This book provided an overview of current developments in distributed computing and Internet GIS services. The discussions in this book are intended to help the GIS community adopt a sustainable, integrated strategy in developing open and distributed GIServices. A flexible and upgradeable architecture for distributed Services is essential to ensure sustainable development of GIS in the next few decades. This chapter serves a conclusion on the technologies discussed previous in the book and a predictions on the future development trend of Internet GIServices.

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Chapter 14 Conclusions and Epilogue

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• Web Services -- "A Platform for Web Services" by Kertland, Mary, January 2001. (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnwebsrv/html/websvcs_platform.asp)
  This article presents an overview on the Web services model for building applications. It includes a discussion on the definition of Web services; the generic architecture of a Web Service and how it relates to Microsoft Windows DNA and .NET; platform requirements; and some of the tools and technologies provided by Microsoft to implement and deploy Web services.
  
  
  
• Web Services -- "A Web Services Primer" by Vasudevan, Venu, April 4, 2001. (http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2001/04/04/webservices/index.html)
  This article explained the advantages of web services over middleware applications such as RMI, Jini, CORBA, DCOM, and each of the elements in the Web services platform, including SOAP for remote invocation, UDDI for trader and directory service, WSDL for expression of service characteristics, XLANG/XAML for transactional support for complex web transactions involving multiple web services and XKMS for XML Key Management Specification.
  
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• The Digital Divide (http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/digitaldivide/)
  This page is hosted by National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). This report, Falling Through the Net: Toward Digital Inclusion, is the fourth in the Falling Through the Net series, produced by the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and its Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA). In this report, the extent of digital inclusion by looking at households and individuals that have a computer and an Internet connection was measured. The digital divide was measured as before by looking at the differences in the shares of each group that is digitally connected. For the first time, data on high-speed access to the Internet, as well as access to the Internet and computers by people with disabilities was provided.
  
  

• OGC Web Services (http://ip.opengis.org/ows/)
  Within the broader context of Web Services, OGC Web Services (OWS) represent an evolutionary, standards-based framework that enable seamless integration of a variety of online geoprocessing and location services. OWS allows distributed geoprocessing systems to communicate with each other across the Web using familiar technologies such as XML and HTTP. In this manner, OWS is a web of geoprocessing services that can be connected in dynamic, open interoperable chains to create dynamic applications. OWS is one the OGC’s Interoperability Program to gaining consensus on spatial interfaces.