Geographic Information Systems and Sustained Economic Development

Valerie Grant

By Valrie Grant Managing Director GeoTechVision

Whether you are operating a small business, a large regional enterprise, a government department or a utility company you certainly will need information and in most cases information that has location attributes – that is, ‘where?’ Everything is located some “where” and as such many of the problems we face as a society are geographic problems or have a geographic component.

GIS Explained

GIS is the technology that enables the modelling of real world features and situations in a computing environment in order to map, analyse, and provide intelligence for managing real-world problems. The data used in this geographic analysis is spatial data, which means it is referenced to a location on the earth’s surface. GIS is able to bring together many types of data / information from multiple sources which then allows various types of analysis to be conducted. This is where the real power of GIS lies – combining mathematical models, statistical analysis with geographic references to enable spatial analysis and modelling of real world situations.

Over 70% of all information in circulation possesses a geographic component. To do a simple test, try to think of something in your daily routine that does not have some element of location. What did you come up with? … The answer to that question helps us to appreciate the importance of GIS, as a matter of fact; it is critical to