July 20168 IN MY VIEWBroader Consumption of GIS with Cloud ComputingMisperceptions Create Challenges in CloudIndeed, there has been a lot of buzz around cloud computing for some time now. I updated my corporate buzzword bingo card with it years ago. And while there are certainly numerous software and platform service applications that are well suited and effectively utilized in business environments, cloud computing faces challenges from over inflated expectations and misperceptions about the capabilities and risks involved. I think this is especially true when it comes to GIS, and probably will be for a longer duration than other cloud related technologies.Why should Big Money be invested in GIS Platforms?GIS has always faced challenges being understood, adopted and implemented. There's a vast delta between the power user GIS/geography geeks of the world and everyone else when it comes to understanding the capabilities, costs, and benefits of everything spatial. Most people think dots on a map when they think of GIS. While the days when many people believe Google Earth shows you real time imagery are probably long behind us, many people perceive Google Earth to be a GIS system. And, for the budget butchers trimming the fat from various departments in an organization, why should big money be invested in spatial data, GIS platforms, or even GIS related cloud services when Google Earth and Maps are free; and heck there's even a free API for you to use to build the GIS of your dreams, right?Potential in Spatial Data and VisualizationDespite the overall disappointing adoption rate and general underuti-lization of GIS as a business intel-ligence resource; Google Maps/Earth, Bing Maps, and others have at least raised awareness that maps are useful tools and revealed even greater potential that exists with spatial data, visualization, and anal-ysis. Vendor halls at trade shows and conferences, especially real estate ones, are packed with companies selling map centric software and data meant for the masses not the GIS Specialist. While some of these applications or subscriptions are very useful tools, they are largely a black box solution, with a limited set of functionality, targeting a spe-cific niche user who needs access to particular sets of data. For an organi-zation like Colliers, with numerous service lines, working with various property types and clients in many different industries, this results in an unwieldy array of potential soft-ware solutions and data sources rather than a comprehensive solu-tion. This has been a key challenge for organizations trying to imple-ment and maintain spatial data and GIS solutions.Cliff Plank, National Director, GIS and Mapping, U.S, Colliers InternationalCliff PlankColliers International is a global real estate company operating from more than 500 offices across 66 countries and provides real estate solutions and corporate solutions.
< Page 7 | Page 9 >