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Geographic Information Systems
A geographic information system (GIS) integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information.
GIS allows us to view, understand, question, interpret, and visualize data in many ways that reveal relationships, patterns, and trends in the form of maps, reports, and charts.
They also help you answer questions and solve problems by looking at your data in a way that is quickly understood and easily shared.. |
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Origins and History
It is possible that the origins of GIS go back to 1854 in London, a time where John Snow was trying to find the source of a cholera outbreak. He represented the location of individual cases on a map of the city and was able to depict where it all started: a contaminated water pump. Dr. Snow did
Later on, during the 20th century, the technique of photozincography was developed, allowing maps to be split into layers, each for every landscape element (vegetation, topography, etc), with the mere purpose of overlapping each layer at will. This concept is the basis of GIS nowadays.
It was in Ontario Canada, during the 60´s, that the first Geographic Information System was developed. It was created by Dr. Roger Tomlinson under the supervision of the Department of Forestry and Rural Development. It was named Canada Geographic Information System (CGIS). It was used to store, analyze and manipulate information on about soils, forestry, wildlife and recreation, with the purpose of determining land capability.
This was only the beginning of the on-going development of GIS… |
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Environmental management and GIS
When it comes to environmental studies, accurate landscape information and the analysis of it is crucial
GIS serve as a locating and measuring tool, in the sense that we can position and create an inventory of the elements that constitute the landscape; these elements being, water, soil, vegetation, wildlife, etc. This is only the first approach of any environmental study.
The interesting part comes with analyzing the information, which derives from data bases and/or field work. This is where the GIS Analyst, according to a methodological approach, overlaps different layers of data that result in various "combinations" in order to find patterns and relationships.
Some potential applications of GIS in this area include:
Water: Environmental management and stewardship programs integrate a broad spectrum of data with the analysis tools of GIS to provide a better understanding of how elements of natural communities interact across a landscape. GIS is used worldwide in ecology labs, planning departments, parks, agencies, and nonprofit organizations to promote sustainable growth.
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Land use and Vegetation: Using data on land-use and vegetation provided, and combining it with aerial digital photography and site documentation, a GIS Analyst can understand land changes and their current state. Also, it is ideal for mapping and inventorying vegetation across landscapes and to better understand threatened and endangered species inventories for scientific and managerial applications.
Hidrogeología:In this field GIS provide us with assistance in the design of strategies for the characterization of contaminated sites and their remediation. CAM relies on the use of GIS for the location of monitoring well, sampling points, among other parameters, thereby preventing the unnecessary expenditure of resources.
Wildlife: GIS allows us to study animal populations at various scales as well as analysis tools to study habitat corridors, migration patterns and the influence of reserves and sanctuaries for wildlife conservation. |
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