Targeting unstructured data: GIS aids document retrieval.(System Integration)

GEO World, September, 2004 by Sanderson, Bruce N.

Many systems are used to manage and retrieve information stored in databases, but most of the information we use on a daily basis is in an unstructured format. Unstructured data include text files, word documents, spreadsheets, HTML files, XML files and other file-based formats. Such documents can exist almost anywhere, including local hard drives, network file servers and Web content for the Internet and corporate intranets.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Such data are growing at a tremendous pace and represent a significant intellectual asset that needs to be managed. Unfortunately, this category of information is the most difficult to manage and typically is outside the control of a centrally managed system.

As the amount of unstructured...