Central to WALIS management was the Land Information System Advisory Committee, established as a forum to represent the interests of the public and private sector.
The main WALIS group was the Land Information System Support Centre (LISSC), composed of technology and skilled personnel.
[1] In June 1990, Cabinet approved a number of recommendations including the elevation of WALIS to full program status within the Department of Land Administration (DOLA) – now known as Landgate.
It was recognised that investment in electronic systems and the capture of this information needed to be coordinated across government in order to manage costs and prevent duplication of effort.
The report found that: These two quantitative analyses yielded estimates of the value contributed by WALIS of $14 and $15 million a year, respectively, to the WA economy.
WALIS International Forum was established in 1984 to bring together government, private sector and research organisations involved in the capture and management of location-based data and information and refine best practice.
The Forum developed into one of the largest geographic information events in Australia, and attracted nearly 1,000 delegates to Perth in conjunction with the 7th International Symposium on Digital Earth in 2011.
Western Australian state and local government agencies, as well as private industry and education institutes, can request information through the program in order to save money using collective buying power.