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Introduction

1.0

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

1.1

Introduction

Almost everything that happens happens somewhere. Knowing where something


happens is of critical importance, if we want to find other information about the same
place or to inform people who live nearby. In addition, most (perhaps all) decisions
have geographic consequences, e.g. adopting a particular funding formula creates
geographic losers and winners. Geographic location is important attribute of activities,
policies, strategies and plans. Geographic Information System is a special kind of
information system that keep track not only of events, activities and things, but also of
where these events, activities and things happens.
GIS is a science, a technology, a discipline and an applied problem solving
methodology.
Fundamentally, GIS is an application-led technology, yet successful applications need
appropriate scientific foundations. GIS is of enduring importance because of its central
co-ordinating principles, the specialist techniques that have been developed to handle
spatial data, the special analysis methods that are key to spatial data and because of
the particular management issues presented by geographic information handling.
Digital information is central to the practicality of GIS. If it does not exist, it is expensive
to collect, edit or update.
1.2

Definitions
Information systems help us manage
what we know by making it easy to
organize and store, access and
retrieve, manipulate and synthesise and
apply knowledge. We use a variety of
terms to describe what we know and
the terms include: data, information,
evidence, knowledge and wisdom.

Data
Data consists of numbers, texts or symbols, which are some sense neutral and almost
context-free. Raw geographic facts, for example, temperature at a specific time and
location. Data is treated as streams of bits; a crucial requirement to preserve integrity
of the dataset. Data are assembled together in a database.
Information
In a narrow sense, information can be treated as devoid of meaning, and therefore
essentially synonymous with data. However, information is differentiated from data by
implying some degree of selection, organization and preparation for particular
purposes. Information is data serving some purpose or data that have been given
some degree of interpretation.
Information is often very costly to produce, but once digitised, it is cheap to reproduce
and distribute.
Some technical reasons why geographic information is special:
It is multi-dimensional, because two co-ordinates must be specified to define
location, whether x and y or latitude and longitude.

David N. Siriba 2007

Introduction

It is voluminous
It is represented at different levels of spatial resolution
Can be represented in different ways inside a computer; how this is don
influences the ease of analysis
It is often projected onto a plane surface
Requires many method of analysis
Can be time consuming to analyse
The process of updating is complex and expensive
The display of a map requires the retrieval of large amounts of data.

Knowledge
Knowledge does not arise from simply having access to large amounts of information.
It can be considered as information to which value has been added by interpretation
based on a particular context, experience and purpose. Codified and tacit knowledge
(tacit knowledge is often the source of competitive advantage). Knowledge is different
from information in 3-ways:
Knowledge entails a knower. Information exists independently, but knowledge is
intimately related to people.
Knowledge is harder to detach from the knower than information; shipping,
receiving or transferring it between people or quantifying it are much more
difficult than for people.
Knowledge requires much more assimilation; we digest it rather than hold it.
While we may hold conflicting information, we hardly hold conflicting knowledge
Evidence
Evidence is considered as half-way between information and knowledge. It is best
regarded as a multiplicity of information from different sources, related to specific
problems and with a consistency that has been validated.
Wisdom (More elusive to define)
Wisdom is used in the context of decisions made or advice given which is
disinterested, based on all evidence and knowledge available, but given with some
understanding of likely consequences. Almost invariably, it is highly individualised
rather than being easy to create and share within a group.
System
A system is a set or arrangement of things or components so related or connected as
to form a whole (e.g., education or computer system). There are two types of systems:
natural and fabricated. The fabricated systems must be built by people, while natural
systems exist naturally, for example, the human system and the solar system. It is
presumed that an information system wouldnt be built unless it served a purpose. The
purpose of an information system is to collect, process and exchange information
among business workers.
Information System
An information system is an arrangement of components that interact to support the
operations, management and decision making of an organization. Information systems
exist in all organizations. These systems are usually implemented without the aid of the
computer. Although manual systems get the job done, they are often inefficient and
error prone. Therefore manual systems are frequently computerised. Computerization
help amplify the potential of the information system by increasing efficiency, reducing
errors and increasing effectiveness.

