Geographic Information Systems Oh My!

If you didn’t catch the classic Wizard of Oz tagline in the title. Oh well.

Although I am no computer whiz and a first time blogger, fellow bloggers don’t judge harshly. Here is my take on today’s lecture.

Well I could say on behalf of the students in my class, that nobody enjoys attending a lecture on an early Tuesday morning. But luckily enough for me, I was able to grab my daily dosage of Toby Estate’s coffee which kicked in at a no more than perfect timing. We were introduced to guest speaker Borce Dimenski, a spatial analyst from the Urban Research Centre. He introduced a Information Technology System in planning called Geographic Information System, more commonly referred to as GIS. As sophisticated as it sounds, he described this system as a ‘computer based storage, maintenance, query and analysis of geographical data’.

To put it simply, GIS is an integration of five components:

• People
• Data
• Analysis
• Hardware
• Software

Now whoever thought a three letter acronym couldn’t be any less confusing and i’m not talking about the word HSC either. I quickly realised exactly what Borce meant with the impact of innovative technology that had on our daily lives. But how would most probably wonder, how could GIS technology possibly impact on our daily lives? Or more importantly for us, how is GIS used within the property and construction industry?

Without even knowing, we use GIS technology everywhere and everyday. As we all are most familiar with the iPhone, this device is an interesting example of how we use GIS to locate destinations and routes using a GPS system. Similarly, Google map offers a similar format, in which you could view locations on a broader and more global scale. However in more integral terms, GIS is generally used to illustrate what features look like in the world, and to give a demographic analysis for further research.

In light of this, Borce continued to break down the components of GIS.

1. What are the applications involved with GIS?
2. GIS in relation to the property/construction industry?

Virtually, GIS can be applicable to many stages from planning perspective through to cost management. Other applications of GIS include property, design, and construction and project management. These applications help identify demographic analysis, site selection, potential environmental factors and finance. One example of the way in which GIS can be applied to the cost management stage, is that it can allow more

 efficient and shortest paths or distance to be discovered and thus providing better service.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for GIS technology when it is used as an app on our iPhone or Google Earth, but it really all comes down to how GIS impacts the construction and property sectors? I think it’s interesting the way we use GIS as a tool that we can receive many benefits and advantages from. It allows us to go beyond the boundaries, interpreting data in ways traditional methods cannot.