- Geographic information systems (GIS) are becoming increasingly widespread and are taking on central roles in administration, planning and public infrastructure.
- GIS entail social responsibility because, despite their benefits, they can cause real or potential violations of personal rights.
With the development of the information society, the nature and methods of data processing are changing fundamentally. Geo-information systems (GIS) are among the technologies that are becoming more widespread and play an important role as part of the information technology infrastructure. These decision-making and planning tools are based on techniques of data collection and management, as well as on the standardized or user-defined extraction of these data. While they were initially limited to certain areas of activity of the public administration, namely spatial development and statistics, they are increasingly attracting the interest of other public bodies and the private sector. The information is also increasingly being made available to the public. Numerous applications related to GIS are justified and correspond to an undisputed public interest. However, their technological and information technology characteristics impose a great social responsibility on those who have created and use them. For these systems certainly have many positive sides. But they also bring with them disadvantages that must be kept under control. One of these negative effects is the real or potential violation of personal rights.
Source: FDPIC – Data protection and geo-information systems