Document Type : Research Paper

Author

• Ashraf Azimzadeh (Translator)

Master of Geography

Abstract

Once technology overshadowed humans’ imagination, but now those minds have risen in protest against the technology. According to Robert Barr, we must learn how to distribute and spread data, instead of merely piling them up.
Advancements in development of GIS have made this industry available to everybody through computers and especially the internet and intranet, and have thus spared us the trouble of seeking data sources and methods of processing.
All these developments must have made life easier for us, but with reduction of technical barriers, political and economic obstacles have replaced them. If we are able to transfer data freely from one place to another, or if we can store them with insignificant cost, one question still remains: where should we store information? It is not correct to claim that we can answer: wherever it is suitable” or “we can transfer them whenever necessary”, because such attitude is out of question in today’s world.
At least four factors concerning information are required to be clarified for answering this question: costs of storage and transfer, right of possession, methods of conversion and process of integration.