Non-Technical Aspects Hampering Implementation of GIS in Developing Countries
K. Al-Romaithi
Military Survey Department
UAE Armed Forces, , Aou Dhabi P.O. Box: 3947
E.Mail: msd2OOO@emirates.net.ae
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Introduction
GIS is a product of industrial and post-industrial societies of the so-called 'First World'. The information revolution, of which GIS is an integral part, taking place in these societies is imbedded in a general context of socio-economic change in society as a whole. The socio-economic realities and properties of the 'Third World' are quite different and, if GIS is to be used for the challenges facing developing nations, then it must respond to these realities and priorities. This poses special problems of technology transfer, application and configurations of existing GIS systems.
Treating GIS from a purely technological perspective is unlikely to be a particularly successful approach. GIS will not, of course, in itself solve the problems of development. Therefore, the institutional issues and other issues resulting from adopting the developed world's model are to be closely examined with respect to their culture.
The aspects discussed in this paper are not all necessarily applicable in all developing countries, however, they are obtained from practical experiences in implementation of GIS programs. We believe there are other problems that hamper the implementation of GIS in developing countries as well as the ones mentioned in this paper, but the following are the most obvious. It is hoped that this paper will make a contribution in this respect.
1. Application environment
The rapid development and expansion achieved by specialized vendors developing GIS software did not only attract the users with the simplicity of their products which are easy to apply and operate, but also placed the user on the first step of GIS system applications.
GIS software was developed for scientific and practical applications and passed through a number of stages of design, development, testing and evaluation before it reached the end-user. Those stages of the process were mainly to comply with the scientific, cultural and social environments of those societies, thus insuring a minimum level of success. As such systems were developed at first in industrialized countries they will be their most suitable environment. Developing countries, often tend to use the industrialized countries production of the GIS systems, and apply them the way they were designed, thus, they do not achieve the positive results anticipated. This happens especially because developing countries often buy systems from different sources which results in incompatible systems. Finally, the use of different products in the same country leads to building an isolated system based in many organization on the same country that are difficult to integrate due to heterogeneity of systems used in GIS applications.
The availability of many options and applied software for GIS system, leave the user free to select the appropriate software in terms of application and environment, but the problem for the user remains "what is the appropriate applied software?" This is one of the difficulties which faces users is most developing countries which intend to apply GIS systems. However, developers of GIS Systems, realized this problem and developed an advance customized software which can be customized according to the application, yet, that does not solve all the problems.
Most of the application programs of the GIS Systems were
initiated and developed to suit problems applicable to the
industrialized world first, then transferred to the
developing countries, therefore, the development of GIS
Systems was based on several issues such as:-
1. The dominant legal system and its relevance to
information.
2. The amount and format of the available and accumulated
spatial and non-spatial data.
3. The established technological and scientific
background.
4. Social and cultural values and their relevance to the
dissemination and handling of information.
5. Definition of privacy and perception of society.
Therefore, the successful implementing of GIS programs in
many developing countries depends upon a reasonable degree
of similarity of infrastructure environment of both producer
and the user.
2. Organizational Issues
Organizational matters are vital in all initial implementations of GIS facilities. The organizational problems are often more complex and more crucial to success than the technical problems involved. As a rule of thumb, technical problems can be solved in a direct manner, by acquiring and installing new equipment, new software modules. However, the human factor causes different consequences. Introducing new technology means repositioning and replacing staff members which is not a straightforward process, and may trigger unexpected problems, because it may entail shifts in the perceived power and monopoly . Consequently, organizational issues require more continuous management attention than do technical problems. Changing the organization alters staff authorities and relationships, and staff changes always bring in human factors that are difficult to predict or control.
The efficient exploitation of a new technology in an organization often mandates alterations in daily work schedules and the chain of command which, in turn, affect the whole organization. In practice, altering an organization may prove difficult, both because the new organizational structure is intangible and hence difficult to define, and because there are both formal and informal positions in all chains of command.
