gis

GIS or Geographic Information System is a term which commonly refers to the combined use of a range of tools that allow one to capture, store, modify, manage, interpret and display geographically referenced information. In other words, GIS will allow for data to be identified according to location. A Geographic Information System enables the user to process data in different ways that will reflect relationships, patterns or trends under the form of maps, reports or charts based on the link between information stored in a database and spatial coordinates.

The Geographic Information System has applications in various fields of activity like scientific investigation of the surface of the Earth, road planning cartography, urban planning, resource or assets management and location planning. For example, the Health Department of a given city may use a GIS system to map hotspots and predict the spread of a disease and its impact at a given moment, based on data coming from various sources like census, urban planning, hospitals and so on. Another application for a GIS is that of a GPS vehicle tracking system that would allow for the collection and analysis of information regarding the vehicle fleet of a certain company. The information regarding the location of the vehicles obtained through GPS receiver equipment could be combined with GIS maps in order to visually represent it and extract further data as fleet usage, estimated freight times and so on.

Due to advancements in technology, modern day GIS makes use of digital information as the main way to represent data. Maps or survey plans in hard copy undergo a process called digitization through which they are converted to digital format with the help of computer aided design programs, and then geographically linked to other relevant data such as coordinates. Technologies like GPS, web based applications or high resolution imagery are currently used in order to increase the accuracy and reliability of the results.

The main advantage of a Geographic Information System, over other information systems, is that the analysis and visualization of any required information are directly linked to a relational database. Any change in the database will automatically reflect in the map, and any change in the map will in turn alter the contents of the database. Further, the technology allows the users to build and analyze new variables based on the already mapped ones and reflect them visually. The integrated aspect makes GIS a more suited tool for an informed decision making process in different fields of activity, and allows for a better approach to understanding present situation and estimating future development or setting forth strategies.

You'll find bloggers talking about GIS at sites like engineering.vanderbilt.edu and lidarbb.cr.usgs.gov.

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