Nearly all government
information has a geographic dimension--a street address, a transportation
corridor, a river, a city line. All kinds of descriptive information can be
linked to a particular place to present a rich and detailed picture of a neighborhood,
a park, a coastline, or an industrial site. Geographic Information Systems
(GIS) are effective analytical and decision-making tools that organize, compare,
and analyze disparate types of information. This powerful ability to integrate
different kinds of information about a place can lead to better-informed decisions
about public investments in infrastructure and services. Geographic information
systems are good for many purposes including:
- economic development
- environment and natural
resources management
- education
- health, safety, and
human services
- infrastructure management
- comprehensive planning
and zoning
- real property records
management
What is a Geographic
Information System?
A GIS is an electronic
information system that analyzes, integrates, and displays information based
on geography. GIS systems have powerful visual display capabilities that present
the results of analysis on maps at a wide variety of scales, ranging from
very large (accurate to within inches) to very small (accurate only in broad
overview). GIS is regarded as the best technology to understand and solve
problems associated with data whose common attributes are related to place
and geography.
GIS spatial analysis
and display capabilities allow a holistically organized view of a community
and it's citizens because they provide the ability to overlay and analyze
interrelationships among these disparate data. This holistic view makes it
possible to design and deliver more effective and efficient services. One
of the most useful features of a GIS is its ability to overlay information
about a variety of topics in order to see how these different views of a place
combine to answer questions. A GIS can show the distribution of children under
age five within the city limits along with the location of day care providers
for pre-schoolers. It can show the watershed that feeds the county reservoir
along with the location of industries and housing developments that may threaten
water quality. The combinations are limited only by the kinds of questions
you need to answer and the kind of spatial data you have available to answer
them.
What Can GIS Do For
My Community or Organization?
A well-designed GIS can
help you answer questions like these:
- Where are the most
desirable locations in our community to locate a new shopping mall?·
- What is the most efficient
route from the fire house to a fire at the Industrial Park at various times
of day?·
- Is there a relationship
between the location of an old dump site and the incidence of childhood
cancer nearby?·
- How has the habitat
of the white tail deer changed over the last five years and what is causing
the change?·
- What intersections
have been the site of personal injury accidents in the past three years?
·
- How will a proposed
manufacturing plant affect our community's waters supply?
The value of GIS and
spatial data can be seen most dramatically in applications like these that
promote economic development, public health and safety, and environmental
quality. Moreover, these applications share many common information needs,
so information collected by one organization can often be reused by others,
thus reducing the cost of the most expensive GIS resource--the information
itself.
What Kinds of Resources
are Needed for an Effective GIS Program?
Data. The most
important and often the most expensive part of an effective GIS program is
data that is specially coded to include information about location. Location
can be noted by the use of coordinates of latitude and longitude, elevation,
zip codes, highway mile markers and so on. A key consideration of spatial
data is its scale. Scales that are accurate enough for one purposes (say describing
the habitat of the spotted owl) may not be accurate enough for other purposes
(such as knowing exactly where to dig to avoid a pipeline buried in the ground
around city hall.). Spatial data can be expensive because of the necessity
to keep it up to date and to render it in sufficient detail (scale) for it
to be useful and reliable for the purposes to which you apply it.
Standards. In
order to share spatial data among different users, it needs to follow established
standards that help users understand its characteristics. The federal government
and the states are working on standards that will allow users anywhere to
understand and evaluate a spatial data set and use it appropriately.
Hardware & Software.
A GIS program needs computers, software programs, and perhaps networking capabilities
that allow users to gather and organize data, conduct analyses, and map and
display results. Desktop technology, as well as more powerful tools, are commercially
available for these purposes. The technical sophistication of the software
and the processing power of the hardware you need depends on the applications
you plan to use.
Staff & Staff
Training. An effective GIS program demands staff who are trained to understand
the questions and problems that your organization faces, to know when spatial
data analysis is appropriate, and to conduct analyses that meet your needs.
These staff need ongoing training in both the technologies and techniques
of GIS. In many places, public organizations share the cost and time of these
specialists and technical resources.
Linkages. Spatial
data is shareable and reusable. GIS applications developed in one place can
often be used or modified for use elsewhere. In addition, different communities
or organization can collaborate to develop new data sets that they can all
use. The best way to take advantage of these benefits is to form working relationships
with other organizations and to support professional communications among
GIS specialists wherever they work. New York State has initiated a GIS coordinating
effort that involves state, local, academic, and private sector participants.
