Central Services
Why GIS is Important
Some of the major issues facing local government today - economic development, tourism, transportation issues, increasing population, improvement of provided services, and so on - each of these has a critical geographic dimension.
Local issues, such as why insurance premiums are higher in some areas than others, why traffic jams occur, are also all affected by geography. Mapping where a new subdivision will be located, for example, can give new insight into its affects on transportation networks, the local environment, and local service providers like schools.
When buying a new house you might look for properties close to a school, within a certain type of neighborhood, under a certain price, and with a given lot size.
When considering the impact of a disaster such as a chemical spill, hazardous material information needs to be analyzed and then linked with details about the people, properties, and infrastructure that have been or can be affected.
The solution to many problems often requires access to several types of information that can only be linked by geography. Only GIS technology allows you to store and manipulate information using geography and to analyze patterns, relationships, and trends in that information to help you make better decisions. |