Volume 8 Issue 1

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and 'automated mapping', as in other areas of information technology, has inevitably led to questions about the extent of liability relating to its use. Liability questions involve the torts (1) of negligence, misrepresentation and strict product liability. GIS as an end product (2) is the culmination of a combination of events including data gathering, human input, software and hardware components and computer programs. The chance of error is omnipresent with the combination of each component in the system. Added to this, is the potential difficulty of identifying and distinguishing where such errors have occurred. While the GIS process involves a chain of separate events, it may be difficult if not impossible first to identify the source and second to assign liability for error. Yet, this notion of accountability is extremely important in terms of the confidence consumers may place in the reliability and credibility of the technology for business activities. This reliance on GIS products gives rise to issues of liability, including the following: what exactly is the responsibility of each of the GIS players - the technology providers, the data providers and intermediaries and the users; does the existing law clarify their position; and, what steps may each of the players take to minimise liability? (3)This paper addresses these important issues.

* Kerrin Stewart is a legal researcher in her penultimate year of Law, George Cho is Associate Professor of Geographic Information Systems and the Law and Eugene Clark is Professor of Law and Head of School. All three authors are at the University of Canberra as part of a GIS research team. We would also like to thank and acknowledge the assistance of other research team members, Kate Reid, Lecturer and Researcher, and Arthur Hoyle, Lecturer in Law and PhD candidate also at the University of Canberra.

1 French for the word 'wrong', civil wrongs (a departure from what the law determines should happen) as distinguished from criminal wrongs.

2 For the purposes of this article GIS products includes the provision of services.

3 C. Reed, (ed) Computer Law, Blackstone Press Limited, London 1990, p56.