Multi-media Geographic Information System

Abstract

In these a few years, multi-media has been attracting keen interests in GIS fields, particulary for data browsing and educational applications. Although the real world, where we live and all geographical problems exist, can be observed and recorded by various methods, due to the limitation in capability of computers and also to the traditional concepts for geographical information (maps and statistics), only two types of information (digitized maps with attributes, statistics) have been used in GIS for nearly thirty years. To model and represent real world with more reality, it is important to seek alternative data types and to combine them with existing data types., This paper aims to describe several aspects of multi-media systems in general and to discuss some technological issues common and particular in GIS applications. This paper starts with examination of the definitions of multi-media which is not yet determined. Then the paper discusses media, devices and formats for multi-media recording. A short history of multi-media applications in spatail data handling, including Aspen, Domesday Project and TRINITY is reviewed. Data base structure for multi-media is a hot theoretical issue. Objectoriented approach, formal network data base and themantic network data base are discussed. As a conclusion, the author would like to emphasis that GIS has relied too much on traditional geographic information concept which were made in industrial revolution era in the late eighteenth century. It is important to update conceptts to meet with today's real world and to add more reality to GIS.