Geographic Information Systems (GIS) make it possible to visualize our world by working with multiple map layers, from a variety of sources on a single screen. A GIS user can capture, organize, store, analyze and map layers of information about a particular place. As a result, GIS users can track patterns, visualize connections and make informed decisions.
GIS is a powerful tool precisely because it enables us to work with so much information at once and displays it so well. Multi-layering of information helps analyze and identify relationships that were previously unknown or misunderstood. Then GIS users take these results and communicate them with maps or graphic models a visual form, one that everyone can see and understand.
When it comes to climate, land use, marine science, and all of the “ologies”, GIS is an ideal technology to monitor land status, or track policy impacts on environmental resources issues. For example, GIS can help communities identify and establish areas to protect, monitor change in coral reef structures over time, or inform sustainable process of development at community, regional and national levels. Governments, businesses and other organizations regularly use GIS to inform decisions that impact resource extraction and consumption, where and how services are provided, and where and stores are located. Others use GIS to design marketing strategies, assess their political support, or map the movement of plastics in the oceans, and more.
For more information and explanations of GIS, go to www.gis.com/whatisgis/