SAMMUEL KOFI OWUSU

8000619
INTRODUCTION IN GIS
DEVELOPMENT PLANNING 2

Uses of Geographic Information System (GIS)

A geographic information system (GIS) is a framework for gathering,

managing, and analyzing data. Rooted in the science of geography,
GIS integrates many types of data. It analyzes spatial location and
organizes layers of information into visualizations using maps and
3D scenes. With this unique capability, GIS reveals deeper insights
into data, such as patterns, relationships, and situations—helping
users make smarter decisions.
Hundreds of thousands of organizations in virtually every field are using GIS to make
maps that communicate, perform analysis, share information, and solve complex
problems around the world. This is changing the way the world works.
Therefore, below are some uses of GIS;
1. Mapping: Geographical Information Systems store data in databases and
then represent it visually in a mapped format. People from
different professions use maps to communicate. e.g. Google, GPS, Here all
utilise maps for common use.

2. Telephone/Network services: GIS Data is used to incorporate geographic

data into the complex network design, planning, optimisation, maintenance
and activities. It provides a location based service for engineering applications
and customer relationship management.

3. Road Safety Analysis: GIS can be used as a key tool to minimise accident
hazard on roads, by identifying the accident locations and providing remedial
measures.

4. Urban Growth: Analyse, locate and monitor Urban expansion on suitable

sites.Based on remote sensing and GIS, this study models the spatial
variations of urban growth patterns with a logistic geographically weighted
regression (GWR) technique.

5. Transport: As almost every field of life, GIS can help in achieving excellence in
transportation as well. It significantly aids in planning, monitoring and
managing complex systems involved in transportation planning and
management more effectively. GIS helps in determining capacity
enhancements, improving operations, and identifying the most strategic
investments for keeping the transportation system in any country running
optimally. Let’s understand how we can use GIS in transportation for better
 management of road infrastructure. The use of GIS in transportation is
widespread. The major areas of applications include highway maintenance,
traffic modeling, accident analysis, and route planning.
6. Manage and monitor roads, railway, waterways and logistics by using
environmental and topographical data in the GIS platform.

7. The Environment: Environmental impact statements are required to contain

specific information on the magnitude and characteristics of environmental
impact. The EIA can be carried out efficiently by integrating various GIS
layers and assessment of natural features can be performed.

8. Agriculture: GIS can be used to create more effective and efficient farming
techniques, by analysing soil data and determining the best crop to plant.

9. Managing Disasters: GIS systems can manage the risk of a disaster by

monitoring areas prone to natural or man-made disasters.

10. Banking: Being market driven banks need to provide customer centric
services around planning of resources and marketing. GIS plays an important
role providing planning, organising and decision making.

11. Land Information: GIS based land acquisition management system will
provide complete information about land assessments and tracking of land
allotments.

12. Surveying: Land survey is measuring the distance and angles between
different points on the earth surface. Many organisations are now using
Satellites to make these measurements. It is called a Global Navigational
Satellite System (GNSS) and is used for topographic surveys where a
centimetre level accuracy is provided.

13. Geology: Geologists use GIS to study geological features, analyse soils and
strata, assess seismic information, and or create three dimensional (3D)
displays of geographic features. GIS can be also used to analyse rock
information characteristics and identifying the best dam site location.

14. Assets Management: GIS helps organisations to locate and store information
about their assets. Operations and maintenance staff can also deploy their
enterprise and mobile workforce.
15. Planning and Community Development: GIS help us to better understand our
world so we can meet global challenges. Today GIS technology is advancing
rapidly, providing many new capabilities and innovations in planning.

16. Dairy Industry: Geographic Information Systems are used in the distribution of
products, production rate, location of shops and their selling rate. These can
also be monitored by using a GIS system.

17. Tourism: Tourists can get all the information they need on a click, measuring
distance, finding hotels, restaurants and even navigate to their respective
links. This Information plays a vital role to tourists in planning their travel from
one place to another.

18. Irrigation management: Water availability for irrigation purposes for any area
is vital for crop production in that region. It needs to be properly and efficiently
managed for the proper utilisation of water. To evaluate the irrigation
performance, integrated use of satellite remote sensing and GIS assisted by
ground information has been found to be an efficient technique in spatial and
time domain for identification of major crops and their conditions.

19. Earthquakes: There is a need to have knowledge regarding the trends in

earthquake occurrence worldwide. A GIS based user interface system for
querying an earthquake catalogue will be of great help to the earthquake
engineers and seismologists in understanding the behaviour pattern of
earthquakes

20. Volcanoes: Potential volcanic hazard zones can be recognised by the

characteristic historical records of volcanic activities, it can incorporate with
GIS.

21. Forest Fires: Forest fires caused extensive damage to our communities and
environmental resource base. GIS can effectively help to capture real time
monitoring of fire prone areas. This is achieved by the help of GNSS and
satellite Remote Sensing.

22. Pest Control: In monitoring, GIS can be used to determine the spatial extent of a
disease, to identify spatial patterns of the disease and to link the disease to
auxiliary spatial data. GIS can also be used to predict the projected spread of
diseases, to provide input for risk assessment models in pest control and in
quantifying changing thresholds of pests and diseases due to climate change. In
order to use GIS techniques at a larger scale, a protocol for data collection and
management is essential. This paper illustrates the use of GIS tools on data
 collected to identify critical intervention areas to combat the spread of Banana
Xanthomonas wilt (BXW). In a survey covering the Great Lakes region, on-farm
incidence of the disease was monitored and precise GPS coordinates of each
sampled field were recorded. This enabled accurate mapping of the disease and
performing the various spatial analyses, permitting an understanding of the
geographical distribution of BXW infection. Data on food security and
dependency on banana to rural populations was linked to the BXW severity to
target priority areas of interventions and maximize impact.

23. Utilisation of Space: GIS helps managers to organise and spatially visualise
space and how it can best be used. Operational costs can be decreased by
more efficiently using space including managing the moves of personnel and
assets as well as the storage materials. The 3D visualisation in GIS platforms
helps planners to create a feeling of experience like virtual walk inside the
building and rooms before construction.

24. Business: GIS is used for managing business information based on its
location. GIS can keep track of where customers are located, site business,
target marketing campaigns, and optimise sales territories and model retail
spending patterns.

25. Location Identification: This technique is used to find a location for a new
retail outlet. It helps to find out what exists at a particular location. A location
can be described in many ways, using, for instance, name of place, post
code, or geographic reference such as longitude or latitude or X/Y.

26. Coastal Management: The coastal zone represents varied and highly
productive ecosystem such as mangrove, coral reefs, see grasses and sand
dunes. GIS could be generating data required for macro and micro level
planning of coastal zone management and in creating a baseline inventory of
mapping and monitoring coastal resources, selecting sites for brackish water
aquaculture, studying coastal land forms.

27. Crime: Crime mapping is a key component of crime analysis. Satellite images
can display important information about criminal activities. The efficiency and
the speed of the GIS analysis will increase the capabilities of crime fighting.

28. Cables: Pipe line and cable location is essential for leak detection. It can be
used to understand your water network, conducting repairs and adjustments,
locating leaks known distance for correlating etc. Pipelines are continually
monitored, check for leak detection and avoid the problem of geo hazards.
29. Wildlife Management: Man made destruction such as habitat loss, pollution,
invasive species introduction, and climate change, are all threats to wildlife
health and biodiversity. GIS technology is an effective tool for managing,
analysing, and visualising wildlife data to target areas where international
management practices are needed and to monitor their effectiveness. GIS
helps wildlife management professionals examine and envision.