GIS-unstructured
I recently read All Points Blog's entry on top web searches via AOL. To sum it up, he estimates (a bit optimistic but not too far fetched) that just over half of all web searches have a geographic component. I think that is pretty amazing that most web searches are related to geography . People not only want to 'find' something, they also want to 'locate' it too. And they often use place names to find it it.
After reading this post, I also recalled how ESRI and MetaCarta recently put out a press release announcing their expanded relationship. MetaCarta is involved in the business of locating 'unstructured' geographic references. Unstructured data is just that - data that is not in any organized structure such as databases or XML (even Excel spreadsheets). Think of unstructured data as generic text. Just like a web search. Any MS Word document or web page is a piece of unstructured data. Yet unstructured data contains huge amounts of geographic references and is often highly dependent on the context of the document itself.
A next-big-thing in GIS is likely to be the technology involved in processing geographical locations in unstructured documents, such as what MetaCarta is involved in. For example, there are huge amounts of geographic data that exists in the stacks of public meeting minutes. In just this one area, it would be very beneficial (and fascinating too) to be able to 'geocode' those minutes based on all the geographic references within them. Then you could search those minutes based location of events that they describe. (Find all minutes that describe events within 1000 feet of 123 Main St). You would be able to quickly determine (via a geo-search of the all the historical minutes) the recorded history of a neighborhood. This history would prove to be invaluable for most decision making processes.
Some of this is starting to take place. I think this one of the reasons Google Map became popular. How else can you type in cheese near Milwaukee and get a map with a potential of 1,400 locations? Or you can see a map of the CNN webpage. The ESRI - MetaCarta relationship should become something to watch over the years.
posted by EWUG @ 7:44 PM
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