Relational Data Modeling for Geographic Information Systems

This paper addresses data modeling problems inherent in the use of geographic information systems (GIS) that are not adequately covered by traditional modeling techniques. GIS technology has only recently begun to be used for traditional system development by large numbers of organizations and there are few procedures for modeling GIS data and applications in a business context. This circumstance is partially a result of the fact that GIS developers have traditionally been knowledgeable end users or facilitators and they have generally been called on to build standalone systems, often for their own use. This paper discusses geographic systems and proposes relational modeling techniques that document organizational data integrity rules when systems that include spatial data are developed for more widespread use.