Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/50311
Industry Trends are secure and properly backed up? Cloud-based implementations don't automatically meet all these GIS project requirements, but the required project effort and detailed IT knowledge are significantly reduced with cloud-based implementations. Other cloud-based GIS implementations have focused on data access and dissemination, while data creation and maintenance as well as complex analy- ses are done on inhouse systems. However, cloud- based capabilities are rapidly expanding. Connie Gurchiek: Cloud comput- ing will grow substantially simply due to cost savings, access to multiple services and data, and more options in the area of scal- ability. These lower-cost, subscrip- tion-based services (pay as you go, and only for what you use) are too appealing to resist in today's economic climate. In many cases, the cost and complexities of information technology (IT) support and oversight will be eliminated or drastically reduced by offloading this burden to a set of ala carte services provided via cloud computing. GIS software and service vendors are feeling the pressure to offer their software via cloud computing. Because most of the cloud infrastructures are more powerful and scalable than what the typical geotech- nology client has today, even high-end GIS capabilities may be better suited for cloud computing. Many of the infrastructure, policy and budget limits imposed by IT units can be overcome via solutions offered by cloud computing. So, yes, I believe it's likely that cloud- computing architectures will become the norm for most geotechnology applications, even those that require high-end capabilities. William S. Holland: The real question is whether the cloud will replace traditional client-server deployments. In one way, the answer is no. Despite innova- tions in security, truly sensi- tive data protected by privacy or intellectual-property law, may never "leave the building." And to be sure, some will simply want to "defend their domains" to preserve their economic and organizational status. The cloud is extremely powerful, efficient and con- venient. The cloud provides cost-effective high-perfor- mance and grid computing, lending itself to intense geoprocessing. It's exceedingly efficient, because it 22 GEO W ORLD / DECEMBE R 2O11 can consolidate common data elements and comput- ing resources, reducing acquisition and maintenance costs. This frees resources and people to be rede- ployed to other productive things such as creative deci- sion making and further technological innovation. The cloud is very disruptive, especially to traditional geospatial practices. It is, however, the type of disrup- tive innovation that will fuel dramatic productivity gains which will help lift the overall economy. We saw the same type of prosperity effect in the 1990s with the explosion of information technology and networks. We can only hope that such potential is realized. Anup Jindal: Cloud architectures will help geotechnology enter- prises and organizations imple- ment new business models that will help them deliver affordable pay-per-use services that lever- age existing large proprietary datasets. This will bring in new clients, who previously weren't able to afford licens- ing of such datasets, but can easily afford to pay on a per-use basis. The cloud also will unleash a new wave of collabora- tion across the industry, as various organizations will be able to virtually integrate their proprietary geoda- tabases. This will help grow the market for advanced analytics, where clients have to perform multidimen- sional analysis and find it cumbersome and expensive to integrate such databases on their own. For large mission-critical applications, a hybrid cloud- deployment model that integrates the private and public cloud could be the way forward. Roy Kolstad: Most enterprise and GIS technology end users today see the benefits—and the possible perils—of the cloud. I believe that cloud-computing architecture will become the norm for most geotechnology applications, even those requir- ing high-end capabilities. Who are the users of this new technology? In the GIS technology world, I believe there are two types of technology users: The Doers and the Viewers. The Doers are the geotechnology providers and ana- lysts who are building the tools and algorithms that provide the hardcore, heavy, in-depth analyses of busi- ness, scientific and geography data. The Doers supply the rest of us with cloud-based, dashboard-style tools