2: What is GIS?

Question 1

What does GIS stand for

Answer 1

G… Geographic = Geospatial (where)
I… Information = about ‘stuff’ on the earth’s surface and knowledge about what, when, where and why
S… Science (concepts and theory), Systems (software/technology), Studies (social context)

Question 2

DEFINITION OF GIS… (Burrough)

Answer 2

A powerful tool set for collecting, storing, retrieving, transforming and displaying spatial data from the real world

Question 3

WHAT ARE THE COMPONENTS OF A GIS (5) according to Stan Aronoff

Answer 3

hardware - the computer
software - ArcGIS or similar
data
personnel/users
institution/management (rules & structure)

Question 4

Geographic data types (2)

Answer 4

CARTOGRAPHIC / GEOMETRIC data
represented visually
(lat/long, northing/easting, centrelines, regions, country)
ATTRIBUTES / DESCRIPTIVE data
stored in tables/database
(examples: speed limit, type of seal, section length, year of construction, hierarchy, number of lanes)

Question 5

WHAT KINDS OF QUESTIONS CAN GIS ANSWER (5)

Answer 5

Location: what is at...?
Situation/Condition: where does it exist? (Queries)
Trends: what has changed since?
Patterns: what spatial patterns exist?
Modelling: what if?

Question 6

Evolution of GIS (4 steps)

Answer 6

Mainframe GIS (1960s)
Desktop GIS
Internet/Web GIS
Mobile GIS

Question 7

Is Google Maps / Google Earth a GIS?

Answer 7

Sort of… it is a map and it can find routes and display the traffic in real-time which is a tyles of analysis but limited, mostly just displays information

Question 8

What is special about open street map?

Answer 8

Crowdsourced data from the public

Question 9

EXPLAIN WHY GIS IS IMPORTANT

Answer 9

Knowing where things happen can tell you about why they happen
Disciplines that use GIS for decision making: urban planning, environmental management, hazards, health, retail, accidents, maintenance, transportation, market analysis, population, crime…

Question 10

GIVE EXAMPLES OF GIS IMPORTANT USES

Answer 10

Site suitability
Modelling and mapping risk
Mapping crime
Mapping retail market predictions
Etc.

Question 11

How is GIS a tool, technology AND science?

Answer 11

Tool: GIS applications
Use to solve problems

Technology: GInformatics
Adding to the existing GI technology and inventing/ developing new ones, building the tools

Science: GIScience
Developing theory/concepts/methods and advancing the GI research frontier

Social: GISociety
Studying the societal context of GI, ethics and issue of privacy and confidentiality

Question 12

Describe the GIS workflow

Answer 12

Collect data sources from the real world
Manage data - edit, query, clean, quality
Analyse data - query and test
Share data - publish results to inform decisions and implement change

Question 13

Name some GIS software

Answer 13

Software: ArcGIS, QGIS, Grass GIS, MapInfo Professional, etc.

Question 14

Why is GIS popular (8)

Answer 14

1. Geoinfo tech is accessible… on your smart device (google maps)
2. Maps are cool and fascinating, so are digital maps
3. Geography is everywhere in the analog and in the digital world
4. GIS is a key technology to understand and manage a digital information society and the environment
5. Market value of GIS (save organisations $$$)
6. GIS answers what if questions with spatial computation
7. World wide revenue associated with GIS is big
8. Wealth of GIS jobs