The development, or procurement and assembly of geographic information systems in SSADM environments offers significant challenges. The volume and complexity of geographic information demands approaches different to those needed for the non-geographic information with which most IS providers are familiar: the combination of the two requires special handling, not so much in the development procedures to be followed as in the awareness of the issues that geographic information present, and the manner in which they are resolved. The purpose of this volume is to define these issues, outline the approaches to dealing with them and identify where they fit in SSADM.