Impact of Data Integration by Geographical Information System on Quality of Service provided by Telecommunication Companies.

• Author: ElKhouly, Sayed ElSayed

INTRODUCTION

The Egyptian Telecommunication Company (We) is the only fixed line service provider in Egypt and has the highest market share between internet service providers. It recently became one of four companies providing cellular service in the Egyptian market.

The company had a monopoly in the market of fixed line service, however, the movement of the company to the market of cellular service created a new need to focus on service quality to be able to compete against the giant three players (Vodafone, orange, Etisalat).

In this research, we will focus on Data integration and its impact on perceived service quality, which represents a competitive edge in the market of cellular service.

The first application of spatial data analysis was in epidemiology by Charles Picquet, 1832. He represented the 48 districts of Paris by the number of deaths by cholera per 1,000 inhabitants. Then John Snow determined the source of a cholera epidemic in London by marking points on a map and used it to find a nearby water source of cholera in 1854.

The term "geographic information system" was first introduced by Roger Tomlinson, 1968 in his paper "A Geographic Information System for Regional Planning." Tomlinson is also acknowledged as the "father of GIS."

Geographic Information System (GIS) is a computer system build to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage and display all kinds of spatial or geographical data. G.I.S application is a tool that allows end users to perform spatial query, analysis, edit spatial data and create hard copy maps. Simply, GIS can be defined as an image that is referenced to the earth or has x and y coordinates and its attribute values are stored in the table. These x and y coordinates are based on different projection systems and there are various types of projection system. Most of the time, GIS is used to create maps and to print. To perform the basic task in GIS, layers are combined, edited and designed.

A geographic information system (GIS) lets us visualize, question, analyze and interpret data to understand relationships, patterns and trends (ESRI, 2012.

In the strictest sense, a GIS is a computer system capable of assembling, storing, manipulating and displaying geographically referenced information (that is data identified according to their locations) (U.S. Geographical Survey, 1997).

GIS technology applies geographic science with tools for understanding and collaboration. It helps people reach a common goal: to gain actionable intelligence from all types of data.

Visualizing Data: The geographic data that is stored in the databases are displayed in the GIS software.

Combining Data: Layers are combined to form a map of desire. Maps are the geographic container for the data layers and analytics you want to work with. GIS maps are easily shared and embedded in apps and accessible by virtually everyone, everywhere.

The Query: To search the value in the layer or making a geographic query.

Component Of GIS

Hardware: Hardware is the physical component of the computer and GIS runs on it.

Software: GIS Software provides tools and functions to input and store spatial data or geographic data.

Data: Data are the fuel for the GIS and the most important and expensive component. Geographic data are the combination of physical features and its information which is stored in the tables.

People: People are the user of the GIS system. People use all above three components to run a GIS system

Types Of GIS Data

Raster Data: Raster data store information of features in cell-based manner. Satellite images, photogrammetry and scanned maps are all raster-based data. Raster model are used to store data which varies continuously, as in aerial photography, a satellite image or elevation values (DEM-Digital Elevation Model).

Vector Data: There are three types of vector data, points, lines and polygons. These data are created by digitizing the base data. They store information in x, y coordinates. Vectors models are used to store data which have discrete boundaries like country borders, land parcels and roads.

Simply, "GIS helps us understand what belongs where. It had been estimated that 80% of the informational needs of local government policy makers are related to geographic location. 80% of data is geographic based" (Williams, 1987).

LITERATURE REVIEW

Perceived Service Quality

As per Dagger et al. (2007), the multi-dimensional hierarchical model of perceived service quality proves that there are several mediating variables for perceived service quality which is interpersonal, technical, administrative and environmental from which we extract our theoretical framework to find the relationship between data integration,and perceived service quality.

Also, as per Samer E Dahiyat, Mamoun N Akroush, Bayan N Abu-Lail (2011), the mediating effect of customer satisfaction and customer trust on the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty in Jordan's mobile service operators prove that customer satisfaction and customer trust are strong mediators for perceived service quality.

Lin-Kung Chen and Wei-Ning Yang (2015) mentioned that the quality estimation/evaluation and short/long-term development scheme of the telecommunication service should depend not only on customer satisfaction, but also on the gap in perceptions of telecommunication service quality between the provider and customer. They defined service quality as the difference between customer expectations and service performance. They considered telecommunication sector is interesting in the study of how discrepancies in quality perception affect customer satisfaction because of three reasons. The first is the large and significant investments in this market. Second is the rapid, complex and unprecedented progress of telecommunication technology. The last is that customers have highly diverse levels and types of IT adoption/training and organizational structures/procedures.

Benefits Of Data Integration In Telecommunications

To be competitive, telecommunications providers depend on a smoothly functioning work flow process that integrates information for marketing, demand forecasting, engineering, customer management, operations support and fleet management.

Tony H. Grubesic and Alan T. Murray (2005) mentioned spatial analysis sensitivities in the use of imperfect information in their research on geographies of imperfection in telecommunication analysis.

As per K. Virrantaus et al. (2001), this new emerging application area is considered by some the central novel application class of Mobile Internet. The main topic of the paper is the question or how Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the data hosted currently by them could be used in the context of LBS.

Also, Orlene Christine Dcunha discussed the real-life case of Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL), which is the only telecom company having Pan-India high speed wireless broadband service provider license and 4G spectrum. To achieve a competitive edge, the company has embraced GIS as a technology that will enable it to survive, compete and win market share. It has implemented ESRI's Enterprise GIS customized to meet its needs-to manage its telecommunications network infrastructure and associated land base for its service area that covers India. The enterprise GIS provides RJIL with a...