In a letter dated August, 1956, science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke described his view of the future, featuring a satellite system ”whereby anyone on earth could locate himself”. From our 21st century perspective, Clarke’s prediction seems scarily accurate. Was this forecast merely a fluke, or did the 20th century writer somehow envision the GIS systems and tracking devices of the present day? Either way, there is no denying that geographical information systems are now a very real thing. Indeed, the Global Geographical Information System Market is a multi-billion dollar industry, and expected to continue in growth at a CAGR of 9.6 percent for at least the next four years.
Presently, the cornerstone of the Global GIS Market is without a doubt the government sector, specifically in the U.S. This group is currently to thank for more than 30% of the industry’s annual revenue, and expected to continue to rise at a much higher rate than all other end-user segments in the market as a result of the increased adoption of GIS technology in military and defense departments. Despite these optimistic statistics however, the GIS Market’s ties with the government could also be its largest hindrance though not from and end-user standpoint.
To elaborate, recent reports that the information used and received from GIS applications may lead to unnecessary threats to the public, have prompted government policies to regulate the information provided by GIS to customers. Therefore, vendors in the market have to ensure that all the rules and regulations imposed by governments are being fulfilled completely. This limits the market’s field of potential end-users, and affects the standardization of GIS products across the globe in the Global GIS market.
Fortunately, any hits that the market may take from such regulations are likely to be offset by a few very positive trends, including:
- Focus on Application-specific GIS Solutions
- Development of Integrated Systems
- Increasing Adoption of GIS Applications for Mobile Computing Devices
- Increasing Demand for 3D GIS Software
These developments are already attracting more end-user segments to GIS technology, and significantly expanding the revenue from all market segments. With that, it’s safe to bet that as per Clarke’s eerily accurate prediction back in the 50s, the Global Geographical Information Systems Market isn’t going anywhere but up in the near future.
For more information, view our 2012-2016 report on the Global Geographical Information Systems Market.
Other Related Reports:
Global GIS Engineering Applications Market 2012-2016
Geographical Information System Market in the EMEA Region 2011-2015
