What is GIS software about?
Discussion
GIS is in it's most basic form the electronic mapping with stats you describe. It is essentially making maps using stats data and layering different features on top of each other to provide spatial queries and information. If you search google for ArcGIS, this should tell you more - this is the main GIS program I have used so far!
pdV6 said:Whilst true, with no experience of any major job one has to try every possible job. What else can I say - I like rejection (thats all thats happening to me afterall).
Not being funny, but surely if you have to ask what it is, then it seems likely that you're not all that familiar with the subject?
Thanks Ben, just as I thought.
Having spent the last three years using GIS for a PhD and a year before that for a MSc. I'll try to give you a general breakdown.
The GIS environment is obviously geographical, hence the name. The idea is that you use information relating to the world around you. So you can look at the oceans, town planning, forestry or natural habitats to name but a few. It is essentially a database with a fancy visual frontend.
The GIS is like a climbing frame into which you can put just about any information you can think of, even if it is not technically spatial (has a location in space).
For example you can take a normal OS map that displays roads, buildings and general vegetation features in a town. You can then add blocks to represent the buildings such that it looks a little more realistic. You can then add details about the buildings and the buisinesses inside to each block by relating the block number to a particular business. This attached information is where the GIS is very flexible. As long as there's a physical location to relate something to, you can go as far as you like.
It is then possible to use the GIS to answer querys regarding the information in the GIS/database. Such as, "Where is the best location to place a new bus stop?" You'd want to know the target population, the road network, the residential locations and the commercial locations. The GIS would (in a more long-winded way) work out the best location and display it on the map.
Projects I've done have included land-use mapping the the 3rd world using aerial photography and maps in a GIS, modelling water depth from satellite imagery and sonar data, and most recently looking at social and economic impacts of river floods.
I know I'm biased but I think GIS is a very useful tool that is at present underused and will become much more important. The key to its future success is flexibility.
The GIS environment is obviously geographical, hence the name. The idea is that you use information relating to the world around you. So you can look at the oceans, town planning, forestry or natural habitats to name but a few. It is essentially a database with a fancy visual frontend.
The GIS is like a climbing frame into which you can put just about any information you can think of, even if it is not technically spatial (has a location in space).
For example you can take a normal OS map that displays roads, buildings and general vegetation features in a town. You can then add blocks to represent the buildings such that it looks a little more realistic. You can then add details about the buildings and the buisinesses inside to each block by relating the block number to a particular business. This attached information is where the GIS is very flexible. As long as there's a physical location to relate something to, you can go as far as you like.
It is then possible to use the GIS to answer querys regarding the information in the GIS/database. Such as, "Where is the best location to place a new bus stop?" You'd want to know the target population, the road network, the residential locations and the commercial locations. The GIS would (in a more long-winded way) work out the best location and display it on the map.
Projects I've done have included land-use mapping the the 3rd world using aerial photography and maps in a GIS, modelling water depth from satellite imagery and sonar data, and most recently looking at social and economic impacts of river floods.
I know I'm biased but I think GIS is a very useful tool that is at present underused and will become much more important. The key to its future success is flexibility.
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