Dear Anuj, GIS is not meant for mapping though it has [limited] mapping functionality. I find CAD/Corel better for that as more eye catching maps can be made using these platforms. GIS is the best tool for doing scientific analysis by integrating information from multiple sources. It overrides “Human Judgment that is made by someone sitting in his/her drawing room/office” and provides tangible reasons to make and support decisions with the help of collected data as you also mentioned in your explanation.

Suppose govt want to construct rail/road between Delhi and Dehradun. Now answer to the questions like which is the best and shortest route; how many bridges have to be built and how many villages have to be re-located etc are required by politicians. In this way, GIS helps politicians/planners and contribute to governance.

As far as the use of your referred technologies i.e. cell/mobile phones is concerned. It is knows as mobile GIS where these devices are used to collect and disseminate information quickly. Because, every one may not have a desktop/laptop but there is more certainty that she/he would have cell phone.

Interesting question. No government can run efficiently without having information such as: where are its natural resources located, where people don't have access to clean drinking water and which are those areas where no school or hospital exist nearby etc. These are just a few examples to quote.

GIS is standard practice in governance of OECD and middle-income countries including their regions, municipalities, national parks, mines, in short in anything with a geographic dimension. Municipalities are the most advanced in my experience in Europe and here in Southern Africa within the public sector; mines in the private sector. The challenge lies in the availability, accessibility, spatial compatibility and maintenance of relevant data layers at the required resolution. Rarely all relevant data-layers are, or can be, prepared or owned by the governing body or the company. Consequently, conversion of geo-data is mostly a must. For example, topographic maps, land use zoning maps, satellite imagery and cadastral maps frequently each have their own embedded projections and cannot simply be overlaid. Further, population census, agricultural census, electoral and administrative districts have mostly different and dynamic borders making elaborate spatial extrapolation of population (growth) figures necessary. In addition, spatial data sources are often time inconsistent. In quite a few countries flora and fauna data are recorded and copy righted by separate agencies in incompatible spatial units, e.g. point data versus degree quadrants requiring non-trivial transformations to estimate biodiversity. What to do with seasonally or diurnally migrating animals versus sedentary plants and animals? Polygon (parcels, admin boundaries) versus grid data (satellite imagery; DEM, quadrant inventories) need careful conversions for input in GIS operations. In the best of places, many conversions and transformations of fundamental spatial planning data layers are carried out at the regional level and made available for simple, online GIS operations to the general public. An example in the attached paper and its references. However, the individual data layers cannot be down-loaded for more complex, customized GIS operations.

Article The living commons of West Tyrol, Austria: Lessons for land ...

@Asmat Ali: Thanks for your answer sir.... No doubt GIS is the best tool for mapping but I am looking forward for some alternate applications like when GIS functionality is presented over Mobile it become the best tool for awanress, crowedosurcing etc... these are the applciation that are in the true scence help for good governance.

Dear Anuj, GIS is not meant for mapping though it has [limited] mapping functionality. I find CAD/Corel better for that as more eye catching maps can be made using these platforms. GIS is the best tool for doing scientific analysis by integrating information from multiple sources. It overrides “Human Judgment that is made by someone sitting in his/her drawing room/office” and provides tangible reasons to make and support decisions with the help of collected data as you also mentioned in your explanation.

Suppose govt want to construct rail/road between Delhi and Dehradun. Now answer to the questions like which is the best and shortest route; how many bridges have to be built and how many villages have to be re-located etc are required by politicians. In this way, GIS helps politicians/planners and contribute to governance.

As far as the use of your referred technologies i.e. cell/mobile phones is concerned. It is knows as mobile GIS where these devices are used to collect and disseminate information quickly. Because, every one may not have a desktop/laptop but there is more certainty that she/he would have cell phone.

Yes I think GIS can do so, thus further investigation of how to be achieved is needed.

@Asmat Ali: Thank you sir for your guidance it is really very helpful to GIS in more clear scence. Very truly sir, GIS has established as a powerful planning and decision making tool. GIS and information and communication technology together have potential to reach the masses and include them in governance process. In past few years, GIS systems have marked a significant development tool and Governments throughout the globe are now utilizing or planning to utilize the GIS data collected in Governance Systems.

Once again thanks a lot for your reply and suggestions :) :)

You are welcome

The response from Hein Gils provides a good overview of many issues related to GIS use in polic planning and implementation, especially the technological ones. However, from a politcal science perspective, and from practical experience in policy implementation (with a specific good governance approach), which has drawn on or at least utilized GIS to inform or argue policy solutions, there are some key items missing.

A key issue for a good governance approach is how different 'things', including groups of people, are categorized. Some of the most controversial are 'communities', especially in places where individual citizen rights are closely bound to the land rights of indigenous communities. However, some other items are for example 'safe drinking water outlets' - is there a standard test applied across the geographic context? Another example is how green 'coverage' (eg via raster files from satellite) is defined - is young re-forestation counted as equivalent to 'original' indigenous growth? Does this matter and to whom?

Very often the defintions used in GIS applications are like those in census surveys - conventional but abstract ideas with a highly political but socially hidden meaning. Who for example lives in a 'slum' versus who lives in a low socio-economic urban area?

For GIS applications to contribute adequately/appropriately to good governance, each category displayed in the representation would have a strongly supported (by the affected population as well as academic or other authorities) definition.