ocessWebGISwillpotentiallyplayaprominentrolesinceitoffersGISfunctionalityinaWebenvironment.However,currentlymostWebGISapplicationinuseislimitedto(interactive)mappingapplications.ThispaperwilldiscusstheroleofthemapinaWebGISenvironment.Tobeabletounderstandthisrole,thenextsectionwillsketchthelatestrelevantdevelopmentsinmapping,followedbyadiscussionoftheroleofmaps,andconcludewithcommentsonsuggestedfuturetrends.TrendsinmappingTheopportunitiesofferedbyhard-andsoftwaredevelopmentshavechangedthescientificandsocietalneedsforgeo-referenceddataand,assuch,formaps.NewmediasuchastheWebnotonlyallowfordynamicpresentationbutalsoforuserinteraction.Usersexpectimmediateandreal-timeaccesstothedata,whichhavebecomeabundantinmanysectorsofthegeoinformationworld.Thisabundanceofdata,seenasaparadisebysomesectors,isamajorprobleminothersectors.Welackthetoolsforuser-friendlyqueriesandretrievalwhenstudyingthemassiveamountofdataf