Theoretical Model of Multipurpose Land Information Systems Development

Abstract

Historically, multipurpose land information systems have often been designed for use as community‐wide enterprises. Before becoming useful to the community, however, many of these systems encounter prohibitive factors delaying or preventing the satisfaction of the ultimate goals for which they were designed. A criticism of current models is that system developers seeking to build publicly accessible systems do not use them. Since most systems are developed without the guidance of a formal model, system developers often do not fully anticipate likely system issues. Many systems, designed on an ad hoc basis, fail to achieve their full potential, because they have not used an appropriate model to determine a final system outcome. This paper presents a theoretical model describing the stages systems experience during development. These stages are: no development, system initiation, database development, recordkeeping, analysis, and democratization. Additionally, the factors promoting or prohibiting movement from one stage to the next, and the indicators or outcomes of each stage are described. Not only are the individual elements described but also their relationships are described as part of the model. The Multipurpose Land Information System (MPLIS) development model is designed both as a guide for system developers and a tool for discussing and comparing systems.