It is not impossible to argue that users of GIS have more important choices to make other than the choice between raster or vector. For instance deMann (1988) suggests that the choices between systems based on their performance, choices between internal organization, software and choices between techniques in GIS’s are highly pressing issues. However it is equally appropriate to argue that the preference of "geo-coding", raster or vector, will dictate the systems performance, its organization, the software and the technique. With systems increasingly integrating the data models, choice between them has burgeoned in terms of the influence of that choice upon the systems’ performance.
The importance of choosing between vector and raster models to encode geographical data has diminished slightly in the past 10 years. Both data models still have specific advantages and limitations which will guide the user into choosing the most appropriate one or both combined for the application. However with better means of converting between and handling of both data models, the importance of choice may have diminished. Nevertheless, the user must consider the problems associated with conversion and subsequently decided which applications best suit the use of which data model. With a growing number of low-end users of GIS, the importance of the interface and of the presentation of geographic data has increased. Growth in this area has added a further dimension to the applications of GIS and a further area where the choice between data model is crucial.