GIS Files 4: Putting it all in a system

4.1: Unlocking the information

All organisations have information locked away in various databases - GIS can help uncover the full value of this information.

Approximately 80% of all information held in databases anywhere in the world contains some kind of geographic element. For example, records in a database can be tied to a particular location on the ground, such as an address, building, property or road junction. There are many trends and relationships hidden in this geographic data, but it is only by using a GIS that these are revealed.

Many different organisations use GIS as a central part of their activities, and the range of applications in use is extraordinary.

For example:

• utilities - leak management, service planning, network planning;
• central government - census, environmental planning, health service catchment areas
• local government - refuse collection, street lighting, council tax collection
• emergency services - crime locations, route finding
• military - battlefield simulations
• retail - travel time catchment areas, store site location
• financial - insurance flood risk, property values; and
• target marketing - demographic profiles

One of the best ways to analyse data is to produce colour-coded maps that reveal patterns in data which may otherwise be missed: this is explained in section 4.2.

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