The Use of Geographic Information Systems in Local Government

Abstract

Countless land-related decisions are made by local units of government. Municipal governments and local offices of state and federal agencies deal with real property, development, infrastructure, and so forth. Many other records such as health and crime data are referenced by geographic location. Individual decisions of local units of government typically have a limited scope and impact. However, as a whole, they shape the way land is used and the built environment is managed. Geographic information systems (GIS) have tremendous potential at this level, both in allowing decision making to be more objective and in elucidating the cumulative effect of incremental decisions. It is also the level of government with a wide range of experience and success with GIS. Local agencies seemingly have the most difficult time using analytic and decision-support aspects of the technologies. Because great potential and great problems exist, this article is focused on GIS at the local level. GISs are now commonly accepted tools in public administration. GIS literature includes description of many kinds of successful applications; missing are anecdotes about orphaned technologies, alienated users, withdrawn funding, and other incidents that undoubtedly occur. To account for performance promised by purveyors of the technology, we need to ask does the technologies. provide better information? - faster, cheaper, more reliable, more precise, more available, and more understandable? It is critical to note that the question is does, not can. The question concerns its actual uses - not its potential. Successful use of GIS depends on technical choices and on the ability, capacity, and willingness of an organization to absorb and use new forms and quantities of information. Organizational and institutional factors may be a greater barrier to successful use of GIS than technical constraints (e.g., Dueker, 1987; Chrisman, 1987; Innes and Simpson, 1993). To make this innovation a useful component of decision-making processes, we should understand the technical, organizational, and institutional impediments to successful GIS use. In this article, I review GIS adoption and use in local government and discuss why successful use has come slowly in many jurisdictions. My observations are derived primarily from GIS implementation in Wisconsin, where local agencies participate in the Wisconsin Land Information Program (Kuhlman, 1993). This program has provided incentives and funding for land records modernization since 1990. This has accelerated GIS implementation and thus provided an opportunity to study factors influencing technology diffusion (Ventura et al., 1993). In the terms of Rogers' (1983) paradigm for diffusion of innovations, Wisconsin local agencies are typically in adoption or implementation phases, while counterparts around the country are in awareness and understanding phases - just learning about GIS. Additional evidence comes from participant observer activities, primarily assistance in the design and implementation of geographic information systems with many kinds of agencies. This has made it possible to probe deeply into organizations, to become familiar with personal traits, attend staff meetings, and so forth, and not just read final reports, attend public meetings, or accept the word of interviewees. Adoption and Use of GIS in Local Agencies To answer questions about the use of GIS, we must distinguish adoption from the many kinds of uses for which the technology is suited. Adoption, at least of hardware and software components of a GIS, is readily observed. GIS vendors' reports indicate that adoption is proceeding at a rapid pace. This is supported by studies of adoption as detailed below. Because the applications of GIS and related technologies are so diverse, it is not possible to assume from adoption that the technology is being used for decision making. In most cases, initial applications of GIS are within the realm of mapping and inventory. …