THE POTENTIAL FOR ADVANCES IN THE GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND REMOTE SENSING SATELLITE IMAGERY TECHNOLOGIES IN MARKETING RESEARCH AND DECISION MAKING

Imagery derived from Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) satellite technologies are more than a potential or promise for marketing decision-makers (O'Grady 1998). These technologies now produce information that can create a competitive advantage and are emerging as valuable tools to marketing decisionmakers. Remote Sensing (RS) as defined here refers to the set of satellite technologies that produce images for the design and production that are exact replica of a geographic location and relevant situation. These are high-resolution images of specific geographic locations that depict the exact location on the surface of the Earth. These technologies also include the location identification and tracking systems that employ remote sensing technologies such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS). The term geographic information systems (GIS) as employed here refers to the set of integrated computer hardware units, various software programs and database systems that transform geographically coded data into information that create maps of the Earth's surface (Marshall, 1997). The maps may optionally be overlaid with additional and selective information showing social, demographic, economic, and physical characteristics and infrastructure data corresponding to specific geographic locations. A GIS with RS technologies provides a different perspective on geo-demographics, consumer behavior and competitive market situations because of the synoptic view provided from a GIS supported by remote sensin