It may not get the media attention of Halloween or other special days, but today, Wednesday, is international Geographic Information Systems Day!
What are Geographic Information Systems (GIS), you ask?
For the truly curious, you can head to room C-11 at Tom Davies Square from 10-11 a.m. this morning to find out what it is and why it has a special day in the first place.
According to a release from Greater Sudbury, GIS “is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage and present spatial or geographic data that can be turned into a compelling map that uncovers hidden stories.”
In simpler terms, it's a computer system that has access to a wide range of geographic information – so it can not only tell you where the hills are in a community, it can tell you what buildings are on the hills, where the lakes and rivers are, what type of vegetation grows in the area.
According to a National Geographic article, GIS can also include “data about people, such as population, income, or education level. It can include information about the landscape, such as the location of streams, different kinds of vegetation, and different kinds of soil. It can include information about the sites of factories, farms, and schools; or storm drains, roads, and electric power lines.
“With GIS technology, people can compare the locations of different things in order to discover how they relate to each other,” the article said. “For example, using GIS, a single map could include sites that produce pollution, such as factories, and sites that are sensitive to pollution, such as wetlands and rivers. Such a map would help people determine where water supplies are most at risk.”
Greater Sudbury staff will be on-hand at Tom Davies Square to demonstrate their new zoning application and demographic dashboard.