David N. Siriba 2007

Introduction

An information system is therefore a combination of human and technical components


(resources) to support the operational, managerial and decision making information
needs of an organization.
Geographic Information System
GIS is a special kind of information system. It is distinguished from other information
systems by the fact that it deals with spatially referenced land related data. It is defined
as:
A computer based information system for input, retrieve, process, analyse and output
geographically referenced data in order to support decision making, planning and
management of natural resources and environment.
The objectives of GIS are three-fold:
Better productivity, e.g., locating the best site for growing bananas
Better data management, e.g., reduction of data redundancy
More effective planning and decision support e.g developing a flood evacuation
plan
1.3

Brief History of GIS

GIS has a controversial history because parallel developments occurred in North


America, Europe and Australia. Much of the published history focuses on the
contributions from US. What is clear, is that the development of the first real GIS, he
Canada Geographic Information System, in mid 1960s.The Canada Land Inventory
was a massive effort by the federal and provincial governments to identify the nations
land resources and their existing and potential uses. The most use of such an inventory
are measures of area, yet area is a notorious difficult to measure accurately from a
map. CGIS was developed as measuring tool, a producer of tabular information, rather
than a mapping tool. A second burst of innovation occurred in the late 1960s in the US
Bureau of census, in planning the tools needed to conduct the 1970 census of
population. In a largely separate development during the latter half of the 1960s,
cartographers and mapping agencies had started to ask whether computers might be
adapted to their needs, and the possibility of reducing the costs and shortening the
time of map production Remote Sensing also played apart in the development of GIS,
as a source of data .GIS really began to take off in the early 1980s, when the price of
computing hardware had fallen to a level that could sustain a significant software
industry and cost-effective applications. Considering the perspectives of GIS is clearly
too much for any software package to handle, and GIS has grown from its initial
commercial beginnings as a simple off the shelf (OTS) package to a complex of
software, hardware, people, institutions, networks and activities that can be very
confusing to the novice .A major software vendor, such as ESRI today sells many
distinct products designed to serve different needs. A major workhorse (Arc Info), a
simpler system designed for viewing, analysing and mapping (ArcView), an engine to
support GIS-oriented websites (ArcIMS). Vendors specialise in different markets.
1.4

Components of GIS

As a system, GIS has its well-defined component parts. The figure below illustrates the
six component parts of GIS.

David N. Siriba 2007

Introduction
SOFTWARE

PEOPLE

DATA
NETWORK

HARDWARE

RESOURCES

Figure 1: Components of GIS

Network (the most fundamental today), enables rapid communication and sharing of
digital information. GIS today relies heavily on the Internet (and Intranets). The Internet
began its life as a US Department of defence Communications project called Advanced
Research Project Agency Network (APARNET) in 1972 A researcher at CERN
developed the hypertext capability that underlies todays world wide web (the www).
The histories of GIS and the Internet have been heavily intertwined.
Hardware is the device that the user interacts with directly in carrying out GIS
operations by typing, pointing, clicking or speaking, and which returns information by
displaying it on the devices screen or generating meaningful sounds. Traditionally the
device sat on an office desktop, but todays user has much more freedom, because
GIS functions can be delivered through laptops, Personal Data Assistants (PDA), invehicle devices and even cellular phones. Other hardware devices include printer,
plotter, scanner, digitiser, MODEM, UPS, speaker mouse etc.
Software runs locally in udders machine. It is a package bought from one of GIS
vendors such as ESRI (Arcview/ArcInfo), Intergraph (Geomedia), MapInfo (MapInfo),
Clarke University (IDRISI), GRASS (GRASS), CADCORP (SIS) and ER Mapper (ER
Mapper). No single software package can handle all GIS functions; hence major GIS
software vendors sell many distinct software products.
Data (Database) consists of digital representation of selected aspects of some specific
areas of Earths surface built to serve some problem solving or scientific purpose.
Management (organization) procedures includes lines of reporting, control points
and other mechanisms for ensuring that GIS activities stay within budget, maintain high
quality and generally meet the needs of the organization. It includes development of
standards, access controls, database administration, quality assurance and system
security.
People are important, because they design, program, maintain, supply data and
interpret results. The people in GIS will have various skills, depending on the role they
play. Almost all will have basic knowledge required to work with geospatial data.
Knowledge on such topics as data sources, scale, accuracy and software products.
The people will have titles as GIS Manager, GIS administrator, System manager, GIS
analyst, GIS programmer and data entry personnel.

David N. Siriba 2007

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