The notion of the enterprise reflects a large organization, many departments and/or users with different, well-defined roles. An enterprise implies a framework of complimentary institutional rules, business logic and semantics. This framework exists to achieve specific goals in business, government and defense etc. The ultimate success of geospatial tools in the enterprise will be a direct function of how effectively and seamlessly these tools can be aligned with the existing IT and business process framework in an organization. Enterprise integration is clearly an ongoing process.

The collective set of processes and tools extending from image acquisition and data collection form an information “supply chain” that runs from data fusion, analysis and interpretation; to integration with corporate information resources and business processes; to more effective decision making and a better bottom line – however that is measured. Such a geospatial information supply chain is powerful; it implies a series of interconnected data and processes that are selectively interwoven, on an as-needed basis, to support a larger corporate or enterprise mission. Command of the geospatial information supply chain and a commitment to effective enterprise integration will drive growth and innovation in our industry over time. This paper examines a broad range of image-based technologies in the context of enterprise integration and examines the role of these technologies in the geospatial information supply chain.