what is GIS

• GIS

  Geographical information system, a business information management system that helps us capture, analyze and present spatial information on a map
• GIS

  • Allows us to make better decisions using geography
• GIS used by

  • Retailers to pinpoint best locations for new stores and stock items that match local customers needs
  • Conservation organizations to predict likely consequences of global warming
  • Utilities organizations to respond promptly and efficiently to reported power outages
  • Police forces to discover patterns in criminal activity and plan operations strategically
• How GIS works

  1. Information about the real world is stored as a collection of thematic layers linked by geography

  2. Each layer contains similar features such as streets or rivers

  3. People can analyze geographic data using GIS tools

  4. Visualize geographic data as maps, graphs or charts
• Organisations using GIS

  • Retailers like Nike and Levi Strauss to avoid costly mistakes when opening new retail locations
  • Department of the Environment to manage conservation, maintain biodiversity, and preserve national monuments
  • Department of Education to ensure right number of school places in right locations
  • Police Service in Northern Ireland to make smarter use of intelligence and reduce crime and costs
• GIS allows us to make better decisions using geography, complex analysis is made simple and decisions become clear
• At Esri Ireland, their business is built on the belief that knowing where things happen matters to your business, and maps make sense
• Geography

  Study of land, inhabitants, and objects on the surface of the earth
• Information

  Details of the features on the surface of the earth
• System

  Technology and methods used to capture objects on the Earth's surface and combine it with information
• GIS

  Geographical Information System
• GIS

  • Computerized mechanism to capture, store, display, query, and analyze Geographic data
• Data types in GIS

  • Spatial data
  • Non-spatial data
• Spatial data

  Location or extent of geographic features
• Spatial data examples

  • Location of Taj Mahal
  • Road network from Mumbai to Delhi
  • Administrative boundary of any state
• Non-spatial data

  Information stored mostly in a tabular format, also called attribute data
• Non-spatial data examples

  • Year of construction of Taj Mahal
  • Length of a road
  • Population of a state
• Spatial data types

  • Point
  • Line
  • Polygon
• Point

  Object which does not have width or length, represented by a point
• Point example

  • Location of a hospital in a city
• Line

  Object which has sufficient length but no width, stored as a line
• Line example

  • State highway running across cities
• Polygon

  Large object covering an enclosed boundary, stored as a polygon
• Polygon example

  • State boundary in a map
• Non-spatial data types

  • Text
  • Numeric
  • Date
  • Boolean
• Layer

  Logical grouping of similar objects
• GIS system allows capturing each feature available on the earth in separate layers</b>
• Components of GIS

  • Hardware
  • Software
  • Data
  • People
  • Procedures
• Hardware

  Servers and computers used for running the GIS application
• Software

  Software with suitable functionalities to meet end-user requirements
• Data

  Quality of data is very important in GIS, "Garbage in, Garbage out"
• People

  Users, managers, and updaters of the GIS system
• Procedures

  Standard set of procedures and methodology to create and maintain the GIS system