Today is GIS Day!
Blog by Emily Pierce, PLS, CFedS
Most people don’t really think about how geographic information provides the framework for our entire existence. We exist as living organisms in time and space. Our minds may be occupied with far-way thoughts, but our memories are inextricably tied to the place where they were created. As long as we live and breathe, we always have a location. Shakespeare’s Hamlet said “To be or not to be, that is the question.” Surveyors say, “To be is to occupy a position relative to two axes.”
Surveyors are trained to understand the implications of geography and location differently than most people. Precision is applied to location and this information has been the basis for civilizations for thousands of years. I’ve written about ancient surveying instruments in previous blogs: Ancient Egyptian Surveying and Ancient Roman Surveying.
Today, geographic information is more important than ever and is being used in ways that were previously unimaginable. As a surveyor, I had the opportunity to work with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) early on, mainly by being the boots on the ground that provided accurate geographic data that was subsequently used in GIS. We provided accurate survey-grade locations on US Public Land Survey corners (section and quarter-section corners) to be utilized into a county tax parcel database. This not only helped improve how the county taxed its citizens, it also helped citizens with land development, taking into account appropriate building sites, flood zones, wetland preservation, general zoning requirements, just to name a few. Beyond that, the GIS also is used for school and voting districts, changes in municipal boundaries and incorporations, addressing, and emergency response management.
Nothing stays the same
Change has accelerated quickly in the years since I started working with GIS, as evidenced by a 2009 article entitled the “Top Five Benefits of GIS”, with number one benefit being cost savings from greater efficiency using location-based data.
The example cited was Sears, which was able to use GIS to reduce the time it took for dispatchers to create routes for their home delivery trucks by 75%. I’m sure that was a huge savings, but unfortunately for Sears, Amazon was already taking over on every front. By 2021, the Sears footprint had shrunk from 3,862 stores in 2009 to just 19 stores and a website.
Route optimization is only one of the thousands of applications of GIS technology. From precision farming to spatial econometrics (the intersection of spatial analysis with economics) to creating ultra-precise road maps to facilitate autonomous vehicles. Check out the 1,000 Uses of GIS for a glimpse into the future.
When researching this blog, I learned about a project where Toyota is using a platform that gathers crowd-sourced data from vehicle cameras and combines it with high-precision GPS and GIS to create precise and up-to-date road information. This information will be used for autonomous driving in the future, or probably already is!
What?!
Interestingly, a whole new industry is being created around monetizing the vast amount of data that is generated from vehicles. McKinsey estimates the market for this information might add up to $450-650 billion by 2030. I wish there was some way I could get a cut of these billions!
You may not even realize that the navigation systems in your vehicles are GIS. I’m partial to the Waze app. I love how they incorporate real-time data on reported crashes, speed traps and even roadkill, (important to know, because we have lots of moose and deer up here)! All this can be narrated by people from Dexter on Showtime to PAW Patrol on Nickelodeon.
Other GIS uses
1890 map of New Orleans
Pretty much everyone knows about the Johns-Hopkins COVID map but did you know that there’s a HealthMap that maps reports the location of all kinds of diseases? For example, in the past month, Legionnaires’ Disease was found in three locations in the U.S. Definitely worth looking at before traveling. NASA is also providing satellite data to cancer researchers to help pinpoint the types of human activity that lead to cancer in geographic areas. The Landsat Program is the longest continuous space-based record of Earth’s land in existence.
As you know, I’m a history buff, and I really like the ArcGIS Online Historical Maps. It makes all the USGS topographical maps accessible. All you need to do is find a place, and any maps that USGS has on it over time will be available. I just downloaded this map form 1890 of New Orleans.
I could go on and on, but I invite you to check out the many ways GIS is being used today.
I know in the past, many surveyors thought that GIS was going to obsolete the profession, but that is definitely not the case. We still need boots in the field tying the data in digital maps to real places in the real world. I’m personally involved in introducing a product that does just that, using RFID to literally tie the physical to the digital. Check it out at inframarker.com. It’s a great product with as many applications as GIS itself.