Lab 1b post

1)       a) “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, globes, reports, and charts.  A GIS helps you answer questions and solve problems by looking at your data in a way that is quickly understood and easily shared”- http://www.esri.com/what-is-gis/index.html

b) “Geographic information system (GIS) technology can be used for scientific investigations, resource management, and development planning. For example, a GIS might allow emergency planners to easily calculate emergency response times in the event of a natural disaster, or a GIS might be used to find wetlands that need protection from pollution.  A GIS is a computer system capable of capturing, storing, analyzing, and displaying geographically referenced information; that is, data identified according to location. Practitioners also define a GIS as including the procedures, operating personnel, and spatial data that go into the system”-http://egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/gis_poster/

c) “A geographic information system (GIS), or geographical information system, is any system that captures, stores, analyzes, manages, and presents data that are linked to location. In the simplest terms, GIS is the merging of cartography, statistical analysis, and database technology. GIS systems are used in cartography, remote sensing, land surveying, utility management, natural resource management, photogrammetry, geography, urban planning, emergency management, navigation, and localized search engines”- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic_information_system

All of these definitions are quite similar in my opinion. They all include the capturing, analzing and managing data.  The only differences are in how they are applied to individual aspects in the applied project.  The definitions tell me that GIS can be applied to many aspects

2)       Some uses of GIS are many but recent projects include tracking by biologists.  GIS comes in handy to track the migratory paths of animals such as birds.  Once the paths are tracked they can be turned into mapped paths and layered onto maps of particular area.  This helps set up areas to be used as preserves.  Other uses include the maping of geological date to locate water resources and what type of uses the land above or surrounded by them are being used for.  Both these examples are fromhttp://egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/gis_poster/.  Another use is to apply GIS towards retail business.  This provides a quick and readily acceable way to call up informations about a certain location and its surrounding demographic. http://www.esri.com/industries/retail/index.html

3)       Three similarities between GIS and maps are the ability to display information, accurate representation of the earth and the ability to locate various thematic elements.  Both give a visual display of information such as where a place is located and some general information about a place. They also provided a longitude and latitude to provide corrdinates as to where it is located.  Then with the thematic elements, various types of topography can be displayed and interpreted. But those are also the differences between the two.  Maps display information but are very limited to what can be printed and manipulated to fit on a map.  GIS on the other hand is able to display multiple information with the click of a button.  GIS is able to provide accurate representations of the Earth to multiple scales why maps are limited to how the scale they were created for.  With thematic elements, GIS has the ability to remove and add layers depending on what you want to display.