الفهرس 
AcknowledgmentOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The purpose of this work has been to discuss the prospects of developing successful Geographical Information System for an arid area. The Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) ARC/ INFO software has been used to illustrate some of the factors which need to be considered.
We can conclude that the study area is a fertile environment for the implementation of GIS but that there are real problems and impediments which must be overcome if it is to achieve its full potential - most important, the problems are not only technical but organizational as well. Overcoming the lack of awareness of the potential of GIS at the senior level is perhaps the greatest task that needs to be achieved.
There are real problems with developing any form of integrated information system, let alone one which can be meaningful for small, arid and under developed area. The information system requires data. In many cases, data will exist but in others nothing usable will be available. This is very likely to be the case for our study area, suggest¬ing that extensive surveys or new methods of data collection or data synthesis will be needed. On data quality as well, the expression ”garbage in garbage out” is especially relevant to GIS systems. Very strict standards must be applied to the digitizing of maps as well as the inputting of data to attribute tables