| Canada's Department of National Defence spends millions of dollars on infrastructure management yearly. New buildings, roads, power distribution lines and other infrastructure is being built while existing infrastructure is being operated and maintained each year. The challenge is becoming more complex.; The Department of National Defence is turning to spatial technologies to meet the challenges of infrastructure management. In particular, Geographic Information Systems have shown promise as a tool that can help the Department to manage its infrastructure more efficiently. Geographic Information Systems have already been implemented at some military bases, but not without problems.; The purpose of this paper is to analyze the use of Geographic Information Systems in the military infrastructure management community. Key research objectives are to determine what quantifiable benefits accrue back to the implementing organization, what are the most common pitfalls for a Geographic Information System implementation for infrastructure management and what are the best practices for Geographic Information System implementation in this application area?; A survey was developed based on the findings in the body of literature that investigates the critical success and failure factors for Geographic Information System implementation. This report discusses the results from the survey and compares these results with the findings from the literature review.; Key recommendations from the bases about Geographic Information System focus on the soft issues, as opposed to the technical issues. Recommendations include: (1) conduct a business case analysis to justify a system purchase, (2) have a plan and (3) be clear regarding what you want from the system before you acquire a system. |
