GIS for Collaborative Research

Abstract

This article presents the importance of collaborative research and the growing trend of using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) as a mediator of spatial knowledge, social, and intellectual practice. Collaborative research projects generally involve researchers from multiple disciplines either in the same institution or between institutions toperform research. It is driven by complex problems requiring multidisciplinary solutions and the increased visibility provided by cross disciplinary research. With the rapid advancement of GIS, there is a substantial increase in the use of dynamic maps and advanced spatial functionsfor multidisciplinary research, such as environmental and urban planning. The distributed GIServices is considered as an appropriate infrastructure for developing a pervasive tool that supports data integration, data sharing, and data visualization from anywhere and anytime. The enabling technologies for distributed GIServices are discussed and three existing platforms related to web-based GIS that supports collaborative research: WorldMap, MapStory, and WISERD are illustrated.