National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis

This final unit of the series considers the future of GIS by offering three discussions: an analogy to the history of remote sensing; convergence vs. divergence in GIS software and markets; and prospects for the future. The unit argues that formal theory is needed in order to realize the full potential of GIS as an integrating technology, and that GIS and its allied fields, e.g. remote sensing, add up to the makings of a science of spatial information as a minor discipline or sub-discipline.