While yesterday’s mapmaking concentrated on just Where
a place was, today’s Geographical Information System is helping planners and analysts
decide How and Who could get to that place in the best fashion, What
to do with the problems of that place, Which way to go about solving those problems
and maybe even in some cases When to do it.
But what exactly is a GIS?
Simply put, a GIS combines layers and layers of information about a place and puts them on
a single map, so a problem can be viewed in a number of ways and unique solutions found.
GIS software links geographic information (where things are) with descriptive information
(what things are). This data can then be visualised, compared, measured, and analysed.
Now, how does that help?
The difference between a map and GIS is "seeing" and "understanding".
The human mind is good at recognising patterns. When you look at data in a long table of
rows and columns, you’ll find it difficult to comprehend and connect. On the other
hand, when this is presented as a map, it is not only more aesthetic, but helps you make
connections and draw conclusions that you never saw before.
 The Global Positioning System (GPS) can show you your precise location on the
Earth at any point in time. There are 24 GPS satellites in orbit that are continuously
monitored by ground stations worldwide. The satellites transmit signals that can be
detected by anyone with a GPS receiver.
GPS receivers can be hand carried or installed on
aircraft, ships, tanks, submarines, cars, and trucks. The typical hand-held receiver is
about the size of a cellular telephone.
This technology is playing a role in the environment too.
GPS-equipped balloons are monitoring holes in the ozone layer and air quality is being
monitored using GPS receivers. Buoys tracking major oil spills transmit data using GPS.
During construction of the tunnel under the English
Channel, British and French crews started digging from opposite ends. They relied on GPS
receivers outside the tunnel to check their positions along the way and to make sure they
met exactly in the middle.
In the future, every car on the road will have GPS
receiver with a monitor. The screen will show your location and a map of the roads around
you. Already, vehicle tracking is one of the fastest-growing GPS applications.
GPS-equipped fleet vehicles, public transportation systems, delivery trucks, and courier
services use receivers to monitor their locations at all times.
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In today’s world, there is an overflow of information. We require more accurate,
reliable and timely information and better tools to manage this and that’s where GIS
scores over conventional mapping. GIS software tools are excellent for manipulating
geographic information.
What can you put on a GIS map?
Everything you want. Population demographics, health statistics, utility and
transportation networks, flood protection zones, animal migration routes, crime patterns,
even historical battlefields, sales and marketing trends, disaster destruction areas,
telecom, infrastructure, defence, healthcare — you name it. And the beauty of it all
is you can choose which layer (information/statistic) you want and how many of them you
want to put. As a GIS expert puts it, "The potential of GIS is limited only by the
imagination of the user."
Does GIS affect me?
Yes it does, in more ways than you think. All over the world, the complex infrastructure
of telephone and electricity lines, water supply and irrigation systems, sewage lines are
managed through GIS. Governments and defence planners rely on complex and exhaustive GIS
databanks and so do emergency response teams.
How Did It All Begin?
In 1959, Waldo Tobler outlined a simple model called MIMO (map in-map out) for applying
the computer to cartography. With that began geocoding, data capture, data analysis and
display, all the standard elements of today’s GIS software.
But the father of GIS is Roger F Tomlinson. In the 1950s and early 1960s, the Canadian
government’s need to manage and plan the utilization of natural resources led to the
development of the Canada Geographic Information Systems (CGIS) spearheaded by Tomlinson.
It is one of the earliest successful GIS programs and is a large-scale system operating
even today.
The Environmental Systems Research Institute's ArcView software released in 1982 was
the first product that gave non-GIS users access to GIS databases.
Today GIS is a flourishing and fast-growing multi-billion dollar industry that is
changing the way we are looking at our world.
THE OLD ADAGE "BETTER INFORMATION LEADS TO BETTER
DECISIONS" IS TRUE FOR GIS.
