Let’s today dig a little deeper into yesterday’s discussion which asked “Has GIS hit a wall?“. Geoffrey Moore in his famous book Crossing the Chasm, suggested the following:
There is a chasm between the early adopters of the product (the technology enthusiasts and visionaries) and the early majority (the pragmatists).
I believe Web GIS, has still yet to cross that chasm.
GIS stuck on the wrong side of the Chasm
Below is the classic 5 Customer Segments of Technology Adoption graph … but with a twist.
In my view the curve has flattened. We have a flow of users coming in and out of the technology. The early majority phase remains illusive, Web GIS sits squarely on the ‘wrong’ side of the chasm. The adoption of Web GIS by traditional users has been spotty. Lack of time and inertia dominate. And apart from the largest organizations, new users have been indifferent.
That sounds like a gloomy outlook
Not at all. Its an industry kick in the pants!
Web GIS has so much to offer. Yet this flow of users coming in and falling away from the technology is a huge problem. Why is this happening?
We’ve spent time talking to pragmatists (a person who is guided more by practical considerations than by ideals). There are some very obvious reasons why we have still to bridge the chasm. And action not time is what will fix the problem.
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Author: Matt Sheehan
Matt Sheehan is a Principal at WebMapSolutions. Matt evangelizes GIS and location intelligence around the world through keynotes, articles, tweets and his books. Follow him on Twitter:
Half full (way across) or half empty? Perhaps the uptake of traditional GIS through the Web model has flattened but the user stats reported by the market leader Esri would seem to suggest otherwise. I would also argue that the addition of spatial concepts in products like Google Earth, MongoDB, pubnub, Salesforce, Dynamics CRM etc. plus commercial applications such as Uber, Yelp, Foursquare etc. means that the spatial web is very much present. It’s pretty rare that an Internet site doesn’t have at least a mapping link and while that may not be considered GIS by some, if it looks like a duck…
Although its a couple of years old the book, The Mobile Mind Shift from Forrester Research is and excellent reference.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Clarke. Spatial I agree is ever more popular. We sometimes describe it as answering the ‘where’ question. Maps are everywhere. But GIS, or more specifically Web GIS, is far more than simply a map. It provides a deeper way to combine spatial data, analyse and output results. So answers to both the simplest and most complex where questions. Tableau, just to pick a popular business platform, has maps but it does not have GIS. The technology is now being used widely in consumer apps, but is far behind in ‘traditional’ markets and the business world. My focus in the article was on the latter.
Hi Matt – I have also seen and written about the flat line in legacy/traditional GIS. Your points are right on. I think that innovation is and will continue to happen outside of the companies like Esri. They have little incentive to take GIS to the next level as it means their platform becomes irrelevant. GIS capabilities need to be integrated into analytical thinking. Once spatial data and thinking is not “special” and controlled by GIS “platforms” we will see a revolution in all types of solutions. It will happen despite the efforts of folks with a vested interest in it not happening!
Linda
Hi Matt
What a tease – two articles on the subject and all you have done is raise questions. Spill the beans mate and tell us why the adoption rates have flattened!
My view is that WebGIS is slow to increase adoption because the easy things have been done – dots on a map (geolocation) [check], directions (geolocation plus routing) [check], territories or find nearest (geolocation plus point in polygon) [check].
To do anything more requires a combination of spatial data, analysis and output as your answer to Clarke indicated. Just as cartography is part science, part art – so too is GIS part science and part analysis. I believe we have the science part down pat, but are struggling with making the analysis part easily accessible to developers and their capability to present the analysis output.
As evidence, I challenge your point Linda that spatial data / thinking need to to become ordinary or common place in order to precipitate a revolution. This article details the consequences of ignoring the analysis of spatial data – the tourists used their GPS to find somewhere to buy water, unfortunately it directed them to a location that was frequented by a drug gang, with near fatal consequences:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/12/brazil-favela-attack-tourism-toll
Not the fault of the tourists or the GPS, but an indication that we mistake a map for GIS as Matt has identified. If the company that made the GPS, the car rental company and the local government/ tourist agency / police had some kind of integrated network, it would be possible to publish and keep updated no go areas, as well as direct drivers to likely destinations such as museums, galleries, attractions, restaurants and grocery stores.
Data maintenance and upkeep (with validation and authentication) is a huge part of a GIS project, so the long term success of project is merely a measure its data governance practices. And that is squarely in the purview of GIS platforms, so it imperative that spatial data is considered special – remember the adage, ‘garbage in, garbage out’
So short story long, to get the early majority to adopt WebGIS, we need to provide spatial content that is current, authoritative and normalised such that it can be used for a variety of end products. And we need to keep providing it, so that the data consumers will increasingly expect it in their WebApps.