GIS, Geographic data and mapping

The modern mapper has a wide variety of tools at his disposal for creating visual displays that enable the user to overlay multiple layers of info.

In the 21st century maps have expanded to what we can show and the amount of data maps can contain, the ever-changing world of technology always finds new innovations that enable professionals the ability to probe, gage, and inform the decisions we take towards new solutions.'

The ideal contemporary system used today by stakeholders everywhere is GIS (Geographic Information System).

GIS has the power to transform spatial and geographic data into useful information and give mappers the tools and essential details to apply towards applicable scenarios

In the following story would be a chance to see how GIS is utilized in different situations, how the applications remain fluid, and at the foundation see the potential it has for learning.

When first approaching GIS we needed spatial information this included address, latitude and longitude, size and other discerning properties, for the specific dataset I made the theme became parks in Toronto. After compiling all the essential data the spreadsheet was then put into Geocodio to display the locations for all of the parks.

Getting the visualization what then became important was to describe the metadata that exists within the dataset and the uses it can have for potential users.

Similarly other datasets and maps always have an intended audience for which they capture data for.

Every person or organization already has a preset objective for how and why they used spatial data. Governments, firms and NGOs have shared the responsibility of editing and maintaining some projects through crowdsourcing initiatives. These initiatives consist of people doing online mapping through open source websites such as missingmaps.org or openstreetmap.org, work like this can prove to be a great help in times of duress and national disaster where maps are one of the first resources looked towards in order to provide appropriate aid.

For this project I had to seek out a humanitarian project to work on and contribute towards. The project I chose was an undertaking by the American Red Cross that wanted to map out specific polygons (buildings, roads, other infrastructure) in Pemalang, Indonesia.

After mapping specific areas within the defined area, we were tasked with describing what a vector model is and asked about our experience with the OpenStreetMap software and what the possibilities or limits that humanitarian mapping may pose in the future.

The final lab saw spatial analysis and the relationships we can create based on their specific datasets. Conducting spatial analysis allows us to ask many questions and form different judgements in different disciplines of study whether it be governmental, NGOs, market-based research firms, or academia.

In the first part of the lab it became important to know which places could be utilized as emergency cooling centers in the summertime, in order to facilitate the elderly, young or those who live in precarious conditions that would limit their access to a cooled environment.

Running analysis I found:

• Public schools that can be used as cooling spaces
• Creating buffers for specific cooling centers that serviced a specific area
• Whether or not the results from the dataset are accurate and trustworthy

The second part of the lab was drawing out and describing the watershed area, and which natural geographic feature it came in contact with.

Using the same map I also conducted analysis upon punting a ball into the Holland River and describing the route it would take to get to the St. Lawrence River in Quebec.