Designing End-User Geographic Information Systems

Geographic information systems are becoming more popular for end-user and decision support system construction, but they incorporate software and concepts with some inherent problems for users not trained in concepts of geography and cartography. This paper identifies those concepts most needed for end-user GIS use, and suggests remedial efforts to reduce the burden of system operation and improve data integrity. The approaches make extensive use of metadata storage and may be implemented as tools in GIS software provided to end-users.