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GIS is fundamentally about solving real-world problems. With the spatial domain, the goals of applied problem-solving include, but are not restricted to :

  • Rational, effective, and efficient allocation of resources, in accordance with clearly stated criteria;
  • Monitoring and understanding observed spatial distribution of attributes, such as variation of soil nutrient concentration, or the geography of environmental health;
  • Understanding the difference that place makes, identifying which characteristics are inherently similar between places, and what is distinctive and possibly unique about them;
  • Understanding of processes in the natural and human environments, and understanding of changes in residential preferences or store patronage in the social;
  • Prescription of strategies for environmental maintenance and conservation.

There are huge ranges of applications of GIS, which generally set out to fulfill the five Ms of GIS: mapping, measurement, monitoring, modeling, and management. This page provides some case-studies to help further understanding the ability of GIS and its scientific ground.

GIS technologies have been applied in the following industrial sectors (based on the information on ESRI website):

  • Business
  • Communications
  • Education
  • Environmental management
  • Government
  • Health and human services
  • Transportation
  • Utilities
  • Natural resources
  • Internet Solutions

:
Business

Applications of GIS technologies to business systems is emerging rapidly in responding to the quest for predicting future businesses due to the fact that business systems always exhibit spatial characteristics. GIS has been used, for example, to formulate business strategies, evaluate insurance aspirants and identify outlets for the retail chain. With GIS, users can perform demographic analysis, which is the essential basis for customer services, site analysis, marketing and many other business functions. The Unique ability of GIS allows to explore the customer's purchasing habits, financial behavior and needs for additional products or services. Externally, GIS helps to locate services such as ATM or branch for better serving customers, to visualize market situations and to analyze competitor information. Internally, GIS can help to better manage investment portfolios, analyze risk, and predict future development, interpret and evaluate branch performance, etc.
 

Case Study:

Chase Manhattan Bank

 

Communications

GIS technologies have been applied in location-based services (LBS) and telecommunications. In LBS, GIS is integrated with easy-to-use mobile devices to provide information wherever and whenever it is needed. In telecommunications, GIS has been used for outside engineering planning, wireless engineering, operation support system, marketing and sales, customer relationship management, and networking. 

Case Study

GIS/OMS Wave in Florida 

Fly by Wire in Ho Chi Minh City

 

Education

Geography is part of our everyday lives. It's part of the things we come in contact with everyday--weather, traffic, the quality of our water and land, the economy. GIS technology provides powerful tools for geographic analysis for almost any academic discipline. A GIS allows students and researchers to ask and answer geographic questions by designing and analyzing maps using user-selected criteria. Libraries and museums provide a gateway to all kinds of information. GIS manages census data, zoning and tax assessment maps, digital aerial photographs, and satellite images, providing public access to information that previously was difficult to use. GIS also provides tools for exploring information through maps and images, helping inquisitive minds to see things in a new way. Museum exhibits about topics such as natural history and geology come alive with dynamic maps to illustrate processes and events.

 

Environmental Management

Since the inception of the technology, GIS has been an integral component in environmental management. A GIS links geographic and attribute data, such as lab and field data, allowing the user to monitor and simulate on-site situation, to predict future changes for planning and compliance purposes. It has been used for vegetation mapping, site remediation, waste management, groundwater modeling, environmental impact assessments and policy assessments.

 

Government

GIS databases have been used for decades to help institutions and businesses at the local, state, and federal levels collect and analyze information to make better decisions. It is mission critical in emergency management, public safety and protection of property and infrastructure. Especially, GIS can help to assess risks to community and infrastructure, establish specific mitigation/protection plans, identify and evacuate at-risk population and provide accurate damage assessment. GIS can also support department-specific applications from a shared enterprise database.

 

Health and Human Services

GIS helps health organizations conduct a wide range of important functions that support sales and marketing activities. These functions range from the identification of existing trade or service areas to the assignment of marketing and sales territories to specific sales personnel. GIS integrates key data components based on geographic elements by tracking, routing, documenting, and mapping the location of people, places, and things to support research and resource planning activities.

 

Transportation

GIS technology serves three distinct transportation needs: infrastructure management, fleet and logistics management, and transit management. Transportation professionals can use GIS to integrate mapping analysis into decision support for network planning and analysis, vehicle tracking and routing, asset management, inventory tracking, route planning and analysis, etc.

 

Utilities

GIS can be used to map the water distribution systems and define each element, including reservoirs, pipe segments, services, and system appurtenances, thus it automats equipment inventory and flow analysis. GIS can also be used to closely model utility networks and integrate other, related types of data, such as raster images and CAD drawings. GIS spatial selection and display tools allow user to visualize scheduled work, ongoing activities, recurring maintenance problems and historical information. In addition, budget forecasting, facility inventory analysis, customer billing, and other key administrative functions can be enhanced through the implementation of an integrated, enterprisewide GIS solution.

 

Natural Resources

GIS applications in natural resources are mainly focusing on agriculture, forestry, marine and coast, mining and earth sciences and petroleum management.

 

Internet Solutions

GIS technologies contribute to develop web-based services to promote geospatial information interchanging and sharing, and to provide public access to spatial analysis tools.

 

 


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Department of Geography, San Diego State University