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Want to know more about GIS
What are Geographic Information Systems?
Geographic Information Systems are essentially systems which use raster and
vector data to represent the world around as digital maps. GIS handles large
datasets from Arial Photography, Address Data, Demographic Data, etc. By
layering disparate information and using location as the common key new
statistical knowledge can be found. GIS can also be used to perform tasks such
as Mail-Merge all the people that live in 1 km of the proposed development. GIS
has many applications from Highway Maintenance to public participation in the
development of a proposed wind farm. GIS is easily integrated with vehicle
tacking software (GPS) and is where these systems get their intelligence from;
no left turn, no left entry, etc
Why do we need GIS?
GIS is a highly sophisticated statistical toolbox. It can tell you about all
kinds of relationships which are inexorably linked to geography. For examples
Districts X, Y and Z are all more than 10km from my distribution outlet, but
70% of my customers have addresses in those districts. Using Census data we
establish Districts X, Y, Z have a higher percentage of households where the
income is over 20% over the National average and family size is 1 child below
the national average. The client now understands what and where his market
demographic is, maybe moving his distribution outlet closer to this demographic
will increase his turn-over. We need and use GIS to highlight and link patterns
in geography.
Who uses GIS?
GIS is used by more and more industry sectors, and has applications in the
Agriculture, Business, Environment, Health, Military. So GIS can be used by
researchers / academics, SME’s, Corporates and Governments, Local and Central.
What are the benefits of using GIS?
90% of all data has some element of geography. Using geography highlights
trends and statistical variations which are not as easily identified with
non-geographically enabled data. The use of geographic data makes the analysis
process less complex and more meaningful.
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