Researcher sees more GIS sales

Geospatial One-Stop

Government agencies generated nearly a third of all geographic information system sales of technology products and services last year, a Massachusetts research firm said.

Total revenue for the GIS market's core segments rose 2.4 percent in 2002 to $1.6 billion, according to Daratech, Inc., a tech marketing and analytical company based in Cambridge, Mass. Agencies at all levels of government collectively spent 5 percent more on GIS in 2002 than the previous year, Daratech said in a report released Thursday. Public sector spending accounted for 30 percent of 2002's market for GIS-related tech products and services.

Daratech predicts the market for GIS products will grow by 8 percent this year to $1.75 billion. A recent federal trend of delegating more programs and responsibilities during the past two years has led to state and local governments becoming important consumers of GIS information. In 2002, state and local governments accounted for two-thirds of total public sector GIS revenue, while federal government made up the rest.

Core-business revenue includes software, hardware, services and data products. GIS software vendors reported 2002 sales of $1.1 billion, or more than two-thirds of all tech-related GIS revenue.