Geospatially Enabling Information Continued from page 9 The Impact of Web 2.0 on GIS The Web has been evolving from a static, published media to the dynamic, database-driven, collaborative environment now referred to as Web 2.0. Applications for Web 2.0 recognize that value is added by users. The Web functions powerfully because it is both decentralized and collaborative. In the Web 2.0 environment, there are many new ways to use GIS that empower users and take advantage of the collective intelligence of the Web—collaborative computing, integration of user-contributed content, mashups, and shared distributed data management—to name a few. Distributed global GIS has been dubbed the GeoWeb by Esri president Jack Dangermond and described as "a large, widespread, distributed collaboration of knowledge and discovery that promotes and sustains worldwide sharing and interoperability." Instead of providing wide access to a single source of data, the GeoWeb is bringing together vast stores of authoritative, transactional data, much of it maintained by government, and the geospatial services that can be used with it to create new information. Focused server-side applications supply the benefits of geospatial tools, data, and processes to end users who may be unaware they are using GIS. In this new development environment, Web developers can incorporate GIS functionality in Web applications. ArcGIS Server supplies a strong development environment that includes .NET and Java APIs and hosted mapping APIs for JavaScript, Adobe Flex, and Microsoft Silverlight. This has greatly increased the number of Web applications that use GIS and made the collaboration tools in GIS available to a much larger audience. Many kinds of clients—smart clients, Web clients, and mobile clients—can consume the data, information, and visualizations produced. Interactive GeoWeb applications are already providing greater access to government data and enhancing government services. The City of Greeley, Colorado, began using GIS in its water and sewer department in 1989. In the intervening decades, GIS use spread to almost every department in the city. To better serve its citizens and more efficiently use its staff, Greeley developed an intuitive and responsive Web application that provides the general public with quick access to a wealth of information about any parcel in the city—from zoning information to school districts to the location of the nearest fire hydrant. The data, maintained by the city, is current and authoritative. Before this application was developed, city planners were spending between three and four hours each day on the phone providing the same information that is now delivered in seconds by this Web application. Talking about GIS and Gov 2.0 Dangermond was one of more than 80 business, government, and leaders who spoke at the Gov 2.0 Summit. In his presentation, "Geoenabling Gov 2.0," he noted that geospatial data is pervasive at all levels of government—not just in the U.S. but all around the world. This data has been used in many integrated applications that improve planning, management, and decision making. "Actually, as you look across government, I would assert that it is a kind of new information infrastructure," he observed. Data sharing has been critical to the success of GIS, and the federal government has led the way. Many agencies, such as the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Geological Survey, consider data sharing part of their mission. While this imperative has led to the creation of data clearinghouses 10 ArcUser Fall 2009 that have improved access to data, it hasn't created a geospatial framework. A national framework is needed for sharing government's authoritative data sources. Currently, ftp download of data is a barrier to many potential users of geospatial information. Removing this impediment requires moving from data file sharing to shared services or geoservices. Combined with easy-to-use clients, deploying geoservices on a large scale would open access to this data to many new users and applications. These services should be "RESTful" and easily discovered, support open standards, and be amenable to being mashed up with simple clients and APIs available to everyone. The Geoservices Explosion Widespread development of geoservices would leverage government's huge investments in data and connect government to citizen and government to government. The result would be a geospatial framework for Gov 2.0. In characterizing the effect of geoservices, Dangermond said, "Exposing these services will bring about as much change as www.esri.com