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What can GIS do?
Many professionals, such as
foresters, urban planners, and geologists, have recognized the importance of
spatial dimensions in organizing & analyzing information. Whether a
discipline is concerned with the very practical aspects of business, or is
concerned with purely academic research, geographic information system can
introduce a perspective, which can provide valuable insights as
- Ability to assimilate divergent
sources of data both spatial and non-spatial (attribute data).
- Visualization Impact
- Analytical Capability
- Sharing of Information
70% of the information has geographic
location as it's denominator making spatial analysis an essential tool.
Advantages of GIS
The Geographic Information System
has been an effective tool for implementation and monitoring of municipal
infrastructure. The use of GIS has been in vogue primarily due to the
advantage mentioned below:
Planning Of Project
Advantage of GIS is often found
in detailed planning of project having a large spatial component, where
analysis of the problem is a pre requisite at the start of the project.
Thematic maps generation is possible on one or more than one base maps,
example: the generation of a land use map on the basis of a soil
composition, vegetation and topography. The unique combination of certain
features facilitates the creation of such thematic maps. With the various
modules within GIS it is possible to calculate surface, length, width and
distance.
Making Decisions
The adage "better information
leads to better decisions" is as true for GIS as it is for other information
systems. A GIS, however, is not an automated decision making system but a
tool to query, analyze, and map data in support of the decision making
process. GIS technology has been used to assist in tasks such as presenting
information at planning inquiries, helping resolve territorial disputes, and
citing pylons in such a way as to minimize visual intrusion.
Visual Analysis
Digital Terrain Modeling (DTM) is
an important utility of GIS. Using DTM/3D modeling, landscape can be better
visualized, leading to a better understanding of certain relations in the
landscape. Many relevant calculations, such as (potential) lakes and water
volumes, soil erosion volume (Example: landslides), quantities of earth to
be moved (channels, dams, roads, embankments, land leveling) and
hydrological modeling becomes easier.
Not only in the previously
mentioned fields but also in the social sciences GIS can prove extremely
useful. Besides the process of formulating scenarios for an Environmental
Impact Assessment, GIS can be a valuable tool for sociologists to analyze
administrative data such as population distribution, market localization and
other related features.
Improving Organizational Integration
Many organizations that have
implemented a GIS have found that one of its main benefits is improved
management of their own organization and resources. Because GIS has the
ability to link data sets together by geography, it facilitates
interdepartmental information sharing and communication. By creating a
shared database one department can benefit from the work of another--data
can be collected once and used many times.
As communication increases among
individuals and departments, redundancy is reduced, productivity is
enhanced, and overall organizational efficiency is improved. Thus, in a
utility company the customer and infrastructure databases can be integrated
so that when there is planned maintenance, affected people can be informed
by computer-generated letters.
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