On the other hand, other subjective factors can further
complicate the initiation of a GIS infrastructure. Human
habit apparently dictates that about a quarter of the
personnel in any organization always prefer the existing
situation and will resist any change whatsoever. Except in
high-tech firms, executives are often indifferent to newer
information technologies, partly out of ignorance and partly
from being overly concerned with cutting costs rather than
increasing benefits.
Successful projects for change are often conducted by middle
management, who often seek the benefits of new technologies
while resisting extensive organizational changes. The
availability of information is very important to a GIS
facility. Whenever information availability is restricted,
the GIS utility suffers. Hence the usual inclination of an
organization or department to monopolize its own information
is one of the major obstacles to a successful GIS.
Therefore, one of the problems detected in implementing a
GIS facility may involve conflict with the bureaucracy that
hinders the information flow.
Finally, with respect to initiating and managing GIS
programs, many non-technical issues must be considered in
order to absorb organizational obstructions, these are:
1. Resistance to changes from groups of personnel in an
organization can be expected and need to be identified.
2. Incremental organizational changes may be made after the
first operational phase of a new GIS facility.
3. Organizing or reorganizing should prevent the
monopolization of information.
3. Data Exchange Standards
Information technology development leads to the adoption of some standards which change the way the broad community of providers and users of information operates. They are key factors to the process of data integration and bringing together disparate data sets.
Some of these key factors are achieved by clear definition and general understanding and are acknowledged by a large part of the community. These become recognized standards. Alternatively standards may be developed at national or international levels and may be adopted by agreement to regulate a wider community. Eventually such standards should be part of a country's legalization process similar to metric standards.
Numerous standards exist within the Information Technology industry, covering computer hardware components, communication, and software, such as databases and programming language. These have developed over many years and many continue to be revised and further developed. At the same time, new standards are constantly being formulated as the industry and the user communities change.
Inevitably the development of standards lags some way
behind the growth in a particular sector, and in the case of
GIS with its rapid expansion in the last decade, standards
are only now being developed. [Seppe,1993]
With increasing numbers of GISs being implemented by
government agencies and utilities, a significant opportunity
exists to share land base and utility information. Spatial
data exchange mechanisms allow for the transfer of graphic
and attribute data between different systems. Yet these
mechanisms fall short of providing an effective means for
organizations to transfer information.. Many technical and
practical considerations affect the choice of a translation
mechanism. On the other hand, the choice of a translation
mechanism may limit how spatial data may be used.
The main role of standards in GIS is to facilitate the
integration of data sets from various distributed sources.
The format and structure for holding geographic information
is likely to differ between computer systems, so the
exchange of information requires the use of standardized
formats which are understood by both the provider and the
receiver of the data. The majority of systems that handle
spatial data have a proprietary or at least a specific way
of depicting graphic data. This graphic data storage is
usually based on a set of graphic primitives such as point,
lines, symbols, polygon, text, etc. The sets of supported
graphic primitives vary between systems. The same primitives
may be implemented with different geometric descriptions on
different systems. Although some standards are purely
internal formats developed within a single organization or
group of organizations, some are widely used as if they are
"international standards" such as DXF, SI, GIMMS, SVF, DLG,
IGDS. These and other formats may appear to be standard, but
none are designed specifically for universal spatial data
translation, and all such formats have requirements designed
for special applications.
Transferring information from a database to another
individual or an organization's database has meant an
essential investment in time and energy to convert that
database from the organization, structure and coding of the
initiating system to that of the system of the individual or
organization who wants to use that database. It is
recognized that more than two thirds of the costs associated
with spatial data processing systems are consumed in the
building, maintaining, processing and transferring of such a
database.
Since the majority of the developing countries are using
imported software and hardware systems from developed
countries they have a small margin for modifying them and
then integrating them, especially if those systems are from
different vendors.
