International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Vol XXXV, Part B4. Istanbul 2004 
  
geographic information, we lost the ability to connect it up and 
thereby derive the knowledge and wisdom to address the major 
issues that face us; not just at international level, but equally 
importantly right down to the benefit of the individual citizen. 
2. GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION 
2.1 Geography — the common denominator 
It is a recognised fact that underpinning most information is 
location. People live somewhere, people travel from one 
location to another; crimes occur in buildings, in the street, in 
all kinds of places, medical services are available at specific 
locations and so on. Therefore geography has the potential to be 
the common denominator to the (apparently) disparate 
information we collect and handle each day. 
2.2 Linking disparate information about a location 
Information will be collected by an organisation for a specific 
purpose e.g. education records, health records and so on. When 
this information is combined with that of other organisations; 
new information may emerge and establish new levels of 
knowledge. For example information about health combined 
with living conditions or the local industrial infrastructure may 
reveal trends such as the prevalence of disease in certain 
conditions and locations. Likewise information about education 
attainment coupled with employment success or benefit claims 
can highlight areas where groups or individuals are becoming 
socially excluded. Once this knowledge is determined, some 
form of investment may be appropriate to assist regeneration to 
improve the social fabric of the community. Similar information ' 
collected over time would demonstrate whether the condition is 
improving, or not, and therefore whether investment has been 
successful. 
Geography alone does not make the connection, since the close 
proximity of two coordinates, of unknown pedigree, may only 
imply a relationship. A more reliable link is formed when 
objects are given identities c.g. buildings or addresses and 
information is then linked to these objects via the identifier to 
establish an explicit connection. 
3. INFORMATION FROM MULTIPLE SOURCES 
3.1 Data Collection 
The way map or geographic information is collected and has 
grown over the past decade has changed the entire complexion 
of the geographic information [GI] industry. Until recently 
photogrammetrists and surveyors went about processes which 
would have been recognised 50 years, if not 100 years 
previously — over the last 10-15 years that has changed and 
continues to change. 
3.2 The mapping or cadastral agency today 
Today a database (of some kind) is central to an organisation 
concerned with developing and maintaining geographic 
information. Typically different people undertaking different 
jobs will update this database. A surveyor in the field for 
example, will now probably use a mobile computer with an 
extract of the database to be updated contained on it. He is 
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likely to use GPS to collect the coordinates and a coding system 
to assign attributes and edit facilities and create objects e.g. 
building features, street information or add attributes. 
Measuring devices may use infra-red or other technologies 
while instrumental observations will still be incorporated on 
some occasions. The photogrammetrist is now likely to use 
digital images from space or aerial images, in either stereo or 
mono to create new data or update cxisting data. The 
acquisition of data is becoming cheaper and simpler - but data 
management more complex. 
Other information is also increasingly available. For example 
electronic builders plans can be used to update the data and 
offer new services commonly referred to as “pre-build” 
information. The utility company (gas, electric, water, 
cable/telecoms) need such information to plan their distribution 
network and link it into their existing records, before the 
building takes place. The integration of pre-build information 
into a database can also save costs and improve currency of 
data, thereby providing a better service all round. 
3.3 The wider GI community 
Of course, the national mapping/cadastral agency [NMCA] is 
not the only player. There are several organisations that collect 
similar definitive levels of base data used for referencing, often 
across government, and there are many others who collect data 
for all kinds of applications (and normally reference it to the 
NMCA data). 
  
Figure 1. Example of reference information. 
Topographic information and integrated postal addresses and 
street centreline information. 
Reference information 
Framework information (also known as reference data) is 
generally taken to cover that data or information which 
underpins or is used as a reference base for applications data. 
For example a user may record a scene of crime record 
[application data] to a building or an address [reference 
information]. While this is mainly the domain of the NMCA, 
the state or region, local authorities or municipalities, the 
hydrographic survey and sometime others contribute to 
reference information, the exact m^4-! differs greatly from 
country to country. 
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