerstone of GIS: The accurate representation of geography on a computer screen requires a thorough understanding of geography and cartography and the process by which geographic data are transformed into digital maps. Unlike paper maps, digital maps are very flexible in that, by organizing the data differently, the display of the map on the monitor can differ. In essence, GIS is to spatial analysis what statistical packages are to traditional statistical analysis. By the mid-1990s, the worldwide market for GIS products and related services was nearly $2.5 billion (Korte 1997, 66). While the ultimate power of GIS lies in the data, data dissemination has been much slower than the development of the technology. This is due, in part, to differing data formats used by agencies, reluctance to share data, and a lack of funding to create or buy new data. Once the technology is acquired, local government agencies face roadblocks due to data limitation. To make data widely available under a single format, the federal government has taken several initiatives, including the creation of the Federal Geographic Data Committee.(1) In April 1994, President Clinton signed an executive order (12906), calling for the establishment of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI).(2) Prior to the federal government's involvement in data dissemination, local agencies had invested an enormous amount of resources in creating their own GIS. Today, local governments generate approximately 90 percent of GIS data (Hissong and Couret 1999). Therefore, new federal initiatives to create the NSDI have not been welcomed by many federal and local agencies, which believe the council would duplicate work already being done. Additionally, in many cases it would require the conversion of existing data to NSDI standards. As an alternative to federally dominated efforts, some have argued that the private sector could play a significant role in creating a national dataset (Hissong and Couret 1999). However, as has been the case with other new policy initiatives, it would be difficult to unite GIS users into a common front without significant incentives from the federal government. Evidence of GIS in Public-Policy Implementation GIS is considered largely a public-sector technology (Ventura 1995). The technology has significantly influenced the way public administrators implement public policy: GIS is being used for planning and community development, environmental protection, integrated public-safety response, infrastructure management, transportation planning and modeling, assessments, facility siting, vehicle routing, permitting and licensing, election management and parcel/real estate management. …