From the above one can see the urgent need for applying
national standards for data exchange in the developing
countries, not only to facilitate the data flow between the
information providers within the country, but also to
communicate with other countries. Those standards are not
necessarily being established from zero, but an existing one
can be adopted with some required enhancement to match the
local nature of an application. By adopting specific
standards a number of benefits can be obtained such as:
a. Allowing the transfer of digital information between
incompatible systems while preserving the meaning of the
data being transferred.
b. Allowing users to evaluate the data, by supplying them
with information of data quality.
c. Reducing the projects costs by sharing data, resulting in
lower costs for obtaining and
maintaining data.
d. Supporting efforts to update a database using multiple
sources, by smoothing the flow of information.
4. Legal Issues
The regulations and instruction of Government
organizations and utilities departments responsible for most
of the country's maturing GIS were written before the
electronic age. The application of old rules to new
technology results in an open field for creative
interpretations, but the law lacks guidance for uniform
public policy regarding the ownership and treatment of
invisible information assets. [John C. et al. 1991]
The problem for most GIS users is knowing who owns the data
and what rights they have to use the data. There are also
issues of integrating datasets for the purposes of analysis
and what rights exist for passing such derived data on to
third parties. The problem of ownership and copyright also
lead in the vexed question of ownership of an 'added value'
dataset and to legal issues of responsibility for data
accuracy, currency and use. There are also legal questions
related to the liability of GIS systems and who is
responsible for quality of the result produced. The legal
framework within which information is controlled has to
consider the increasing desired to capture and distribute
information both as a part of the function of government and
for commercial gain. The increasing capabilities of
computer-based information handling systems result in the
translocation of data and information more easily, faster
and in ever increasing volumes. Technological change is also
increasing the ability to obtain data and to establish legal
systems that make data more widely available without
penalizing the data providers.
Eventually, legal statutes take time to prepare and to put
into place, not only in the developing countries but also in
the developed ones. The result in many countries is that the
legal framework in which information transactions are
conducted was not designed to meet the current needs.
Existing legislation may or may not cope with every aspect
of the information revolution in an appropriate manner and
it may be that the inadequacies of the system take time to
be recognized, particularly where legal precedents need to
be established. The result is a legal framework that is
somewhat out-of-date with a rapidly developing technology
and increasingly information-based society. [Seppe,
1993]
Any strategy for a basic framework for reaching information
agreement or joint-venture between geoinformation systems,
must consider fundamental issues such as:
a. Data Rights: Legislation to establish data ownership
rights must be developed. Consideration must be given to
matters such as access to source data and databases
b. Funding: How should that default affect the obligations
of the other participants? What treatments should be
available? What effect does default have on the overall
thrust of the project?
c. Disputes: Ownership of the intellectual property rights
in such production and new added information.
d. Confidentiality and privacy of information.
5. Human Resources:
The problem of training is also very severe because of the lack of expertise. Universities generally lag behind in GIS development. Very often, it is the government agencies which buy and use GISs, before courses are offered by the systems suppliers. The training of GIS personnel is often carried out by software companies by either sending their staff to give short courses on site or sending the operators and users to be trained in the company s headquarters. GIS courses and training programs, if available in the developing countries, are normally carried out as part of packages to implement GIS programs. There is a general lack of GIS courses in planning schools. To use GIS more effectively in planning, planners must be trained not so much in the operation of the system but in how to make use of the data and functions of GIS in different processes of planning and plan evaluation. The role of vendors in this issue is not positively as anticipated, most vendors concerned with increasing benefits by spreading their product rather than education matters. When GIS programs are established a high cost of training is involved, practical experience has shown that about 40% of the total cost of the programs is dedicated to training.
Language is one of the major bottlenecks in the introduction of information technology to developing countries (Calhoun et al. 1987). Most of the imported programs and manuals are written in English, but most of the users, particularly the decision-makers, have limited understanding of English.
6. Conclusion:
Throughout this paper we have raised a number of issues that we believe must be faced in any country to develop and implement its information systems, namely GIS programs. The implementation of GIS technology should carefully consider the nature of the developing countries with respect to its socio-economic priorities and cultural character, thus preventing any conflicts with the inherited values . On the other hand GIS vendors are requested not only introducing the GIS technology but also to share the responsibilities of educating society and to play a major role in making the GIS a useful for tool social development.
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