System : B 
totality organized of 
components in 
interactions 
Physical plan (phenomena) 
  
Figure |. The three plans of a general system 
(adapted from Schwarz 1994) 
- A physical plan that includes the components, either, in 
the case of the territory (elements or facts); 
- A logical plan, non visible by our senses, that is the one 
with relations between components, that determines the 
working and the evolution of the system; 
- A holistic plan that is the one where the system is 
considered like a complex all, an indivisible unit without 
which components and relations would not produce the 
observed evolution. Say otherwise, the all, either in a way 
the identity of the system that emerges from interactions 
between components, gives a sense to these interactions. 
3.2 Application Of The Systemic Approach To The 
Territory 
If we apply the systemic approach to the territory, we can 
distinguish the three plans of existence of a system plan : 
- The physical plan that contains systems (or subsystems) 
composing the territory, as well as the human's actions on 
this territory; 
- The logical plan or concepts that are composed of 
theories and models that we make from reality, as well as 
methodologies that we conceive to intervene on; 
- The holistic plan that represents the territory in its proper 
identity, its directionnalities, its values. 
3.3 Application of the systemic approach to the GIS 
A GIS is a type of system constituted of computer 
components - material and software - of data, procedures 
and methods, of resources - financial human or scientific - 
that interact to do some tasks, to answer to requests and to 
produce information. We can also distinguish there above 
the three plans of existence of a system such as definied 
below : 
- the physical plan that contains data acquired from 
observations or measures, digital maps or documents, of 
pictures integration or orthophotoses, as well as the useful 
information notably to the development of projects, to the 
decision making or the simple information of the 
population; 
- the logical or conceptual plan that is composed of models 
shaping the different architectures of a GIS (organization, 
technique and information), which permit to elaborate 
processing methods (statistical or spatial analysis for 
96 
International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Vol XXXV, Part B-YF. Istanbul 2004 
example) and of exchange principles (diffusion modes or 
rating for example); 
- the holistic plan that represents specific identity of the 
GIS and that expresses its privileged values (the 
exchange between partners for example), its finalities (to 
be a helpfull tool to the consultation, the management and 
the decision). 
The SRT can be defined as follows: The Systemic 
Representation of the Territory is defined as an 
interdisciplinary model of the territory (interdisciplinarity = 
multi - partners vision) based on the determination of 
phenomena and relations that composes it and that are 
applicable in the setting of the management, the planning 
and the scheduling of the territory. it takes into account their 
temporal evolution to avoid redundancies and incoherences. 
From this fact, it is considered as the most adequate to 
represent a territory in a GIS. The SRT constitutes a setting 
of reference for making an exchange network between 
partners possessing  cartographic data (geographical 
information) and being called to work together in the setting 
of the planning and the management of the local territory. 
3.4 Hierarchical organization of the SRT 
The Systemic Representation of the Territory recognizes six 
hierarchical levels of organization for its components 
(domain, sector, activity and clement, thema, class of 
entities, entity). This organization is not exhaustive. it 
covers aspects of the territory that we well know (according 
to investigations) or those for which we could take 
advantage of the specialist contribution (for what concerns 
natural habitations, activities, infrastructures, and the 
regional development). This organization has also a merely 
operational goal, which is to facilitate the access to 
informations, hence it plays the role of a of a navigation tool 
within the GIS. 
3.5 Access Management according to the hierarchical 
organization of the SRT 
Some data are of confidential type and cannot be consulted 
by all the system users. These data remain under the 
exclusive responsibility of partners that provided them. The 
control of accesses first of all rests on the definition of 
groups users. These last are based on the administrative 
organization of partners. A specific group is formed of the 
set of users possessing the same privileges of consultation 
and modification of information of the system. If a group 
has access to a specific class (buildings for example), it also 
has access to the set of entities of this class (the set of 
buildings of the territory). However, it does not necessarly 
have access to the set of attributes describing this entity 
(Fig. 2). 
Domain 
Secfor 
Activity and element 
Thema 
Class [1] 
  
Figure 2. Example of a tree associated to rights of 
information consultation 
In