Designing and implementing a GIS in an international context

International collaborations between private companies, national research laboratories, and universities in the field of GIS have opened up new ways of exchanging knowledge and experiences between different countries. However, when a collaboration involves the actual design and implementation of an operational GIS, rather than simply theoretical or applied research, or the development of specific applications, many problems can arise, sometimes leading either to the partial success or to the complete failure of a project. Some of these problems are frequently encountered in all kinds of international collaborations: problems arising from different cultural mentalities, difficulties establishing a single common leadership, difficulties with communication and information exchange, and so on. Problems relating to the specific nature of GIS are also present, for example the absence of digital geographic data format standards, the absence of metadata standards, the omission of GIS or IS design methods, etc. This paper focuses on a joint Sino-Belgian project for the design and implementation of an urban geographical information system (UGIS) integrating remote sensing techniques in Hangzhou city, China and examines the general, specific, and international aspects of the problems encountered in an international collaboration.