Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/33025
Make the Business Case for Temporal GIS WHERE IT’S ABOUT TIME W BY ERIK SHEPARD hy does temporal geography matter? Isn’t keeping the database current and complete sufficient? Don’t database backups serve as snapshots and archives? These are important questions for implementers of spatiotemporal systems, but in implementing any technology, organizational value must drive which features are implemented. A business case based on requirements and benefits can help differentiate between necessary function and “nice to have.” Organizational Benefits For those unfamiliar, a business case describes specific needs that the organization has and how the technology will address those needs. Such description is usually (though not always) quantita- tive and identifies something an organization can’t do efficiently—or at all. Each benefit ties a specific technology function to the capability, and specific quantitative values depend on the organization. The following are some categories of benefits that an organization can hope to gain from spatiotemporal capabilities: • Change detection. Organizations that collect Erik Shepard is principal of Waterbridge Consulting and principal consultant with SSP Innovations; e-mail: erik@ waterbridge.biz or erik.shepard@ sspinnovations.com. 30 revenue from annual changes, such as tax assessors, can benefit from change detection. If a property owner has a parcel that has been woodland for years and then becomes farmland, for example, farmland is taxed at a different millage and generates a profit. If the tax assessor’s database contains untimely records, detecting the change from one land classifi- cation to another is difficult, costing potential revenue. • Forecasting and planning. Storing time in a spatiotemporal database isn’t always about history and archive. Forward-looking activities such as forecasting and planning also rely on a temporal component: the future. Utilities often forecast months or years ahead for capital expenditure planning and bulk power purchases, which are hedged. The network model is stored in a geospatial system, and new designs often are done against the network in a GIS. For large projects, new designs might be done years ahead of GEO W ORLD / M AY 2O11 time, so having those designs available to forecast- ing and planning departments can allow projected power consumption for capital improvement planning or power purchases to be calculated in the GIS or distribution-planning software. • Litigation. Every bit as unpleasant as taxes, litiga- tion is a major challenge for organizations to adequately address. If an organization is taken to court for alleged unsafe or unsavory business practices, the availability of history can determine win or loss. Spatiotemporal systems can confer a number of strategic benefits over single-time geospatial systems. Database backups can provide archives, but there are several challenges. If the incident is years in the past, the organization might be challenged to find the right backup. Backups may only be kept for a prescribed period of time or might be in a format that’s difficult to load. A spatiotemporal system can make available archives in a much more straightforward way. For industries in which litigation is a common issue, spatiotemporal systems can show infrastructure configuration at a particular time to defend against safety allegations or show ownership transactions through time to defend against ethics allegations. • Products. For organizations that gain revenue from geospatial data, access to historical data in a spatiotemporal system offers opportunities for new products and revenue. Customers interested in current geospatial information, such as transportation, eco- nomics or weather, may also be interested in historical information (or projections) for research and use. An organization can provide such data at customer-requested times, with each period provid- ing additional incremental revenue. This capability requires temporal management of data and not simply reloading from a database backup. All in the Timing As with any technology investment, a business case can determine whether an organization truly benefits from a capability and whether the investment to obtain that capability is warranted. Spatiotemporal systems can confer a number of strategic benefits over single- time geospatial systems, but understanding the range of benefits is the right place to start.