By the end of the 20th century, the rapid growth in various systems had been consolidated and standardized on relatively few platforms and users were beginning to explore viewing GIS data over the Internet, requiring data format and transfer standards.
Do kraja 20. stoljeća brzi rast u različitim sustavima učvrstio se i standardizirao na relativno malo platformi pa su korisnici počeli izvoziti koncept gledanja GIS podataka preko Interneta, tražeći oblikovanje podataka i prijenosne standarde.