When I meet someone for the first time, and they ask me what I do for a living, I often pause before I answer. I’m usually pretty sure they are unfamiliar with what G.I.S. is or what it is used for. For clarity purposes, G.I.S. is an acronym for Geographic Information System or Science—depending on the situation. In simple terms, it is the combination of an atlas and an encyclopedia. Instead of going into a long dissertation on the ins and outs of G.I.S. and how it works, I usually ask if they use Google maps or if they have a GPS device in their car. They are the most obvious and most widely visible G.I.S. products, but there are so many things that we see and use every day that exist or occur because of G.I.S.

From the time you wake up in the morning through the long night when you are asleep, somewhere, there is a G.I.S. or a G.I.S. product at work. There is also probably someone, such as myself, creating the graphics and feeding in the data behind those graphics into a database that works in the G.I.S. As you wake up in the morning and watch TV or listen to your radio, the commercials you see and hear are products of a G.I.S. At some point in the process demographics were fed into a computer and a map was created showing the best market for a given product or service based on specific criteria that would be ideal for advertising and selling.

You get into your car to drive to work on streets that were planned out using a G.I.S. to map their placement and layout for highest efficiency and safety. Their maintenance—paving, repairing, snow plowing and sanding—are all monitored and scheduled using a G.I.S. As you pull up to the ATM, you may not realize that it was placed there based on findings from a G.I.S. business analysis. The same goes for the gas station, donut shop, and home improvement store that you pass by. The property taxes on the houses you pass, as well as the one you live in, are linked to the G.I.S. by your municipal tax assessor. The underground water pipes and manholes that you drive over are all recorded in the G.I.S. The roads and directions that show on the in-car navigation system or GPS device you may have were all created using G.I.S. software. The traffic lights on the street are cued to change based on information from a G.I.S. about travel speeds, street length, and the amount of traffic over a period of time. The cell phone you may use to tell your employer that you are running late this morning connects to a cell tower that was placed where it was based on a G.I.S. view-shed analysis.

The G.I.S. Iceberg

When you fly on a plane, the route it takes is based on a map of air traffic patterns created by a G.I.S. If you used any of the internet travel sites to book your trip, the hotel chosen by the web page to be closest to where you wanted to be was found based on G.I.S. information.  The weather map or report that you watch on the news or weather station was created or assisted from data in a G.I.S. This is all just the tip of the G.I.S. iceberg!

G.I.S. is an incredibly versatile tool. It is used in so many different professions and places. Everything from marketing and product distribution, to fire, police, and the post office. I’ve even known some people to use G.I.S. for furniture placement design and picture arrangement on a wall. The products of G.I.S. are used in things we see and use everyday in our homes and around where we live. 

The Fuss & O’Neill Technologies GIS technicians and analysts produce a wide variety of products and services for many different types of clients and projects. They range from simple maps, to analysis reports, charts, graphs, databases, virtual 3-D images, and much, much more!

By now I’m sure you have a good idea of how big a part G.I.S. plays in our every day lives. It helps us answer questions like, “where is the nearest coffee shop?” or “how many miles til the next gas station?” or “how do I get to my friend’s new house?” When you get these answers, think thank G.I.S.

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