For three decades, my professional identity was simple: I was a GIS guy. I founded a consulting firm, PlanSight, that became an ESRI Partner of the Year in 1999. I built several businesses on ESRI technology. Later, I ran GIS for two counties simultaneously. For much of my career, ESRI wasn’t just a vendor, it was the ecosystem that made our work possible.
But today, as director of the Digital Innovation Collaborative Exchange (DICE), I no longer call myself a GIS professional.
That’s not because I’ve left GIS behind. It’s because the future of local government depends on seeing it as something much bigger.
The Comfortable Silo
Let’s be honest. In local government, GIS is still often the “map department.” It’s a highly skilled team asked to produce a thing: an analysis, a web map, a dashboard. It’s a service counter.
ESRI deserves real credit for professionalizing that model. Its tools gave GIS stability and legitimacy. I built a career on that stability. But it also came with a cost. The profession became defined less by what it could imagine and more by what a single vendor provided. And when one company shapes a space for decades, it inevitably narrows the paths of innovation.
That’s why, for all its strengths, the world of GIS can feel ossified.
Beyond the Map: A New Operating System
At DICE, we’ve stopped thinking of GIS as a standalone function. We see it as one critical part of a larger operating system for public service, built on five interdependent pillars:
- GIS: The foundational understanding of where.
- AI: The interface and predictive engine to see what’s next.
- Automation: The digital workforce to get things done.
- Data Analytics: The core intelligence to understand why.
- Digital Communications: The vital link to engage who we serve.
The breakthroughs happen when these are no longer separate departments or products, but a fused system.
You’re no longer just mapping potholes. You’re using AI on street-level imagery to predict which roads will degrade next, automating work orders, analyzing which repairs deliver the most value, and proactively communicating with residents about work on their street.
In this model, GIS isn’t diminished…it’s amplified. It becomes the spatial thread woven invisibly through every operation, as essential as the electrical grid.
It’s Time to Evolve
Equating geospatial value with a single department or a single vendor is the very definition of ossification. It locks us into incremental upgrades when we should be building entirely new models for service.
The next great leap for local government won’t come from the next release of ArcGIS Pro. It will come from leaders who have the courage to tear down silos, mix disciplines, and build teams that speak multiple digital languages at once.
I may not call myself a GIS professional anymore, but I’ve never been more excited about the power of where. We just have to be brave enough to finally let it out of its box.
Authors Note: This is the vision. In my follow-up piece, ‘The GIS Department is Dead. Long Live Digital Innovation,’ I’ll share the tactical roadmap for how we’re making this a reality.