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Understanding & improving GIS software selection / Tim Fenn

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Identifier	Thesis 1490
Author	Fenn, Tim
Title	Understanding & improving GIS software selection / Tim Fenn
Publisher	Central Connecticut State University
Date	1998
Resource Type	Master's Thesis
Notes	It is the belief of the author that the limited capabilities of GIS during the early stages (pre-1990) of GIS development resulted in GIS selection focusing on new software and hardware rather than on the best process or methodologies for determining what the needs of the users were and which of the various software packages could fulfill them. The purpose of this thesis is to identify and analyze software selection methodologies used and/or available to municipal/regional government and environmental non-profit organizations and determine if there is a single generic software selection methodology that can be defined. The cost of the early GISs restricted their use primarily to large, well-established organizations with advanced computer operations like the federal government, universities, and large companies (Antenucci et al.1991,22). Advances in computer technology and programming have lowered the costs of powerful PCs, using their own software and operating system, enable desktop and laptop computers to run GIS and IS programs once restricted to mainframes. The capabilities of modern PC's has increased the demand for PC based GISs and ISs, especially from small organizations and individuals who can now afford a GIS. A literature search did not find any thorough discussion of GIS software selection or comparison of selection methodologies, therefore IS literature was reviewed. GIS is becoming an IS and not just an IS application, this is a theme touched on in GIS literature from many different perspectives. Including Matuschak (1996) on RDMSs and Wilson (1996, 1998 58-60) on Open Interface standards. These GIS trends indicate that GIS software will change significantly therefore, these trends should be considered when selecting software but, not stop the selection process as illustrated by An Inexpensive GIS Takes Flight (Muise 1998, 55). Kesner, in Information Systems: A Strategic Approach to Planning and Implementation (1988), discusses the planning and implementation of an IS in detail. When he presents a planning process for IS implementation, he develops a series of evaluation matrixes for an organization's IS needs analysis. In this application software evaluation matrix he identifies twelve weighted categories for evaluating application software. Each software package is ranked in twelve categories on a scale of 0 to 10 (0 - unacceptable to 10 - outstanding) and evaluated in relation to other scores and any restrictions from other matrixes. The highest scoring software, considering other restrictions or conflicts, is selected. This evaluation matrix encompasses all the GIS software selection methodologies and considerations found and is used to compare the findings. Even though the GIS literature review was expanded to include IS literature insufficient information to identify an effective, general purpose GIS software selection methodology. A survey of targeted organizations which have implemented GIS, an expansion of the literature search, and a solicitation of surveyed organizations for copies of their selection methodology helped fill this information void. One hundred seventy-five surveys were distributed. 42% of the surveys were returned for a geographically disperse sampling of North American organizations. The surveys were mailed over a three month period, December, 1997 - February, 1998. The organizations surveyed were all in English-speaking North America, and one of three types:  Municipal government or Sanitary and Water Board having a jurisdiction over a service area with a population over 20,000, one exception has a population of 17,000.  Regional government or utility having a jurisdiction with a population over 250,000.  Environmental nonprofit organizations. The survey responses were entered and processed in a customized database, hard copies were archived. Surveys were returned from 28 states and 3 provinces. The survey responses are a geographically diverse sampling of the targeted user organizations. The findings chapter presents and analyses the GIS and IS literature findings, survey questions, and six GIS software selection methodologies returned with the surveys. These 3 areas of findings are synthesized and summarized at the end of the chapter. A four stage data analysis process was followed including checking data validity (five factors were checked), data preparation for analysis, data analysis (statistics), and testing for other data correlations. GIS literature analysis found 5 common selection considerations included in the software selection methodologies reviewed. Survey data analysis identified factors (questions) which correlated with the answers to question 14 - the level of satisfaction with the software. This led to 3 types of findings factors with a relationship, positive or negative, factors with no relationship to software selection success, and other interesting relationships. The level of success correlated with 5 objectives: Data Management; Data entry and input devices supported; Operating System; Spatial data exchange formats supported; and User interface. Other correlations were also found with the type of selection methodology used (Industry Standard, Organizational Standard, Systematic but not written down, no systematic method). All industry Standard user only being "Mostly Successful" is an indication that these published methodologies are successful but not the best. The second systematic approach, Organizational Standard, achieved the highest percentage of "Completely Successful" software selection (48%). the lower success rate of the third systematic approach, "Systematic but not written down" indicated that if one is going to follow a systematic approach, a written record should be kept. These findings indicate that of the systematic methods of selecting software, an organizational standard achieves the greatest satisfaction. Cross tabulating the GIS software selection acquisition considerations with Kesner's IS application software evaluation categories finds that several were not considered in any GIS software selection methodology, while several were considered by fewer than half. Three categories (1 - Ability to meet application requirements, 5 - Capacity to meet needs, and 6 - Ease of use) were considered by a majority of respondents. A comparison of the literature findings, including Kesner's IS considerations, survey findings, and survey respondent selection methodologies, indicates that only 3 or Kesner's IS considerations were used in a majority of the methodologies reviewed. These 3 were  Ability to meet application requirements  Capacity to meet needs  Ease of use The survey identified 3 considerations that correlate with "highly successful" GIS software selection..  Data Management  Data entry and input devices supported  Operating system Analysis of the thesis findings revealed 9 significant findings:  GIS software selection is currently based more on applications supported.  Respondents who gave a high priority to data management have a higher level of satisfaction.  Respondents who gave a high priority to data entry and input devices supported have a higher level of satisfaction.  Respondents who gave a high priority to the operating system are notable for low level of significance (Pearson correlation of 0.191).  Respondents who gave a high priority to the data exchange formats had negative correlation with satisfaction with the GIS software (Pearson correlation of -0.239).  Respondents who gave a high priority to the user interface had negative correlation with respondents level of satisfaction with the GIS software (Pearson correlation of -0.297).  Organizations large and small are equally successful in selecting satisfactory GIS software.  Selecting GIS software by following an organizational standard or no systematic approach are the most successful methods.  Kesner's IS application software evaluation matrix includes all software selection methodology steps and considerations evaluated. These thesis findings suggest these organizations should consider using Kesner's IS considerations as an all inclusive guide. In addition, it is recommended, that an organization consider each of the nine significant findings listed on this page
Subject	Geographic information systems Information resources management
Department	Department of Geography
Advisor	Harmon, John E
Type	Text
Digital Format	application/pdf
Language	eng
OCLC number	40227431
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