While not as obvious on the surface, the most significant impact of Geographic Information Systems capabilities will occur in education. The capacity of the system will not just benefit students but educators and researchers as well. GIS technology has not even begun to scratch the surface of its potential in education. Education is definable as a medium for information management and distribution. This task is precisely what the GIS technology was designed to accomplish. The technology may offer a manageable solution to the age old problem of departmentalization and fragmentation that exists in both education and government.
As Ian McHarg, a forty year career educator and recent recipient of the "Lifetime Achievement Award" in GIS commented in an interview with GIS World Magazine in 1995, "It is an absolutely wonderful opportunity. As a matter of fact, it is the one single catalyst that can help everybody (48). GIS technology offers the potential for bringing together the various educational disciplines and schools of thought within those disciplines in a cohesive and clear fashion." McHarg states that, "The capability of the computer (using GIS) to contribute to such integration is unequaled (48)."
It is conceivable that each educational discipline could be responsible its own layer of data. Using the GIS database, it could be infinitely easier to find the natural integration that exists between one layer of data and others in the system. Pictures or conclusions drawn with this extensive database would be more complete and accurate. It follows that a student or researcher could collate and cross reference volumes of data on a topic or problem with incredible ease. Not only will conclusions and decisions be more informed, they will reveal an overall view or "picture" of the subject that was not previously possible to achieve. This opens the potential for reaching higher levels of understanding. The opportunity to "see the forest for the trees" or "find the needle in the haystack" could be at the fingertips of anyone with a modestly equipped computer system. The data generated by this system will be the most inclusive ever offered to a student, educator or researcher.
