We're moving toward a world where geographic logic and thinking will be available to everyone via the Web. Geographic knowledge will become pervasive, and people will use it in every part of their work and their lives. They will interact with this data using maps.
This is already happening in the U.S. and other nations in the way constituents communicate with their government. GIS is providing citizens with unprecedented access to data about their communities as well as opportunities to voice their opinions and volunteer their own data.
This is the realization of an evolution that started with GIS for researchers, to GIS for professionals, to GIS for knowledge workers, and now to GIS for everybody.
Recently, Jack Dangermond, Esri president, sat down with Mac Slocum of O'Reilly Media to shed some light on where GIS is headed next. Transcript