The Bigger Picture of Gis

Geographical information system (or GIS) is a type of information system used for collecting data to analyze and to generate maps. In a sense, data is collected from different regions to be placed on a map to study and learn the results. This data can be a tax assessor’s office that produces land use map for appraisers and planners to another part of the spectrum, where a wastewater department decides the most important areas of repair of the water system after a natural disaster. Different types of businesses from marketing to the police department will use GIS to track different information but perhaps in the same map.

The theory of having data behind a map dates back Pre 200AD but it wasn’t until the early computer era of the 1960s to the 1960s that maps where able to be investigate, like that of a business could use to understand why sales were declining. The Canadian Geographic Information System (CGIS) is one of the earliest types of GIS to progress and since the mid 1960s, is still in use today. The CGIS used the information from data to produce results to be used in developing land management plans. This paved way for the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) in 1969 to begin developing GIS software to be accessible by corporations, non-profit organizations, and the government. Today, the ESRI are the lead distributor in GIS software having more than 100,000 client sites world wide and establishing the representation of GIS software.

Today, many non-profit organizations use GIS in the environmental field to help with conservation to track changes that could cause harm to a species or to monitor existing species and its habitat. In the late 1980s, ESRI started a conservation program to help nonprofit organizations with their quest for nature conservation by providing GIS software, data, and training. With the GIS program, whether provided from ESRI or other GIS software developers, non-profit organizations can identify trends and patterns to figure out if the area is in danger of becoming uninhabitable to the species of life in the immediate area. The GIS application has four basic functions to perform, which is data acquisition, data management, data integration, and map generation. After this data is collected, the organizations in the environmental conservation management will use gap analysis to determine the new developments or patterns occurring in the area. Gap analysis is comparing the past maps to the present maps to make decisions concerning what actions the organization will need to make to benefit the future on a global scale.

There are many organizations that use many different types of the GIS software to assist them in their goals of environment conservation. The African Conservation Foundation has the Central African Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) listed for using GIS for conservation purposes. On the website for CARPE has an interactive map of the Congo Basin, where a user select parts of the basin and which of the data layers the user wants to view. There are different types of software out there that need to be registered and/or licensed and some that are free; for example Gstat and PCRASTER are free. Other softwares that users have to pay for like Flowmap, Mapmaker, IDRISI, and ESRI products can range from $250 up to $5,000 depending on the type of usage whether it is for academic or government purposes. After registering the program, businesses or organizations must train their employees or hire workers dedicated to Geographical Information Science. The better trained or educated the person using GIS to analysis the data, the better the outlook of world’s future.

There are many visions for the future of GIS in conservation management to help in maintaining species and their habitats. Not only does the conservation of species helps keeping them off the endangered list, but it benefits humans in making the right environmental choice to further their existence. In an article, “Filling the Gaps” from Science World magazine, the U.S. military found an area in Idaho that seemed virtually vacant to construct a bomb-testing site. However, when checking with Biologist Michael Scott from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. military were in for a surprise. The biologist showed them different maps of the area from type of vegetation to animal life and was in for a surprise himself. Scott and U.S. military saw that the area was full of species but the wilderness protected area didn’t protect the regions of where most of the population of the animals was shown on the map. The decision was halted for the bomb-testing site and the area with the most population of animal was to be bought to bridge the land. This is a good example of where “gap analysis makes people look at the big picture” (Par 9).

Akcaakaya, H. R. "GIS Enhances Endangered Species Conservation