Testing geographical information systems: a case study in a fire prevention support system

The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and evaluation of a geographical information system (GIS) testing framework that was used to test a fire prevention support GIS.

A year‐long case study was undertaken concerning the testing of a fire prevention support GIS in a UK fire and rescue service.

The GIS testing framework developed involved testing the different components of a GIS, testing their interactions, and then testing the system as a whole. Since GISs contain different components such as spatial analyses and map‐based output, this supports the adoption of a different testing framework compared to existing types of information systems.

GISs will typically be used by organisations for decision making. Clearly if the information presented by a GIS is inaccurate, unrepresentative, or unreliable, then the decision‐making process can be undermined.

This is particularly important with regard to GISs used by emergency services (such as the fire and rescue service studied) where lives could potentially be put at risk by erroneous information provided by such systems.

Previous research had indicated that GISs may be inadequately tested. The framework developed for GISs testing provided a systematic testing approach, reducing the likelihood of errors in such systems.