Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology

292 map information and navigation systems• How are sales trending with regard to various types(demographics) of customers?Software SupportThere are many considerations to choosing appropriatesoftware to support the users who are trying to answerquestions at the various levels of management. At minimum,to create a true management information system, theinformation from daily transactions must be made accessibleto a variety of query or analysis programs.In the past three decades many established businesseshave had to go through a painful process of converting avariety of separate databases and “legacy software” (oftenwritten in COBOL in the 1960s or 1970s) into a modernrelational database such as Oracle or Microsoft Access.Sometimes a company has decided that the cost of rewritingsoftware and converting data is simply too high, andinstead, opts for a patchwork of utility programs to convertdata from one program to another.The growth of networking in the 1980s and Web-basedintranets in the 1990s required that the old model of a large,centralized data repository accessed directly by only a fewusers be replaced by a less centralized model, sometimesgoing as far as using a distributed database system wheredata “objects” can reside throughout the network yet beaccessed quickly by any user (see database managementsystem). An alternative is the data repository that includesqueries and other tools (see data warehouse).Future of MISWith the prominence of the Internet and e-commerce today,MIS has had to cope with an even more complex and fastmovingworld. On the one hand, widespread e-commerceenables the capturing of more detailed data about transactionsand consumer behavior in general. New tools for analyzinglarge repositories of data (see data mining) make itpossible to continually derive new insights from the recentpast. It is thus clear that information is not just a tool butalso a corporate asset in itself. On the other hand, fiercecompetition and often shrinking profit margins in e-commercehave placed increasing pressure on MIS departmentsto find the greatest competitive advantage in the shortestpossible time.The importance of MIS has also been reflected in itsplace in the corporate hierarchy. The top-level executivepost of Chief Information Officer (CIO) has perhaps notyet achieved parity with the Chief Financial Officer (CFO),but healthy budgets for MIS even in constrained economictimes testify to its continuing importance.Further ReadingKroenke, David. Using MIS. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: PrenticeHall, 2005.Laudon, Kenneth C., and Jane P. Laudon. Management InformationSystems: Managing the Digital Firm. 10th ed. Upper SaddleRiver, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2006.“MIS Resources.” Available online. URL: http://www3.uakron.edu/management/index.html. Accessed August 14, 2007.Turban, Efraim, et al. Information Technology for Management. 6thed. New York: Wiley, 2007map information and navigation systemsA variety of online services use the integration of mapsand databases to provide detailed information ranging fromweather forecasts to traffic conditions to local shopping andrestaurants. Increasingly, these services can be customizedto the user’s needs. Further, when combined with globalpositioning system (GPS) devices, the map display can befocused on the user’s current location, providing navigationand/or “points of interest” information. (For mappingsystems primarily designed for scientific or other analyticaluse, see geographical information systems.)MapquestMapQuest has its roots in the Cartographic Services Divisionof R. R. Donnelley, a leading maker of printed maps.The company first went online in 1996, was renamed Map-Quest in 1999, and was acquired by America Online (AOL)in 2000.The basic services offered by MapQuest are street mapsof a user-specified location, and driving routes betweenan origin and a destination. In recent years the servicehas been elaborated to allow users to customize routes, toobtain location-related “Yellow Pages” service from AOL,and to receive maps and driving directions on PDAs andmobile phones.Google Maps and Google EarthArriving on the Web in 2005 was Google Maps, a moresophisticated and versatile mapping service. There are fourtypes of map view: street map, actual satellite or aerial photo,street map overlaid on photo, and street-level photo views(in selected cities.) Besides specifying a particular locationfor the map, users can enter queries such as “pizza in Berkeley”to highlight locations where the pies are available.A related application is Google Earth, which was basedon a product acquired by Google in 2004. Google Earth isavailable for PCs running Windows, Mac OS, and Linux,and shows detailed imagery of most terrain at 15-metersresolution or smaller, with considerably more detailed imageryof some cities. Views have also been enhanced to providea better 3D visualization of features such as the GrandCanyon or Mount Everest, as well as a significant number ofmajor buildings. In 2007 Google added sky views as well assurface views of the Moon and Mars.Like other Google services, Google Maps and GoogleEarth offer extensive interfaces that can be used to linkmaps and imagery with data from other programs. Forexample, Wikipedia articles that include coordinate tagswill now be automatically linked to the correspondingcontent from Google Earth. (For more on the creation ofnew applications through combining existing services, seemashups.)Because mapping services (particularly Google) havefeatured relatively high-resolution aerial and even streetlevelphotographic views, some government agencies aroundthe world have complained that the service is providingtoo much detail of military or other sensitive installations.(This is also a potential terrorism concern.) Also, privacy