GeoStor was initiated in late 1998 as a two year research project (Seamless Warehouse of Arkansas Geodata) funded through the Governor’s Telecommunications and Technology Infrastructure Fund. The Department of Information Services, Office of Information Technology under the direction of Ms. Susan Cromwell, administered the project and provided guidance and direction throughout the initiative. The objective of this research was to create an Internet accessible database or warehouse that could deliver geographic data, suitable for use in a range of geographic information systems, to the desktop machines in state agencies, local government offices and to teachers and students in K-12 education throughout the state. In addition, it was hoped that this warehouse could serve as a resource to the general public accessed from home computers and/or through public outlets such as libraries.GeoStor was conceived and was developed with a strong emphasis on standards and open computing models that promote the broadest possible usage via "published interfaces". Such an open environment will enable multiple, often competing members of the private sector to provide different software solutions that can "work together" by accessing the same store of data. In the case of GeoStor the OpenGIS^© Consortiums developing framework for interoperable geoprocessing was a critical factor. This focus on OpenGIS is reflected in the wide range of private sector "stakeholders" that have invested in this project and in the capacity of GeoStor to provide data in formats that are suitable for use in a range of geographic information system software products. GeoStor, as it was originally envisioned, would provide a broad audience with uniform access to an evolving digital library of geospatial data while providing the state with a mechanism to manage its growing investment in and reliance on digital geographic resources. With the January 2001 release of GeoStor the basic components are in place to address these and perhaps other requirements associated with the use of digital geospatial data in Arkansas.