The objective of this paper is to develop a well-defined and sound framework for the implementation of a multi-participant GIS program and to illustrate the developed framework by its application to the Departments of the Town of Blacksburg.
A multi-participant approach to implementing GIS technology faces greater challenges than a single-participant GIS project, due to the unique culture, structure, policy, decision-making rule and expectations of participants from implementation of GIS technology. So a successful program depends upon aligning different characteristics of the program's structure to those of participants, individually and collectively. Maximizing the system's potentials necessitates a well-defined implementation framework that can help manage changes and integrate the technology in organizations. Therefore, the paper focuses on the implementation aspects of multi-participant GIS programs.
The paper achieves its objective by exploring various issues involved in the implementation process of GIS technology and multi-participant GIS programs, develops a framework for implementing a multi-participant GIS program and applies the framework to the Departments of the Town of Blacksburg to achieve successful implementation. The illustration of the Town of Blacksburg identifies various constraints for multi-participant GIS program for which recommendations are provided to achieve successful implementation.
