When we were children dreaming about the future, we often heard, 'the sky is the limit'. Today, the International Space Station spins high above our sky and we suddenly realise that the future comes much more quickly than we ever dreamed.

During the last few years, we have witnessed the broad influence of Internet-based GIS solutions. People across the world use GIS every day without needing to understand the underlying technology or science. And today's 'techno-explorers' continually reach for the sky with their innovative GIS applications - for example, managing 34 000 km of road networks in Australia, developing street maps for the city of Brussels, maximising realtime crime reporting in Delaware and tracking bush fire interruptions to electricity distribution throughout South Africa.

New industry standards are laying foundations for our future. The Open GIS Consortium is driving the adoption of geography markup language/extensible markup language (GML/XML) to allow seamless access and integration of unlimited sources of geospatial data available on the Internet. What do these advancements offer? Unprecedented GIS connectivity - using the Internet to bring together data providers and consumers anywhere on the network, anywhere in the world.

But we are also moving quickly beyond wired to wireless. We are watching the Internet, wireless technology and GIS converge. And that creates possibilities for our industry that no one dared dream of a few years ago. Developers can use the industry-standard wireless application protocol (WAP) to serve map images and location-based information to users anywhere, anytime.

Consumers already have been able to receive geospatial information on their PCs at work or at home. Now they can receive location-based information, including maps, anywhere their wireless device can receive a signal. Organisations can distribute their investment and lower costs per seat. At the same time, more people have access to dynamic location-based data and services. Our industry's future will be shaped by three ever-evolving elements:

* A solid, open software platform.

* Ingenious Internet applications.

* A public that is hungry for information.

When these elements combine, the results will truly exceed our wildest dreams.

Intergraph Systems Southern Africa

Rex van Olst

(011) 313 1222

rvolst@intergraph.co.za

www.intergraph.co.za