From Conventional to Knowledge Based Geographical Information Systems

Artificial intelligence (Al) has received an explosion of interest during the last five years in
various fields. There is no longer any question that expert systems and neural networks will
be of central importance for developing the next generation of more intelligent geographic
information systems. Such knowledge based geographic information systems will especially
play a key role in spatial decision and policy analysis related to issues such as environmental
monitoring and management, land use planning, motor vehicle navigation and distribution
logistics. This paper sketches briefly the major characteristics of conventional geographic
information systems, and then looks at some of the potentials of Al principles and techniques
in a GIS environment where emphasis is laid on expert systems and artificial neural networks
technologies and techniques. (author's abstract)