From Base Map to Inductive Mapping

This article discusses different forms of GIS implementation within the changing sociotechnical environment over the past 20 years based on three cases from the southwestern Indian state of Karnataka. The cases address land and property administration as well as the water provision domains of urban governance. The research approach is qualitative and sociotechnical in nature as it seeks to explore the interrelations between geo-technologies deployed, intra- and interorganizational relations within the case projects, as well as political implications for urban governance during and in response to geo-technology implementation. A general trend in GIS implementation is discerned from an emphasis on permanent database construction to real-time data streaming from diverse sources giving rise to inductive forms of mapping. Inductive mapping caters to possible and anticipated data uses rather than predetermined uses and questions, which in turn shape new actor constellations involved in problem framing and decision making in urban governance.