Bringing geographic information systems (GIS) into the museum world

Abstract

Innovations and evolutions in digital technology have produced a number of useful and creative tools for the cultural world. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) has become the standard within the domains of cultural heritage site management and archaeology. The inclusion of GIS within the museum and art world, however, remains under-represented and rarely tested. This paper examines the ways in which museums could employ GIS in their different functional areas, by studying the practicality and overall utility of GIS as a tool. We hypothesized and researched different potential areas of usefulness, and subsequently developed several museum and object based GIS experiments. We created GIS data for 3 artworks and explored the ways museums could use the data internally and for exhibitions. Additionally we looked at the broader applications of GIS for museums, testing a Danish GIS- based user prediction model. Our results show that GIS can be beneficial to museums at both micro and macro levels. GIS data is largely standardized, and therefore quite useful for collection management, administration, and larger institutional cooperation. We found that at its heart, GIS has the ability visualize information in different ways, and this characteristic could be of great use to museums educators and exhibition designers. By utilizing the different ways GIS can visualize data, museums can present topics in ways that meets the needs of many visitors. Though museums should be encouraged to put part of their resources towards exploring new technologies, the stability and permanence of GIS creates a good case for museum support and use.