What is the Cost-Benefit
Argument for GIS Investments?
Determining the cost-benefit
of an investment in GIS is an important and often difficult undertaking. One
of the reasons for the difficulty is that GIS programs often allow communities
to do things they have not been able to do before--therefore there is no obvious
basis for before and after comparison. Nevertheless, the costs and benefits
of a GIS program can be identified and estimated and this kind of assessment
should help you make sound investment decisions. Some of the costs to consider
include: a feasibility study or needs assessment, hardware, software, maintenance
contracts, data entry, data transfer, data purchases, data development, training
and technical support for system users, supplies, overhead such as rent and
utilities, and salaries. Benefits are much more difficult to quantify than
costs and they depend on the applications you will run. Some common benefits
are increased revenue from making land parcels more productive; decreasing
the costs of providing some public services; attracting additional commercial
activity and jobs; increasing the efficiency and timelines of public services
such as fire protection; and preventing or discovering the cause of health
problems stemming from conditions of the environment.
What are Some Examples
of Effective GIS Applications?
Economic Development.
GIS offers enormous potential to support economic development. These systems
can analyze locations for business expansion opportunities and can support
the development and evaluation of public policies to guide expansion. A GIS
can identify sites, locate customers and suppliers, and help minimize transportation
and shipping costs. It can also identify workforce characteristics, educational
resources, and other quality of life elements that are important to business
developers.
Environment and Natural
Resources Management. Geographic information analysis allows planners
and policy makers to understand the environmental effects of their policy
choices. Since environmental concerns do not stop at the county line, the
information needed to assess them must be shared among different jurisdictions
and agencies. GIS is used in New York to support such environmental management
activities as managing forests, watersheds, wildlife habitats and wetlands,
as well as monitoring various sources of pollution.
Health, Safety, and
Human Services. Geographic information systems allow policy makers , analysts,
and program managers to promote the health, safety, and welfare of individuals,
families, and communities. Using data that pertains to neighborhoods, people,
physical infrastructure, land parcels, political boundaries and a host of
other topics, GIS spatial analysis and display capabilities make it possible
to design and deliver more effective and efficient services. Public health
applications include epidemiology, facilities siting, and health needs assessments.
Public safety applications include police and fire protection and disaster
mitigation. Public welfare applications cover service directories and referral
services and program evaluations.
Education. Schools
can use GIS for such things as forecasting enrollments, optimizing bus routing
and other planning needs. That box on State income tax forms that asks for
a school district code is used by a GIS to help ensure that the billions of
dollars of State school aid go to the right school district. State aid for
education is based in part on the relative personal income wealth in school
districts. Income wealth is attributed to districts based on the school district
of residence codes reported by taxpayers.
Infrastructure Management.
The State's infrastructure--highways, railways, waterways, water and sewer
systems, electric, gas, telephone, and telecommunications systems--are the
foundation of the State's economic development potential. The planning, design,
construction, operation and maintenance of this infrastructure can be managed
most effectively through the use of GIS applications.
Comprehensive Planning
and Zoning. Comprehensive planning and zoning are essentially the processes
by which we balance economic development with environmental protection, and
by which we develop strategies for wise use and conservation of our natural
resources. In comprehensive planning, a unit of government makes a thorough
analysis of all its natural, cultural, and socio-economic characteristics
and features, then uses this data to design programs and policies to attract,
accommodate, and guide future development and growth. GIS is essential to
the effective inventory and analysis of these community assets, to simulate
the results of changes in policies, and to explore intricate community dynamics.
Real Property Records
Management. Property information is at the crux of municipal information
systems, comprising the intersection of private rights and public needs. It
is the basis for maintaining, protecting and taxing property, and for planning,
zoning, new infrastructure development, and the distribution of many municipal
services. GIS can make property data readily accessible for economic development;
allow property data to be the information base for many other uses; and can
allow access to property data for such interested parties as banks, insurance
agencies, real estate brokers and investors, title companies, and multiple
listing services.
How Can I learn More?
Here are several good
resources for learning more about how to take advantage of GIS:
Reports. Much
of the information in this briefing paper was taken from these two reports:
World Wide Web Sites.
These and many other GIS related resources can be found on the Internet:
Other Resources
- Multipurpose Land Information Systems: the Guidebook. Vol. I
& II. Federal Geodetic Control Committee, National Geodetic
Survey, NOAA
